Social Disorganization : How Does It Affect Me And The Community That I Live?

What effects does a low socioeconomic status have on juvenile delinquency? Can these effects be explained by one or more of the four theories studied within the field of Juvenile Delinquency? There are many correlations of a low socioeconomic status within juvenile delinquency. Things such as environmental influences, poverty stricken areas and even traits such as IQ or a low verbal IQ are correlated with low socioeconomic status and delinquency. Each of these factors can be explained by these four theories; Strain theory, Social Learning theory, Control theory, and Labeling theory.

Frank Schmalleger explains the theory of social disorganization as one that depicts both social change as well as conflict, and lack of any agreement as the origin of its cause for both criminal behavior as well as nonconformity to society and closed associated with the ecological school of criminology (Schmalleger, 2012, p. 152). The philosophy behind the organization and structure of a society and how that contributes to criminal behavior within society is by stressing poverty, economic conditions, lack of education, lack of skills, are not sought-after in the work place, and divergent cultural values. Criminal behavior is the result of the person’s assignment of location within the structure of society.

There are No Children Here, by Alex Kotlowitz, tells a story about the family of LaJoe and Paul Rivers. The book focuses on Lafayette and Pharaoh, two of the younger children in the family, and their interactions with each other, the neighborhood, their family, their friends, and the police. Following the family over three years shows the importance of neighborhood factors when it comes to crime. According to Sampson and Groves (1989), social disorganization refers to “the inability of a community structure to realize the common values of its residents and maintain effective social controls”. Many aspects in the book exemplify how neighborhood factors, social controls, and community factors have impacts on crime. The book exemplifies how neighborhood disadvantage can lead to informal social controls, which in turn produces crime. Due to these factors, social disorganization is the best theory to explain the crime that occurs in There are No Children Here.

Social disorganization theory was established by Shaw and Mckay (1942) in their famous work “Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas”. The main argument of the social disorganization theory is that, the place where people live will influence the individual’s behavior, and this may lead them to crimes. More precisely, certain characteristics of the neighborhood/community will strengthen or weaken the informal social control within the community, and this has mediating effect on crimes.

Wanting to extend the theory of social disorganization and crime beyond the scope of large urban cities, D. Wayne Osgood and Jeff M. Chambers released their study, Social Disorganization Outside the Metropolis: An Analysis of Rural Youth Violence, in order to “assess the generalizability to this setting of the social disorganization theory of crime that has been developed and tested in urban communities” (Osgood & Chambers, 2000). They hypothesize that rates of juvenile delinquency is positively related to residential instability, ethnic heterogeneity, family disruption, economic status, population density, and communities that are closer to urban areas (Osgood & Chambers, 2000). The sample contained 264 counties across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Nebraska that had populations ranging from 560 people to 98,000. The study was measured by the number of juveniles arrested (ages 11 through 17) between 1989 through 1993. They analyzed the arrests for homicide, robbery, aggravated assault, forcible rape, simple assault, weapons offenses, and the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) violence index.

To inform their analysis Peterson and Krivo use the social disorganization theory. These perspectives suggest that neighborhood disadvantages, residential instability, immigration, community investments, and white residents are the critical factor at play and that these conditions have spatial effects through direct spillover and the way they affect crime-controlling and/or crime-generating processes within focal neighborhoods. (Peterson & Krivo 2009; pg. 97) If adjacent areas have high levels of disadvantages crime in a focal neighborhood may be

In Deviance and Social Control; Chapter five; We look into Social Disorganization Theories and how it is broken down in various ways. Social disorganization is a macro level theory. We examine our neighborhoods’, cities, countries, etc. The deviances are controlled deviance and crime, it gives us an explanation on how certain neighborhoods control deviance and how some are not able to eliminate it. We analyze how juvenile’s deviance in a mixture of cities, schools, and neighborhoods.

Common characteristics of neighborhoods with low-level socioeconomic status and physical disorder, which include poverty, high mobility, etc., are all characteristics that the social disorganization theory finds related to high-crime areas. In the article, “Life and Death in the City: Neighborhoods in Context” by John Logan, the author discusses what exactly causes crime and disorganization within a neighborhood. He stated, “Robert Sampson used census data to show that the higher the proportion of divorced adults and the higher the proportion of households headed by a single woman in a neighborhood, the higher proportion of residents who have been victims of crime.” He also explained that the unconventional families within a neighborhood, the less control over youths who are tempted to complete deviate

Based on these findings, the conclusion that factors within the environment affected the behavior of the delinquents, citing (1) the absence or lack of controls for delinquents; (2) The behaviors are often condoned/ sanctioned by parents or other adults in the neighborhood; (3) the readily availability of opportunities to commit such unacceptable behaviors; and (4) lack of motivation, training, or opportunity for gainful employment (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). Further, Shaw found that these activities began at an early age in males, instilled in them as games and other recreational activities. Here it is determined that “normal methods of official social control could not stop this process and that it was only later in a delinquent career that a boy identified himself with the criminal world” (Bohm & Vogel, 2011). Thus, as Shaw perceived delinquency as a result of social disorganization, he believed the use of individualized treatment would not be effective in reducing the delinquency

The theory asserts that the key to maintaining social order in a neighbourhood is to have effective social control institutions, such as school, family or law enforcement. However, underprivileged neighbourhoods struggle with upholding these organizations, which subsequently leads to a breakdown in social order. As a result, social disorganization develops leading to an increase in crime rates (Siegel & McCormick, 2016). This is portrayed within the article written by Contenta et al. (2008), where it mentions how D’Souza spent his life living in Kingston-Galloway, an underprivileged neighbourhood recognized for its poor management of social establishments.

In their article, Clifford R. Shaw & Henry D. McKay address their statement of social-disorganization theory. Shaw & McKay start their article off by addressing the differences between high and low-crime-rate neighborhoods, but mainly those in Chicago where they performed their studies. They go into detail and discuss the moral values within the high and low-crime-rate neighborhoods. Shaw & McKay also address the delinquency data rates within both the low and high-crime-rate neighborhoods. They also discuss the areas with high and low delinquency rates. Shaw & McKay also share and describe two case studies they had with two delinquent boys, who both grew up in different parts of Chicago. The first case study address a boy, who at a young age

Social Disorganisation Theory According to this theory, “crime is most likely to occur in communities with weak social ties and the absence of social control. It is the absence of moral and social solidarity that provide the conditions for social deviance to occur” (Little, et al., 2014, p. 217). Weinstein is a rich, powerful and influential producer in Hollywood.

The aspect of crime correlating with a particular neighborhood, I believe is true. Disorganization theory exists and can be seen according to the figures in the power point. I personally do not know a lot about the Cleveland area. However, you can clearly see that the lower left part of the map is all light grey. Therefore, that shows me a pattern for whole area. Furthermore, there are clusters of dark grey which does correlate with Shaw and McKay’s theory. Consequently, there are a few areas that are spread out away from the clusters but I believe the figures, 3, 4, and 5 does show that social disorganization theory exists.

Criminologists’ have various self-control theories as it relates to the delinquent behavior of juvenile. According to self-control theory, people are not inherently criminal nor are they socialized into crime; rather, people differ in the extent to which they have developed self-control and attend to the controls in their environment, which inhibit crime and delinquency (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990). Self-control assumes that learning to behave in a way that is acceptable to society makes a difference in a juvenile. Those with less self-control are more likely to engage in

According to Bursik, (1988), the definition of social disorganization is “an inability of community members to achieve shared values or to solve jointly experienced problems”. Both theoretical and empirical research has focused on urban settings when studying influencers on crime and delinquencies. Current versions of social disorganization theory assume that strong social relationships will prevent crime and delinquency (" Social Disorganization and Rural Communities", 2003).