Today’s Agenda

Review Social Disorganization Central Concepts, Policy Implications

Anomie / Strain Theories

Modern Social Disorganization Theory

Review of Social Disorganization Macro (Neighborhood) level theory

Explains why certain neighborhoods have high crime rates

Theory of “Places,” and not “People” Not all people who live there are “crime prone,” in

fact most are law-abiding

Race and Crime

Explanation for high crime/victimization rates in minority neighborhoods Economic, social, and political reasons for

interrupted flow out of neighborhoods Cultural legacy

Code of the Streets Cognitive Landscape

▪ Chicago Area Projects (CAP)▪ Mobilize local informal social organization and

social control—creating “community committees” ▪ Overcome influence of delinquent peers and

criminal adults ▪ Assign detached local adults to neighborhood gangs▪ Recreational programs designed to provide youth with

associations with conventional peers and adults▪ Improve sanitation, traffic control, and physical decay

▪ Produced mixed results

Social Ecology Policy Implications

▪ Neighborhood watch programs ▪ Only successfully implemented in

neighborhoods that are cohesive Rob Sampson: the more (and more diverse)

non-profit programs the better After school programs, recreation, churches…

▪ Urban-renewal projects▪ Cabrini Green and other high rise “projects”

New “mixed” ownership (section 8, partial subsidy, private ownership)

Social Ecology Policy Implications

▪ Implications for criminal justice system▪ Community policing

▪ Active role working with neighborhood residents to identify and solve community problems

▪ Reduces fear of crime ▪ Little evidence of reduction in criminal behavior

▪ Limit the Damage of Mass Incarceration▪ High levels of incarceration within a neighborhood might

contribute to social disorganization: recent research = may have maxed out on any benefits

Social Ecology Policy Implications

GROUP WORK

Watch for all elements of social disorganization Ecological Collective Efficacy Cultural Values

Return to class when finished

Anomie or “Strain” Theories

MertonAgnewMessner and Rosenfeld

Durkhiem’s Legacy

Rapidly Changing Society

“Industrial Prosperity”

Anomie (Norms are Weakened)

Human Nature asInsatiable; must

therefore cap or control

Social Ties Important

The Anomie/Strain Tradition The Social Disorganization and “Informal Control”

Robert K. Merton

Social Structure and Anomie (1938) From Durkheim: Institutionalized norms are

weakened in societies that place an intense value on economic success

Applied this to the United States The “American Dream”

Conflict: Means and Goals

Cultural Goal in U.S.? This goal is universal (The American Dream)

Institutionalized Means? Due to the social structure in the U.S., the

means are unequally distributed Segment of society with no way to attain goal

Strain Theory (Micro Level)

MODES OF CULTURAL INSTITUTIONALIZED ADAPTATION GOALS MEANS

1. Conformity + +2. Innovation + -3. Ritualism - +4. Retreatism - -5. Rebellion +/- +/-

Criticisms of Merton’s Strain Theory Is crime a “lower class” phenomena? Cannot explain “expressive” crimes Weak empirical support Why do people “adapt” differently?

Agnew: General Strain Theory Overhaul of Merton’s Strain Theory Three sources of strain

1. Failure to achieve valued goals2. Removal of valued stimuli3. Can’t escape noxious stimuli

Agnew (GST)

StrainNegative Affective States Anger, fear, frustration, depression

In lieu of “Coping Mechanisms,” anger and frustration can produce delinquency

StrainNeg EmotionalDelinquency

Agnew (GST)

Tests of GST are more favorable Is this theory a theory of “Strain” (in a

sociological sense) or a theory of “STRESS?” (in a psychological sense)

CRIME AND THE AMERICAN DREAM

Messner and Rosenfeld

The Legacy of Merton

In “Social Structure and Anomie”: “Modes of Adaptation” (micro) Discussion of why U.S. might be crime prone

(macro) than other countries

Messner and Rosefeld, in the 1980s, revisited the macro part of the theory

Elements of the “American Dream”

Achievement Individualism Universalism The “fetishism” of money These elements encourage “Anomic

conditions”

THE AMERICAN DREAM PRODUCES ANOMIE MERTON: Pursuit of financial success is

“limited only by considerations of technical expediency.”

Lombardi: Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.

Institutions in Society

Social institutions as the building blocks of society. The Economy The Polity The Family Education

Key Issue for M & R

These institutions sometimes have conflicting goals and values.

All societies can therefore be characterized by their distinctive arrangements of institutions

The U.S.? Economy Dominates: we are a “MARKET SOCIETY”

Indicators of Economic Dominance

Devaluation of non-economic institutional functions and roles

Accommodation to economic requirements by other social institutions

Penetration of economic norms into other social domains

Implications of Economic Dominance Weak institutional controls

Family and School are handicapped in efforts to promote allegiance to social rules

Single parent families Poorly funded schools “Weak institutions invite challenge”

Culture, Social Structure, and Crime Rates

CULTUREThe American Dream

ANOMIE

SOCIAL STRUCTUREEconomic Dominance

Weak Institutional Controls

HIGH CRIME RATES