Social Structure and Crime: An Overview of Social Disorganization and Strain Theories, Slides of Social Theory

Download Social Structure and Crime: An Overview of Social Disorganization and Strain Theories and more Slides Social Theory in PDF only on Docsity! Social structure theories Societal forces Social structure theory  Varying patterns of criminal behavior exist within the social structure. Biological and psychological approaches do no account for this. Social structure theories focus on these patterns  Social structure theory is also concerned with social change and its effect on behavior Poverty (cont)  Less likely to delay gratification  Culture of poverty, passed from generation to generation, includes apathy, cynicism, helplessness, and mistrust of social institutions, especially schools, government, police  Primary cause of crime: disadvantaged position Social structure  Forces operating in poverty stricken areas push man of its members in the direction of criminal behavior  Branches of social structure theory  Social disorganization theory  Strain theory  Culture deviance theory Ecological, Social Disorganization Theory  Ecology applied to cities  Shaw and McKay: five city zones  Business, “downtown” area, Zone I  Transitional zones, Zone II  Working class residential, Zone III  White collar, Zone IV  Suburbs, Zone V Characteristics of Zone II  Located next to downtown or industrial areas  Substandard, deteriorated housing  Low levels of home ownership, rental  Low income  High rates of TB, infant mortality, mental illness Characteristics (cont)  High unemployment  High crime rates  High levels of mobility, short and long term  Turnover of ethnic groups  Ethnic groups changed over time, but crime rates remained high Characteristics (cont)  Successive waves of immigrants lived in these areas. First generation--law-abiding, but their children had a high likelihood of becoming delinquent  Held true over time, regardless of ethnic group Explanations  Such factors included:  Poverty  Alienation  Fear of crime, suspicion of others  Competition for limited jobs  Households destabilized because of limited and uncertain employment, discouraged unemployed Explanations  Thus, neighborhood structure influences criminal behavior  Crime and delinquency arise as a response to adverse conditions in slum areas  Community members do not mobilize and help each other because of fear Explanations  Difficult to control children without neighborhood assistance, stressed parents have less influence  Children grow up in the presence of adolescent gangs (which have existed for over 100 years) and adult criminals. They are exposed to criminal activities as an option and opportunity Durkheim (cont)  Societies try to exert control over people  In early societies, informal control is sufficient (approval, inclusion in the group)  In modern societies, this is much less effective, and formal controls develop  As consensus breaks down, more difficult to control people Durkheim (cont)  Anomie refers to a condition of relative normlessness, and society can no longer exert control. Demands become unlimited. Without norms, people will feel alienated, not part of a larger society.  Crime becomes common in such societies, symptomatic of the problem.  Crime also serves a function. 20th Century strain theory  Sociologists of the 20th century are influenced by Durkheim  They argued that crime is symptomatic of a problem, of “strains” in a society, particularly where there is a lack of consensus  Merton: crime in the U.S. is the result of strains in American society Strain (cont)  Crime is a result of the frustration people experience over their inability to achieve social and financial success  People respond in various ways to the pressure of the American Dream Modes of Adaptation Modes of Adaptatio Goals Means Crime Conform + + - Innovatio + - + Ritualism - + - Retreatis - - + Rebellion + and - + and - + Modes (continued)  Conformity: balanced society, majority  American Dream serves a function because many work hard and achieve, makes for a successful society  Innovation: same goals, criminal means  Ritualism: hard work, thrift, no expectation of success  Retreatism: rejection--drug addicts, vagrants Strain: Cohen  Cohen argued that when lower class boys are frustrated by the failure to achieve middle class success, they join gangs  Poor children, upon entry to school, are judged against the standards of middle class teachers  Middle class measuring rod Cohen (cont)  Many poor children have lacked adequate preparation and stimulation for school. They are not used to scheduling, structured activities, and have little familiarity with books, letters and numbers, etc...  They are found lacking by the teachers and become frustrated Cohen (cont)  Might react in different ways to this frustration: corner boy, college boy, delinquent boy  Implications: development of preschool programs such as Headstart Gangs  Cloward and Ohlin argued that there are different types of gangs  criminal gang: seek monetary gain through crime]  Conflict gang: specialize in violence, occur in areas so disorganized that youths are denied access to both legitimate and criminal opportunities Gangs (cont)  Retreatist: drug related. The persons in such gangs might not have either the skills or the opportunities to succeed in criminal or conflict gangs  Overlap among gangs  Opportunity theory led to the War on Poverty. Programs such as Job Corps still reflect their impact