CRIM 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Sociological Theory, Juvenile Court, Elite
1 Jun 2018
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SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION PART II
SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY
• Sometimes referred to as environmental criminology, ecological
criminology o social criminology
• Examines relationship between people and their environment
• Foundation for “Community Structure and Crime: Testing Social-
Disorganization Theory,” and “Economic Deprivation and
Neighborhood crime rates”
CRIME IS PATTERNED
o Social disorganization theorists and researchers are interested in the
“spatial” distribution of crime
o Notion that distribution of crime is not random. It is socially patterned
o Social problems like unemployment, poverty, and run-down housing are
highly correlated with crime
SOCIALLY DISORGANIZED AREAS
• Crime is not the only social “problem” in crime-ridden areas
• Usually have unemployment, mental illness, drug addiction,
alcoholism
THE “GOOD” PART OF TOWN
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• Usually characterized by low rates of crime
• Absence of social problems found in socially disorganized areas
INFLUENCE OF THE CHICAGO SCHOOL
• City of Chicago grew from 4,000 residents in 1833 to 2 million
residents in 1910, principally through immigration
• Led to rapid social changes associated with urbanization,
immigration, and industrialization
• “The Chicago School” was first sociology department in the united
states
• Often called “The Ecological School” because various of its core
members compared growth of Chicago to the natural ecological
process of competition
• Viewed city of Chicago as a “social ecology” where humans
competed for scarce and desirable space
Characteristics of socially disorganized areas
• Population density (overcrowding, urbanization)
• Poverty (newly arrived immigrants, migrants from farms and or
southern united states, unemployed or marginally employed
• Run-down housing, abandoned buildings and factories
• Ethnic and cultural heterogeneity (diversity of languages,
religions, values and norms)
• High rates of transience/ residential mobility
Consequence of social disorganization
• Overcrowding, poverty, transience all contribute to breakdown of
social controls (family, school, religion)
• Ineffective socialization AND SUPERVISION of children due to
dysfunctional families, no neighborhood stability
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• Residents unable to solve their own problems and achieve
community goals
Socially disorganized neighborhoods (lack of opportunity and
discrimination)→ institutional breakdown erosion of informal social control
→ dev of youth peer group gangs → cultural transmission → delinquent
and criminal behavior
CONCENTRIC ZONE MODEL
• Concentric zone model
• Park and Burgess were urban sociologists
• Said that cities expanded outwards
• Started with central business district
PARK & BURGESS’ CONCENTRIC ZONES
SHAW AND MCKAY
• Shaw and McKay
• Demonstrated that zones in transition
SHAW & MCKAY’S SOCIAL
DISORGANIZATION STUDY
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