Structural Theories of Crime
1. Social Disorganization Theory
2. Merton’s Theory
3. Relative Deprivation Theory
Social Structure Theories
• Social structure theorists view members
of economically disadvantaged groups
as being more likely to commit crimes
Social Structure Theories
• Crime is seen largely as a lower-class
phenomenon
• Criminality of middle class is generally
discounted as less severe, less
frequent, and less dangerous
Social Disorganization Theory
• Social Disorganization theory explains
causes of group crime rates rather than
why particular individuals commit crimes
Crime rate =150 per 1,000
Crime rate= 2 per 1,000
Social Disorganization Areas
• Social disorganization is defined as an
inability of community members to
achieve shared values or to solve jointly
experienced problems (Bursik, 1988).
Social Disorganization Theory
• Shaw and McKay (1930s)
• They looked at 10 to 16 year-old males
who were petitioned to juvenile court
(56,000 juvenile court records were
used as data from 1900-1933)
Delinquent Areas?
• The rates of juvenile delinquency had an identical
spatial pattern with other indexes of social problems
(poverty, residential instability, ethnic heterogeneity)
• The spatial pattern of delinquency rates showed
significant long-term stability even though the
structure of the population in the inner-city areas
changed greatly over time
CONCENTRIC ZONE
THEORY
• Cities has five zones (1. Central
Business District, 2.transition,
3.workingman, 4.residential, and
5.commuter)
• Their "zonal hypothesis" was that
delinquency is greatest in the zone of
transition
Shaw and McKay's Model
Residential Mobility
Poverty
Racial Heterogeneity
Disorganization
Crime
Crime Mapping
• http://www.crimemapping.com/
Portland
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atys6
gKJQY4
Sampson and Grove (1989)
Residential Mobility
Low Economic
Status
Racial Heterogeneity
Family Disruption
Population
Density/Urbanization
Unsupervised teenage peer groups
Low organizational
participation
Spare local
friendship networks
Crime
Residential mobility
• When the population of an area is
constantly changing, the residents have
fewer opportunities to develop strong,
personal ties to one another
• Lack of participation in community
organizations
Ethnic diversity
• Effective communication is less likely in
the face of ethnic diversity because
differences in customs and a lack of
shared experiences may breed fear and
mistrust (Sampson and Groves, 1989).
Family disruption
• Unshared parenting strains parents'
resources of time, money, and energy, which
interferes with their ability to supervise their
children and communicate with other adults in
the neighborhood
Economic status
• Areas with the lowest average
socioeconomic status will also have the
greatest residential instability and ethnic
diversity, which in turn will create social
disorganization (Bursik and Grasmick,
1993)
Population density
• High population density creates
problems by producing anonymity that
interferes with accountability to
neighbors
Collective efficacy and
neighborhood safety
• Robert Sampson (1990)
• Concept of “collective efficacy” captures
“trust” and “cohesion” on one hand and
shared expectations for control on the
other
• Collective efficacy is associated with
lower rates of violence
Merton’s Anomie
• Anomie produces crime
• Anomie is a disjunction between the
socially-produced and encouraged
ends or goals and the means through
which they could achieve these
desirable ends
Strain Theory: R.K.Merton.
• American society is structured to
ensure that the vast majority of people
could never realistically attain these
ends through the means that American
society provided in legitimate ways hard work
Merton’s theory
• Because of this tension anomie
occurs
Merton’s typology
• Merton elaborated five basic responses
to the anomic situation which he
claimed to see in American society
• He classified these types of
conformity and deviance in terms of
acceptance and denial of basic ends
and means
Merton’s typology
Response:
Means:
Ends:
1. Conformity
+
+
2. Innovation
-
+
3. Ritualism
+
-
4. Retreatism
-
-
Rejects means
Rejects ends
5. Rebellion
Merton’s Conformity
Conformity applies to
the people who accept
both socially-produced
ends and the sociallylegitimated means to
achieve them
Merton’s Innovation
• Innovation is deviant behaviour that
uses illegitimate means to achieve
socially acceptable goals
• Drug crimes, property crimes
and some white collar crimes would
be examples of innovation
Merton’s Ritualism
• Ritualism refers to someone who
conforms to socially-approved means,
but has lost sight of the ends (or has
come to accept that they will never
achieve them)
Merton’s Retreatism
An example of
retreatism is someone
who "drops-out" of
mainstream society. The
drug addict who retreats
into a self-contained
world, the alcoholic who
is unable to hold-down a
steady job
Merton’s rebbellion
• Political deviance is a good example of the
rebellion response, whether this is expressed in
terms of working for a revolutionary group or
through political terrorism
Assessment
• Monetary success is the only one motive
mentioned by Merton
• Some criminals are engaged into deviant
activities for no apparent reason (enjoyable)
• White collar crime is not explained
• If the strains of life really operates as
suggested by Merton, why it is most member
of society engage in law-abiding activities
Relative Deprivation Theory
• Messner and Rosenfeld, 1997
• To feel anomie a person should see
deprivation
• The poorest Americans are far richer in terms
of material possessions that the average
citizen of many third world nations
Relative Deprivation Theory
• Relative Deprivation refers to the
economic gap that exists between rich
and poor who live in close proximity to
one another
Relative Deprivation Theory
• Inner-city inhabitants develop an increased
sense of relative deprivation because they
can witness well-to-do lifestyle in nearby
neighborhoods
• People start question their place in the
reward structure of society
• Sense of injustice is the source of strain that
can lead to criminal behavior