Chapter Outline
I.
Introduction
A.
Social structure theory focuses on the association between social
conditions and crime.
B.
The Chicago School
1.
The work of Robert Ezra Park (1864-1944), Ernest W. Burgess
(1886-1966), and Louis Wirth (1897-1952) at the University of
Chicago
2.
Work on the social ecology of the city led to the conclusion that
social forces operating in urban areas create criminal interactions.
II.
Socioeconomic Structure and Crime
A.
People in United States live in a stratified society.
1.
Social strata are created by unequal distribution of wealth, power,
and prestige.
2.
Social classes are segments of population that have similar
portions of things and share attitudes, values, norms, and lifestyles.
3.
Problems of lower-class areas and its members
a.
Inadequate housing and healthcare, disrupted family lives,
underemployment, and despair
b.
More prone to depression, less likely to have achievement
motivation, less likely to put off immediate gratification,
and less willing to stay in school
B.
Child Poverty
1.
Poverty during early childhood may have a more severe impact
than if experienced later in life.
2.
Children have the highest rate of poverty.
a.
Numerous studies have documented the association
between family poverty and children’s health, achievement,
and behavior impairments.
b.
About 25% of children under six live in poverty.
c.
Only 6% of white children are extremely poor versus 50%
of black children.
C.
The Underclass
1.
In 1966, Oscar Lewis argued the crushing lifestyle of slum areas
produces a culture of poverty, which is passed from one generation
to the next.
a.
Culture of poverty - apathy, cynicism, helplessness, and
mistrust of social institutions
b.
Identified at-risk children and adults
2.
In 1970, Gunnar Myrdal described a worldwide underclass of
members cut off from society and lacking the education and skills
to be in demand.
D.
III.
Minority Group Poverty
1.
While declining, more than 20% of African Americans and Latino
Americans live in poverty compared to less than 10% of whites.
2.
In some neighborhoods, up to half of all minority males are under
criminal justice control.
3.
Interracial crime rate differentials can be explained by differences
in standard of living; if interracial economic disparity would end,
so too might differences in the crime rate.
4.
In 1987, William Julius Wilson labeled the lowest levels of the
underclass the “truly disadvantaged.”
Social Structure Theories
A.
Social structure theory maintains that the social and economic forces
operating in deteriorated lower-class areas are the key determinants of
criminal behavior patterns.
B.
Branches of Social Structure Theory
1.
Social Disorganization Theory – focuses on the conditions within
the urban environment that affect crime rates.
a.
Disorganized areas are ones in which institutions of social
control have broken down.
b.
Indicators of disorganization include high unemployment,
school dropout rates, deteriorated housing, low income
levels, and large numbers of single-parent households.
2.
Strain Theory - crime is a function of the conflict between goals
people have and their means to legally obtain them.
a.
While social and economic goals are common to people in
all strata, the ability to obtain these goals is class
dependent.
b.
Lower class members are unable to achieve goals via
conventional means, so they experience strain – anger,
frustration, and resentment.
3.
Cultural Deviance Theory - combines elements of strain and social
disorganization.
a.
Subcultures - unique lower-class cultures that develop in
disorganized neighborhoods; values and beliefs in conflict
with conventional values.
b.
Cultural transmission - process whereby subcultural values
are handed down from one generation to the next.
IV. Social Disorganization Theories
A.
Link crime rates to neighborhood ecological characteristics; highest rates
in neighborhoods that are highly transient, mixed-use, and/or changing
1.
Residents want to leave; thus, they become uninterested in
community matters.
2.
Personal relationships are strained because constant resident
turnover weakens communications and blocks problem-solving
and establishing common goals.
B.
C.
Foundations of Social Disorganization Theory
1.
The Work of Shaw and McKay - Chicago sociologists in the 1920s
who linked life in transitional slum areas to the inclination to
commit crime.
2.
Transitional neighborhoods - poverty ridden, suffered high rates of
population turnover, and were incapable of inducing people to stay
and defend the neighborhood against criminals.
3.
Concentric zones - Zones I and II (central city and transitional
zone) exhibited higher rates of crime, even with ethnic changes.
4.
The Legacy of Shaw and McKay
a.
Crime is a constant fixture in areas of poverty regardless of
the racial or ethnic identity of its residents.
b.
Neighborhood disintegration and inner-city conditions are
the primary causes of criminal behavior.
c.
Adult criminality and delinquent gang membership are
normal responses to adverse social conditions (mirrors
Durkheim).
d.
Critics challenge the assumed stability of neighborhoods,
the definition of social disorganization, and the use of
police records to calculate neighborhood crime rates.
The Social Ecology School
1.
Emphasizes the association of community deterioration and
economic decline to criminality but places less emphasis on value
conflict.
2.
Community deterioration - deserted houses, houses needing repair,
and abandoned buildings are magnets for crime.
a.
Poverty becomes concentrated in such areas.
b.
Concentration effect - when working- and middle-class
families flee inner-city poverty areas it results in the most
disadvantaged population being consolidated in urban
ghettos.
3.
Chronic unemployment - aggregate crime rates and aggregate
unemployment rates seem weakly related.
a.
Crime rates sometimes rise during times of economic
prosperity and vice versa.
b.
Unemployment destabilizes households and the stabilizing
influence of parents.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Community fear - those living in disorganized neighborhoods
suffer social and physical incivilities such as rowdy youth, trash
and litter, graffiti, abandoned storefronts, burned out buildings,
derelicts, noise, angry words, dirt and stench.
a.
Fear is based on experience; victimized residents more
fearful.
b.
Fear can become contagious.
c.
Fear incites more crime increasing the chances of
victimization.
d.
Fear is associated with other community-level factors.
i.
Race and fear - fear is highest in areas undergoing
rapid and unexpected racial and age-composition
changes.
ii.
Gangs and fear - gangs openly engage in activities
in deteriorated neighborhoods.
iii.
Mistrust and fear - people in high crime
neighborhoods become suspicious and mistrusting.
a.
Siege mentality - residents become
suspicious of authority; the outside world is
considered the enemy out to destroy the
neighborhood.
Community change - as areas decline, residents flee to more stable
locales.
The cycles of community change – during periods of population
turnover, communities may undergo changes that undermine their
infrastructure.
a.
Life cycle: building residential dwellings, period of decline
with marked decreases in socioeconomic status and
increases in population density, changing racial or ethnic
makeup, population thinning, renewal or gentrification.
b.
Change and decline
i.
Neighborhood deterioration precedes increasing
rates of crime and delinquency.
ii.
Neighborhoods at most risk contain large numbers
of single-parent families and unrelated people living
together, have gone from owner-occupied to renteroccupied housing
Collective efficacy - cohesive communities with high levels of
social control develop mutual trust and shared responsibilities.
a.
Informal social control – peers, families, relatives who
exert informal control by either awarding or withholding
approval, respect, admiration
b.
Institutional social control – schools, churches, and afterschool programs
c.
Public social control – external control mechanisms such as
levels of policing
8.
V.
The effect of collective efficacy
a.
Areas where collective efficacy is high
i.
Children are less likely to become involved with
deviant peers.
ii.
Neighbors feel a sense of obligation to maintain
order and are more willing to work hard to
encourage informal social control.
b.
Areas where collective efficacy is low
i.
The area is disorganized, the population is transient,
interpersonal relationships remain superficial, and
people are less willing to help neighbors or exert
informal social control.
Strain Theories
A.
Strain theorists believe that most people share similar values and goals but
the ability to achieve these personal goals is stratified by socioeconomic
class.
1.
Strain is related to motivation.
2.
Generalized feelings of relative deprivation are precursors to high
crime rates.
a.
Sharp division between rich and poor creates an
atmosphere of envy and mistrust that may lead to
aggression and violence.
b.
People who feel deprived because of race or economic
class eventually develop a sense of injustice and discontent
that creates constant frustration leading to violence and
crime.
3.
Two formulations of strain theories
a.
Structural strain – economic and social sources of strain
shape collective behavior.
b.
Individual strain – individual life experiences cause some
people to suffer pain and misery, feelings that are then
translated into antisocial behavior.
B.
The Concept of Anomie
1.
Traced to Emile Durkheim; an anomic society is one where rules
of behavior (values, customs, norms) have broken down or become
inoperative due to rapid social change or crisis.
2.
Anomie is more likely to occur in societies moving from
mechanical to organic solidarity.
a.
Mechanical solidarity - preindustrial society; traditions,
shared values, and unquestioned beliefs
b.
Organic solidarity – postindustrial, connected by
interdependent needs and division of labor
C.
Merton’s Theory of Anomie
1.
Durkheim’s ideas applied to criminology by Robert Merton; found
two culture elements interact to produce anomic conditions:
D.
culturally defined goals and socially approved means of obtaining
them.
2.
Social adaptations - each has own concept of the goals of society
and how to attain them.
a.
Conformity - individuals embrace conventional social goals
and have the means to attain them.
b.
Innovation - individuals accept social goals but reject or are
incapable of attaining them through legitimate means.
c.
Ritualism - those that receive pleasure from practicing
traditional ceremonies regardless of whether they have a
goal
d.
Retreatism - reject both the goals and means of society.
e.
Rebellion - substituting an alternative set of goals and
means for conventional ones.
3.
Evaluation of Anomie Theory –one of the most enduring and
influential theories of criminality but a number of questions
unanswered by Merton.
a.
No explanation as to why people choose certain crimes
b.
Anomie assumes people share the same goals and values,
which is false.
c.
Anomie reconsidered – macro-level (the success goal in
American society influences the aggregate crime rate) and
micro-level (how an individual is effected by anomie)
Macro Level: Institutional Anomie Theory
1.
Messner and Rosenfeld’s Crime and the American Dream – a
macro-level version of anomie theory that views antisocial
behavior as a function of cultural and institutional influences in
U. S. society
a.
Success goal is pervasive in American culture
b.
American Dream – a goal and a process
2.
Impact of anomie – anomie pervades American culture because
institutions that might otherwise control the exaggerated emphasis
on financial success, such as religious or charitable institutions,
have been rendered powerless or obsolete.
a.
Non-economic functions and roles have been devalued.
b.
When conflict emerges, non-economic roles become
subordinated to economic roles.
c.
Economic language, standards, and norms penetrate into
non-economic realms.
d.
According to Messner and Rosenfield, high crime rates are
due to the relationship between culture and institutions.
e.
Chernkovich and associates found that people who value
the American Dream but who failed to achieve economic
success were prone to crime.
f.
The dominance of economic concerns weakens informal
social control exerted by family, church, and school.
g.
E.
F.
G.
H.
Messner-Rosenfeld version of anomie may be a blueprint
for crime reduction strategies.
Micro Level: General Strain Theory
1.
General Strain Theory (GST) - Sociologist Robert Agnew explains
individuals who feel stress and strain are more likely to commit
crime.
2.
Multiple sources of stress - criminality is the result of negative
affective states – the anger, frustration and adverse emotions that
emerge in the wake of negative and destructive social
relationships.
a.
Strain caused by failure to achieve positively valued goals
b.
Strain caused by disjunction of expectations and
achievements
c.
Strain from the removal of positively valued stimuli
d.
Strain from the presentation of negative stimuli
Sources of Strain
1.
Social sources of strain
a.
May feel strain due to groups one associates with
2.
Community sources of strain
a.
Influence the goals people pursue and the ability to achieve
b.
Influence feelings of relative deprivation and exposure to
adverse stimuli
c.
Influence the likelihood that angry, strain-filled individuals
will interact with one another
Coping with Strain
1.
Not all who experience strain will commit crime.
a.
Coping ability may be a function of both individual traits
and personal experiences over the life course.
b.
Although socially disapproved, criminality can provide
relief and satisfaction for someone living an otherwise
stress-filled life.
2. Strain and criminal careers
a.
Certain people are more sensitive to strain and thus more
crime prone.
b.
Crime peaks during late adolescence because this is a
period of social stress caused by the weakening of parental
supervision and the development of relationships with
diverse peer groups.
Evaluating GST
1.
Adds to literature describing how social and life history influence
offending patterns; empirical support for GST
2.
Gender issues
a.
Evidence indicates that females under strain commit less
crime than men under strain.
b.
Criminal behavior is more prevalent with men than women.
VI. Cultural Deviance Theories
A.
Combines social disorganization and strain to explain how people living in
deteriorated neighborhoods react to social isolation and economic
deprivation.
B.
Conduct Norms
1.
Rules governing daily living conditions within subcultures
2.
Culture conflict - occurs when rules expressed in the criminal law
clash with the demands of group conduct norms.
C.
Focal Concerns
1.
Unique value system that dominates lower-class culture
2.
Miller’s Lower Class Focal Concerns
a.
Trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, and
autonomy
D.
Theory of Delinquent Subcultures
1.
Albert Cohen’s 1955 book, Delinquent Boys
2.
Status frustration - lower-class youth experience culture conflict
because social conditions make them incapable of achieving
success legitimately.
3.
The development of the delinquent subculture is a consequence of
socialization practices found in the ghetto or slum environment.
4.
Middle-class measuring rods - standards set by authority figures
5.
The formation of deviant subcultures - lower-class boys suffer
rejection by middle-class decision makers leading boys to join one
of these subcultures:
a.
Corner boy – is not a chronic offender, but a truant
engaging in petty or status offenses.
b.
College boy - embraces the cultural and social values of the
middle class and actively strives to be successful by those
standards.
c.
Delinquent boy - adopts norms and principles in direct
opposition to middle-class values.
i.
Reaction formation - frustrated by their inability to
succeed, individuals develop overly intense
responses that seem disproportionate to the stimuli
that trigger them.
E.
Theory of Differential Opportunity
1.
Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin wrote Delinquency and Opportunity;
combining strain and social disorganization principles into a
portrayal of a gang-sustaining criminal subculture.
2.
Differential opportunity - people in all strata of society share the
same success goals; however, those in the lower class have limited
means of achieving them.
3.
4.
Because of differential opportunity, kids are likely to join a gang:
a.
Criminal gangs – develop in slum areas where close
connections between adolescent and adult offenders create
an environment for successful criminal enterprise.
b.
Conflict gangs - develop in communities unable to provide
either legitimate or illegitimate opportunities. Crime in this
area is individualistic, unorganized, petty, poorly paid, and
unprotected.
c.
Retreatist gangs – are double failures, unable to gain
success through legitimate means and unwilling to do so
through illegal ones.
Analysis of differential opportunity - important because it
integrates cultural deviance and social disorganization variables
and recognizes different modes of criminal adaptation.
VII. Evaluating Social Structure Theories
A.
Has influenced criminological theory and crime prevention strategies
1.
Its core concepts seem to be valid.
2.
Critics question whether it is lower-class culture that promotes
crime or some other force operating in society.
3.
Lower-class crime rates may be a factor of bias in the criminal
justice system.
4.
There are those who question whether a distinct lower-class culture
actually exists.
VIII. Public Policy Implications of Social Structure Theory
A.
Social structure theory has a significant influence on social policy.
1.
Provide direct financial aid via welfare and Aid to Dependent
Children
2.
Improve the community structure in high-crime inner-city areas –
such as Shaw’s Chicago Area Project
3.
Kennedy and Johnson Administration’s War on Poverty
4.
Operation Weed and Seed - weed out criminals then “seed” with
human services to the area