Social Structure Theories
Social Disorganization Theory
Social Strain Theory
Culture Conflict Theory
Social Ecology and
Social Pathology
Anomie
Conduct Norms
Goals and Means
Disjuncture
Primary and Secondary
Conflict
Relative Deprivation
Subcultural Theory
Distributive
Justice
Focal Concerns
Concentric Zone
Model
Criminology of Place
Broken Windows Thesis
General Strain Theory
Delinquency and Drift
and
Types of Justification
Violent Subcultures
Differential Opportunity
Reaction Formation
Gangs
Social Structure Theories
They focus on the various formal and informal arrangements between social groups. They emphasize the role of poverty, lack of
education, absence of salable skills, and Subcultural values as fundamental causes of crime. Social structure approaches portray crime as
the result of an individual’s location within the structure of society and focuses on the social and economic conditions of life. Social
injustice, racism, and feelings of disenfranchisement may play important roles in crime by perpetuating the conditions that cause it. Crime
is seen as a lower-class phenomenon, while the criminality of the middle and upper classes is discounted as less serious, less frequent and
less dangerous.
Social Disorganization
Depicts social change, social conflict and the lack of social consensus as the root causes of crime and deviance. An offshoot, social
ecology, sees society as a kind of organism and crime and deviance as a kind of disease.
 The community as a functional whole determines the quality of life
 Robert Park and Ernest Burgess – developed Social Ecology
 Links the structure of the community to the interactions of the local environment
 Concentric Zone Model – cities grew in concentric zones around the central business district.
 As the city grows and technology improves, more zones are added; people that can afford to, move further away and drive to
work. Poor immigrants, stuck in the slums, cannot afford to move away. They have the desire to live the American dream but do
not possess the means to achieve it.
 Broken Windows Thesis – central to Criminology of Place – holds that the physical deterioration and increase in unrepaired
buildings leads to increased concerns for public safety among residents, which lead to increased delinquency, vandalism, and crime
among local residents, which leads to further deterioration in both a sense of safety and the physical environment. Offenders are
increasingly attracted by the area’s perceived vulnerability.
 High crime areas tend to be concentrated at specific locations:
 Certain street blocks or dwellings, entrances that are not facing other buildings, pedestrian tunnels, unattended parking lots,
convenience stores
Social Strain Theory
Points to a lack of fit between socially approved success goals and the availability of socially approved means to achieve those goals. As a
consequence, individuals who are unable to succeed through legitimate means turn to other avenues that promise economic and social
recognition.
 Offered by Robert Merton in 1938
 Depicts delinquency as a form of adaptive, problem-solving behavior, usually committed in response to problems involving
frustrating and undesirable social environments.
 Merton maintained that not everyone accepts the legitimacy of socially approved goals. He suggested there are five goals and
means disjunctures: conformity, Innovation, Ritualism, Retreatism and Rebellion.
General Strain Theory
 Formulated by Robert Agnew
 Delinquent behavior is a coping mechanism that enables adolescents to deal with the socioemotional problems generated by
negative social relations.
 GST expands on strain theory in several ways:
 It significantly widens the focus of strain theory to include all types of negative relations between an individual and others
 Strain is likely to have a cumulative effect on delinquency after reaching a certain threshold
Culture Conflict Theory
Sees the root cause of crime in a clash of values between variously socialized groups over what is acceptable or proper behavior. Because
they tend to be in flux, the zones harbor groups of people whose values are often at odds with those of the larger, surrounding society.
 Conduct Norms – Thorsten Sellin – provide the valuative basis for human behavior, are acquired early in life through childhood
socialization. It is the clash of norms between variously socialized groups that results in crime.
 The criminal event is a disagreement over what should be acceptable behavior.
 Subculture Theory – is a sociological perspective that emphasizes the contribution made by variously socialized cultural groups to the
phenomenon of crime.
 A subculture is a collection of values and preferences which is communicated to participants through a process of socialization
and they differ from larger culture in that they claim the allegiance of smaller groups of people.
 Frederic Thrasher’s work led to a typology of the different types of gangs.
 Focal Concerns – Walter Miller – detailed the values that drive members of lower-class subcultures into delinquent pursuits: trouble,
toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, and autonomy.
 Trouble – not necessarily valued, but is seen as a means to an end
 Toughness – identified with masculinity
 Smartness – helps to achieve a valued entity, material goods and personal status, with minimal effort
 Excitement – search for thrills, necessary to overcome boredom: fighting, gambling, picking up women
 Fate – related to excitement and the concept of being lucky or unlucky
 Autonomy – “I can take care of myself” or “No one’s going to push me around”. Produces behavioral problems from the
middle-class perspective when it surfaces in the work environment, public schools, or other social entities built on conformity