 Scientific Study of Societal "Laws“  Rapid Social Change: modernization in U.S. ◦ Industrialization (WWI)  Agriculture  Factories

◦ Urbanization  Migration  Immigration ◦ Instability (strain on social structures): Social Disorganization

 Exponential growth, Exponential growth ◦ Migration ◦ Immigration  Social Disorganization ◦ Wm. Isaac Thomas ( ) & Florian Znaniecki ( ) ◦ The Polish Peasant in Europe & America

◦ "a decrease of the influence of existing social rules of behavior upon individual members of the group” ◦ Definition of the situation  Dealing with new situation  Generational effect  Younger more likely to be deviantdeviant

 Robert Park and Ernest Burgess ( )  Ecology ◦ Process of invasion & settlement of a territory ◦ Settlement patterns  Concentric Zones

 Burgess’ diagram of concentric zones

 Zones ◦ Central Business District  The Loop ◦ Zone II (zone in transition)  High population turnover (4-7 years) ◦ Zone III  Workingmen’s homes ◦ Zone IV  Residential zone (single-family homes; apartments)

 Louis Wirth: "Urbanism as a Way of Life"  Frederick Thrasher: Gangs ◦ Daniel Bell  (“Crime as an American Way of Life”)  Thorsten Sellin: Culture Conflict

 Ecology and Juvenile Delinquency ◦ Bernard Lander (Towards an Understanding of Juvenile Delinquency, 1954)  Delinquency is ecological ◦ David Bordua (1959)  Unattached individuals (ratio) ◦ Roland Chilton (1964)  Home ownership

 More Recent Research: Cross-Cultural ◦ Kirson Weinberg: Ghana ◦ Marshall Clinard and Daniel Abbott  Kampala, Uganda  (Kiseruji and Namuwongo)

 Namuwongo

 Travis Hirschi: The Social Bond ◦ attachment: the strength of one's ties to others ◦ commitment : degree tied to convention  system of rewards ◦ involvement:  proportion of time spent in conventional pursuits

◦ Belief  Degree of acceptance of conventional norms

 Social Reform; Restore Normative Stability ◦ The Chicago Area Project The Chicago Area Project ◦ Boston: "Total community delinquency control project" ◦ Mixed results ◦ Terrence Morris:  The Criminal Area (1966)  Inequality

 Strengths: ◦ Transcends naive individualistic theories ◦ Deviants are not that different from "normal" people ◦ Considerable amount of research, empirical support

 Weaknesses: ◦ How "disorganization" is defined/ conceptualized  equates different forms of organization with disorganization ◦ Cause and effect  Deviance as example/indicator of and caused by soc. disorganization ◦ Ignores "respectable" forms of deviance ◦ Ignores inequality