Today’s Agenda Review Social Disorganization  Central Concepts, Policy Implications Anomie / Strain Theories

Modern Social Disorganization Theory

Review of Social Disorganization Macro (Neighborhood) level theory  Explains why certain neighborhoods have high crime rates Theory of “Places,” and not “People”  Not all people who live there are “crime prone,” in fact most are law-abiding

▪ Chicago Area Projects (CAP) ▪ Mobilize local informal social organization and social control—creating “community committees” ▪ Overcome influence of delinquent peers and criminal adults ▪ Assign detached local adults to neighborhood gangs ▪ Recreational programs designed to provide youth with associations with conventional peers and adults ▪ Improve sanitation, traffic control, and physical decay ▪ Produced mixed results Social Ecology Policy Implications

▪Neighborhood watch programs ▪Only successfully implemented in neighborhoods that are cohesive ▪Moving to Opportunity program ▪Moving everyone out of poverty-stricken neighborhoods not realistic ▪Urban-renewal projects ▪Cabrini Green and other high rise “projects” New “mixed” ownership (section 8, partial subsidy, private ownership) Social Ecology Policy Implications

▪Implications for criminal justice system ▪Community policing ▪Active role working with neighborhood residents to identify and solve community problems ▪Reduces fear of crime ▪Little evidence of reduction in criminal behavior ▪Mass Incarceration ▪High levels of incarceration within a neighborhood might contribute to social disorganization Social Ecology Policy Implications

▪Weed-and-seed strategy ▪Federal initiative ▪Target chronic violent offenders for incapacitation ▪Bring human services to the area ▪Promote economic and physical revitalization ▪Produced mixed findings Social Ecology Policy Implications

Anomie or “Strain” Theories Merton Agnew Messner and Rosenfeld

Durkhiem’s Legacy Rapidly Changing Society “Industrial Prosperity” Anomie (Norms are Weakened) Human Nature as Insatiable; must therefore cap or control Social Ties Important The Anomie/Strain Tradition The Social Disorganization and “Informal Control”

Robert K. Merton Social Structure and Anomie (1938) From Durkheim: Institutionalized norms are weakened in societies that place an intense value on economic success Applied this to the United States  The “American Dream”

Conflict: Means and Goals Cultural Goal in U.S.?  This goal is universal  (The American Dream) Institutionalized Means?  Due to the social structure in the U.S., the means are unequally distributed  Segment of society with no way to attain goal

Strain Theory (Micro Level) MODES OF CULTURAL INSTITUTIONALIZED ADAPTATION GOALS MEANS 1. Conformity Innovation Ritualism Retreatism Rebellion +/- +/- MODES OF CULTURAL INSTITUTIONALIZED ADAPTATION GOALS MEANS 1. Conformity Innovation Ritualism Retreatism Rebellion +/- +/-

Criticisms of Merton’s Strain Theory Is crime a “lower class” phenomena? Cannot explain “expressive” crimes Weak empirical support Why do people “adapt” differently?

Agnew: General Strain Theory Overhaul of Merton’s Strain Theory Three sources of strain 1. Failure to achieve valued goals 2. Removal of valued stimuli 3. Can’t escape noxious stimuli

Agnew (GST) Strain  Negative Affective States  Anger, fear, frustration, depression In lieu of “Coping Mechanisms,” anger and frustration can produce delinquency Strain  Neg Emotional  Delinquency

Agnew (GST) Tests of GST are more favorable Is this theory a theory of “Strain” (in a sociological sense) or a theory of “STRESS?” (in a psychological sense)

CRIME AND THE AMERICAN DREAM Messner and Rosenfeld

The Legacy of Merton In “Social Structure and Anomie”:  “Modes of Adaptation” (micro)  Discussion of why U.S. might be crime prone (macro) than other countries Messner and Rosefeld, in the 1980s, revisited the macro part of the theory

Elements of the “American Dream” Achievement Individualism Universalism The “fetishism” of money These elements encourage “Anomic conditions”

THE AMERICAN DREAM PRODUCES ANOMIE MERTON: Pursuit of financial success is “limited only by considerations of technical expediency.” Lombardi: Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.

Institutions in Society Social institutions as the building blocks of society.  The Economy  The Polity  The Family  Education

Key Issue for M & R These institutions sometimes have conflicting goals and values. All societies can therefore be characterized by their distinctive arrangements of institutions The U.S.? Economy Dominates: we are a “MARKET SOCIETY”

Indicators of Economic Dominance Devaluation of non-economic institutional functions and roles Accommodation to economic requirements by other social institutions Penetration of economic norms into other social domains

Implications of Economic Dominance Weak institutional controls  Family and School are handicapped in efforts to promote allegiance to social rules  Single parent families  Poorly funded schools  “Weak institutions invite challenge”

Culture, Social Structure, and Crime Rates CULTURE The American Dream ANOMIE SOCIAL STRUCTURE Economic Dominance Weak Institutional Controls HIGH CRIME RATES