1. Social Organization of Deviance: Street Gangs
Social Disorganization Theory
Chicago School of Sociology (early 1900s)
Emphasizes Ecological Elements in the Urban Environment
Immigrant Questions:
Allow immigrants into US or not?
Genetic differences in immigrants versus “native born” Americans ?
Scapegoating social problems (see Ch. 16)

2. Sociology Organization of Deviance: Street Gangs
Model of the ecological process (Park and Burgess)
Concentric Zone Model of urban development
Zone of Transition
Metro Reef Pattern

3. Sociology Organization of Deviance: Street Gangs
Mapping incidents of Delinquency (55,000 over 30 years)
Shaw & McKay observe spatial patterns in places where delinquency is clustered
Spatial pattern of crime is stable

4. Sociology Organization of Deviance: Street Gangs
Ecological features of Zone of Transition:
Crime rate
Economic depression
Physical deterioration (housing)
Single parent households
High % of renters (vs. owners)
Heterogeneity (a.k.a ethnic diversity)
Spatial Mobility

5. Sociology Organization of Deviance: Street Gangs
Ethnic Succession
Poor are powerless to resist “invasion” of those prone to illegal behavior
Poor can not resist those who are culturally different
New immigrant waves
Gentrification
Cultural Transmission
Criminogenic social disorganization takes root
“Traditions of Crime” are developed & passed on (Subcultural Theories – Sutherland, W. Miller, etc.)
Structures of Criminal Opportunity: Access to Illegitimate Means focused on street (Drug & Property) crime and violent crime

6. Sociology Organization of Deviance: Street Gangs
(Sub)Culture Conflict (Miller 1958)
Working class values: “Focal Concerns”
Trouble
Toughness
Smartness
Excitement
Fate
Autonomy
Have other values developed since the 1950s?
What values are evident in the film “A Heart Broken in Half”?
What values are evident in the reading by Jody Miller on Gender, Victimization & Gangs (Ch. 30)?
How is masculinity and gender related to gang membership and member values?