1. The Chicago School: The City, Social Disorganization, and Crime
Part III

2. Movement from Biological to Sociological Theories
Individualistic theories were dominant into the early 20th century
Ignored larger forces in society that could
influence crime
The U.S. changed from a land of small
stable communities to a land dominated by crowded cities
Sociologists argued these changes
and forces outside the individual
influenced criminal behavior
Movement from Biological to Sociological Theories

3. Social Disorganization in the City
In the early 1900s, Chicago, like other cities, underwent rapid social change
Ernest Burgess theorized urban areas grow from their inner core toward outer areas
Concentric zone theory
Most important zone: Zone in
Transition
Where the newcomers settle
Social Disorganization in the City

4. Burgess’s Five Concentric Zones
Zone 1: Central
Business District
Zone 2: Zone in
Transition (highest crime)
Zone 3: Zone of
Workingmen’s Homes
Zone 4: Residential
Zone
Zone 5: Commuters’
Zone 5
Zone 4
Zone 3
Zone 2
Zone 1

5. Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas
Burgess’s theory directed Shaw and McKay’s investigation of juvenile delinquency
Hypothesized higher rates of delinquency would be found in inner city areas
Inner cities were characterized by high levels of social disorganization
Poverty
Rapid population growth
Heterogeneity
Transiency
Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas

6. Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas
Tested this hypothesis by examining how measures of crime were distributed in the different zones of the city
Mapped (by hand) the addresses of each delinquent
Found rates of crime by area remained
similar regardless of the ethnic group
that lived there
Thus, characteristics of the area, not the
people, regulated levels of delinquency
Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas

7. Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas
Areas most disadvantageous in relation to economic, social, and cultural values had the highest rates of delinquency
In high-rate delinquency areas, competing and conflicting moral values had developed
In contrast, low-rate delinquency areas often had uniformity, consistency, and universality of conventional values
Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas

8. Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas
Low-rate delinquency areas had constructive leisure activities, supervised children, and resisted behavior that threatened conventional values often absent in high-rate delinquency areas
High-rate areas often had many adult criminals
Many delinquents from these areas committed their offenses in groups
High-rate areas allowed for youths to be in contact with criminal values and associates which facilitated the transmission of criminal values across generations
Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas

9. Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas
Levels of officially recorded delinquency decreased as people moved away from the inner city
Found support that social disorganization was a major cause of delinquency
Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas

10. Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas
Social disorganization is the breakdown of social institutions in a community
This fosters criminal behavior in that area because:
Conventional institutions become weak, which results in lower supervision
Families disrupted, schools disordered, few organized activities
A value system supportive of crime is nurtured and transmitted across generations
Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas

11. Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas
Policy implications coming from Shaw and McKay’s work
Chicago Area Project
Try to organize communities
Create recreational programs,
revitalize the appearance of the
neighborhood, help problem youth
Shaw and McKay: Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas

12. Revitalization of Social Disorganization Theory
Shaw and McKay’s social disorganization work lost its appeal by the 1960s
Revitalized in the 1980s with a renewed interest in the ecology of crime and macro- level criminology
Macro-level criminology: how characteristics of geographical areas influence crime rates
Blau and Blau (1982) found violence was more pronounced in urban areas with economic inequality, especially inequality between whites and blacks
Revitalization of Social Disorganization Theory

13. Revitalization of Social Disorganization Theory
The work of Robert Sampson was influential
Sampson (1986)
Argued crime was higher in the inner city because residents lost the ability to exercise “informal social control”
Cannot supervise youths
Sampson and Groves (1989)
British Crime Survey
Measured social disorganization directly
Found structural conditions lead to social disorganization which leads to increased crime rates
Social disorganization mediated the relationship between structural conditions and crime rates
Revitalization of Social Disorganization Theory

14. Extending Social Disorganization Theory: Race, Crime, and Urban Inequality
Sampson and Wilson (1995) extended social disorganization theory by placing it within the realities of contemporary America
Structural social disorganization and cultural social isolation explained the high rate of inner city crime
Argued variations in disorganization were linked to racial inequality
Blacks were more likely to reside in areas where there is concentrated poverty due to macrostructural factors
Deindustrialization, departure of middle-class
blacks, racial discrimination in housing, etc.

15. Sampson and Wilson: A Theory of Race, Crime, and Urban Inequality
Also argued that structural conditions influenced the culture in the community
In these concentrated poverty areas, the people often live in social isolation and lack contact or interaction with individuals and institutions representing mainstream society
This results in restricted legitimate opportunities and impaired communication
Sampson and Wilson: A Theory of Race, Crime, and Urban Inequality

16. Sampson and Wilson: A Theory of Race, Crime, and Urban Inequality
In socially isolated areas, cultural values often develop that view violence and crime as unavoidable given the situation
Referred to as cultural disorganization—attenuation of societal
cultural values
Do not approve violence/crime, but tolerate it
Culture is the acquisition of “cognitive landscapes”
Ecological structured norms regarding appropriate standards and expectations of conduct
Because exposed to crime and have few opportunities,
see crime/violence as a potential choice and
possibly unavoidable
Have role models, possible access to weapons, etc.
Sampson and Wilson: A Theory of Race, Crime, and Urban Inequality

17. Sampson and Wilson: A Theory of Race, Crime, and Urban Inequality
Thus, Sampson and Wilson argued that crime could be explained by:
MACROSTRUCTURAL FORCES
Deindustrialization
Out-Migration
Segregation
Structural Disorganization
Weakened Culture (Cultural Disorganization)
Concentrated Disadvantage
Social Isolation
Crime
Sampson and Wilson: A Theory of Race, Crime, and Urban Inequality

18. Extending Social Disorganization Theory: Collective Efficacy
Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls (1997) further elaborated social disorganization theory
Wanted to understand the intervening variable between the structural characteristics of a community and crime
Developed the concept of collective efficacy
Combination of both informal social control and social cohesion
Extending Social Disorganization Theory: Collective Efficacy

19. Extending Social Disorganization Theory: Collective Efficacy
Collective efficacy is the willingness of community residents to (1) exercise informal social control and (2) trust and help one another
Enriched the social disorganization perspective in two ways:
Added the element that neighbors must mutually trust or support one another
Envisioned collective efficacy as a dynamic factor
A resource that can be mobilized/activated when the need arises
Extending Social Disorganization Theory: Collective Efficacy

20. Extending Social Disorganization Theory: Collective Efficacy
Collective efficacy is the “process of activating or converting social ties to achieve desired outcomes” (Sampson et al., 1999, p. 635)
Communities low in collective efficacy cannot mobilize as a group to solve problems and thus have high crime rates
Communities high in collective efficacy
can mobilize and thus have lower
crime rates
Extending Social Disorganization Theory: Collective Efficacy

21. Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls: Collective Efficacy and Crime
To test their postulation, studied violence in 343 Chicago neighborhoods
Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods
Obtained both micro- and macro-level data in order to test for both compositional and contextual effects
Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls: Collective Efficacy and Crime

22. Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls: Collective Efficacy and Crime
Found:
Concentrated disadvantage (poverty, race and age composition, and family disruption) was related to violence in a neighborhood
Concentrated disadvantage, residential stability, and immigrant concentration explained 70% of the neighborhood variation in collective efficacy
Collective efficacy was inversely related to crime
The associations between concentrated disadvantage and residential stability with crime were largely mediated by collective efficacy
The results held after controlling for
compositional effects
Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls: Collective Efficacy and Crime

23. Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls: Collective Efficacy and Crime
Limitations of the study:
The basic analysis was cross-sectional
Informal social control and social cohesion were not observed directly
Findings are limited to one city—Chicago
May be other dimensions of neighborhood efficacy (e.g., political ties)
Sampson, Raudenbush, and Earls: Collective Efficacy and Crime

24. As the U.S. began to become more urbanized, our thinking about crime changed
Saw a move from micro-level theories to macro-level theories
Shaw and McKay put forth social disorganization theory
Social disorganization theory remained popular until the 1960s; however, it was revitalized in the 1980s and 1990s
Especially by the work of Robert Sampson
Social disorganization theory has now been extended in two major ways:
Takes into account racial inequality (Sampson and Wilson)
Examines the role of collective efficacy (Sampson, Raudenbush, Earls)
Summary