Early Neighborhood Control Theories Thomas and Znaniecki wrote a book called the Polish Peasant highlighting daily lives of immigrants Focused on the idea that they went through a process called moral degeneration describing that people loose their morals and cause them to change Chicago School 1920s 1930 Thrasher Gangs in Chicago Social Disorganization How gangs form Instability poverty social disorganization unsupervised and unmet needs for youth gangs and crime Park Interested in studying cities City acts as super organisms invasion dominance and succession Invasion new people come into its resources Dominance when group of people utilize resources and take up space Ecological City Zones Park and Burgess Concentric Zones not a crime Succession then they move on and other people use it theory Start off with a central business district lots of abandoned buildings lots of immigrants working class zone single family tenets residential zone single family homes with yards etc commuter zone suburbs a good place to live Social Disorganization Theory Clifford Shaw Henry McKay Touches upon delinquency life histories police data focuses on zone two zone in transition Study of young boys in gangs Assumption We as humans would commit crime without societal rules What s right v wrong Certain neighborhoods lack control Weakened informal social control ex not many organizations people don t Informal social control agents ex neighbors parents teachers Form social control agents ex the police care might not be very good school parents don t care Cultural transmissions how does delinquency get passed on By attitudes and techniques Critic Deterministic city growth post WWII measurement problem mixed model Theory lost popularity until the 1980s Modern Neighborhood Control Theories Bursik and Gasmick Social Ties Social ties aided by higher income hogenity and stability effective informal social control private public parochial lower neighborhood crime rates Assumption They are assuming that neighborhood residents want to live in a crime free neighborhood Collective Efficacy CE Sampson Social Cohesion collectively assesses how well people trust respect neighbors Shared Expectations for control efficacy agreement what is and what s not okay in the neighborhood Working trust mutual trust and willing to intervene Influences of CE Partly endogenous in some ways it is depended at hand its not something that is always is present Testing CE Chicago neighborhoods surveys measures Collectively Do you agree Efficacy Would you take action if Neighborhoods that scored high in collectivity usually was a neighborhood with low crime rates Anomie and Strain Theories Anomie A society being in a state of normalessness Unable to regulate the GOALS of the people in it Stress Strains Anomie Crime Deviance Social Structure and Anomie Merton Macro Level Anomic Society Pressure on lower classes Unable to regulate MEANS of getting goals Strain falls hard on lower classes Some culture different access to opportunities SSA Model Social Structure and Anomie Anomic Society USA Strain means achieve goals uneven unregulated Solution for lower adapt SSA Adaptations There are 5 adaptations most people fit into conformity They embrace wealth power and success the acceptable social means by going to school and getting a job Others fit into ritualism they accept with institutional means but rejects culture goals aka person who doesn t strive they just go through the motions Retreatism rejects culture goals aka the hippie movement they don t care about wealth Rebellion formed new goals and means to achieve this aka people that isolate themselves ex the amish Innovators accept cultural goals but they reject conformity by stealing and committing crimes Problems with SSA testability generalizability and viable policy recommendations Institutional Anomie Theory IAT American Dream Criminogenic end justifies means Focuses on why the American Dream is a problem Institutions have been weakened family education but there is an economic imbalance that weakens the institutions Crime comes from over emphasis on wealth Problems with IAT Non utilitarian crimes impulsive passion crimes and upper social class General Strain Theory Explains crime at individual levels Social psychological variables all emotions people experience Economic goals are only one of many that can cause strain Goal Blockage negative stimuli positive stimuli Negative Stimuli ex in children is bullying removing of positive stimuli ex a friend moving Strains Negative emotions anger frustration jealousy despair coping strategies 1 Behavioral crime 2 Emotional Crying yelling 3 Cognitive Thinking things through Subcultural Theories Subcultures being completely separate from culture at large Another interpretation saying subculture is more blended with ties to mainstream culture Subculture Theories COHEN Delinquent gangs goals are important unable to achieve them are bad Lower class boys in schools they can t compete Form gangs and flip values to start to value things such as being tough and mean etc Mixed Model Subculture Theories MILLER Focal Concerns Theory Argues that there is a lower class subcultural that isolates themselves etc crime Fate people have a sense nothing they do matters Autonomy sense that they have to look out for themselves because they are on their own Toughness value being touch Excitement risky lifestyle what people strive S treet Smarts More important to be street smart then book smart This is a mixed model because it is only apart of the middle class Subculture Theories CLOWARD AND OHLIN Delinquency and Opportunity lower class boys have no access to desires frustration anger they form gangs to get these desires because subcultures and arising because of need Subculture Theories MATZA Delinquency and Drift describes a subculture that tolerates delinquency soft determinism Techniques of neutralization Mixed model because subcultures are arising because of need Subculture Theories ANDERSON Code of the Streets neighborhood street code The code is oppositional culture maintaining respect and manhood understanding you have to take care of yourself Learning Theories reinforcement Mechanisms of how we learn different association definitions imitation Peer Influence Research Committing crime in groups