Today’s Agenda Review Social Disorganization Central Concepts, Policy Implications Anomie / Strain Theories.
Post on 24-Dec-2015
216 Views
Preview:
Transcript
Today’s Agenda
Review Social Disorganization Central Concepts, Policy Implications
Anomie / Strain Theories
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
Race and Crime
Explanation for high crime/victimization rates in minority neighborhoods Economic, social, and political reasons for
interrupted flow out of neighborhoods Cultural legacy
Code of the Streets Cognitive Landscape
▪ 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 Rob Sampson: the more (and more diverse)
non-profit programs the better After school programs, recreation, churches…
▪ 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
▪ Limit the Damage of Mass Incarceration▪ High levels of incarceration within a neighborhood might
contribute to social disorganization: recent research = may have maxed out on any benefits
Social Ecology Policy Implications
GROUP WORK
Watch for all elements of social disorganization Ecological Collective Efficacy Cultural Values
Return to class when finished
Durkhiem’s Legacy
Rapidly Changing Society
“Industrial Prosperity”
Anomie (Norms are Weakened)
Human Nature asInsatiable; 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 + +
2. Innovation + -
3. Ritualism - +
4. Retreatism - -
5. Rebellion +/- +/-
MODES OF CULTURAL INSTITUTIONALIZED ADAPTATION GOALS MEANS
1. Conformity + +
2. Innovation + -
3. Ritualism - +
4. Retreatism - -
5. 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)
StrainNegative Affective States Anger, fear, frustration, depression
In lieu of “Coping Mechanisms,” anger and frustration can produce delinquency
StrainNeg EmotionalDelinquency
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)
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”
top related