Transcript Strain Theories continued - Washington State University

Sociological Theories of Crime
Sociological Theories of Crime







Social Disorganization Theory
Theory of Anomie (Merton’s Theory)
Institutional Anomie Theory
Relative Deprivation Theory
Theory of Focal Concerns
Theory of Delinquent Subcultures (Cohen)
Theory of Differential Opportunities
Social Disorganization Theory


Crime is caused primarily by social
factors
The city is a perfect natural
laboratory (Chicago reflects society
as a whole)
Social disorganization definition

Social disorganization is defined as
an inability of community members
to achieve shared values or to solve
jointly experienced problems
(Bursik, 1988).
CONCENTRIC ZONE THEORY



Park and Burgess (1920s)
They saw cities as consisting of five
zones (CBD - Central Business
District, transition, workingman,
residential, and commuter)
Their "zonal hypothesis" was that
delinquency is greatest in the zone
of transition
Shaw and McKay (1930s)


They never said that poverty causes
crime
They only said that "poverty areas"
tended to have high rates of
residential mobility and racial
heterogeneity that made it difficult
for communities in those areas to
avoid becoming socially
disorganized
Shaw and McKay's Model
Residential Mobility
Poverty
Racial Heterogeneity
Disorganization
Crime
Sampson and Grove (1989)
Residential Mobility
Low Economic
Status
Racial Heterogeneity
Family Disruption
Population
Density/Urbanization
Unsupervised teenage peer groups
Low organizational
participation
Spare local
friendship networks
Crime
Residential mobility

When the population of an area is
constantly changing, the residents
have fewer opportunities to develop
strong, personal ties to one another
and to participate in community
organizations
Ethnic diversity

According to Shaw and McKay
(1942), ethnic diversity interferes
with communication among adults.
Effective communication is less
likely in the face of ethnic diversity
because differences in customs and
a lack of shared experiences may
breed fear and mistrust (Sampson
and Groves, 1989).
Family disruption


Sampson (1985) argued that unshared
parenting strains parents' resources of
time, money, and energy, which interferes
with their ability to supervise their
children and communicate with other
adults in the neighborhood
The smaller the number of parents in a
community relative to the number of
children, the more limited the networks of
adult supervision will be for all the
children
Economic status


Areas with the lowest average
socioeconomic status will also have
the greatest residential instability
and ethnic diversity, which in turn
will create social disorganization
(Bursik and Grasmick, 1993)
Many studies have found that urban
neighborhoods with high rates of
poverty also have greater rates of
delinquency (Warner and Pierce,
1993).
Population density

High population density creates
problems by producing anonymity
that interferes with accountability to
neighbors
Collective efficacy and neighborhood
safety



Robert Sampson (1990)
Concept of “collective efficacy”
captures “trust” and “cohesion” on
one hand and shared expectations
for control on the other
Collective efficacy is associated with
lower rates of violence
Merton’s Anomie

Anomie is a disjunction between the
socially-produced and encouraged
ends or goals and the means through
which they could achieve these
desirable ends
Strain Theory: R.K.Merton.


In simple terms, they were socialised
into the "American Dream" of
health, wealth, personal happiness
American society is structured to
ensure that the vast majority of
people could never realistically attain
these ends through the means that
American society provided in
legitimate ways - hard work
Merton’s theory
Because of this tension anomie
occurs
 In a situation whereby people
desired success - yet were
effectively denied it - he argued
that people would find other,
probably less legitimate, means
towards desired ends.

Merton’s typology


Merton elaborated five basic
responses to the anomic situation
which he claimed to see in American
society
He classified these types of
conformity and deviance in terms of
acceptance and denial of basic ends
and means
Merton’s typology
Response:
Means:
Ends:
1. Conformity
+
+
2. Innovation
-
+
3. Ritualism
+
-
4. Retreatism
-
-
Rejects means
Rejects ends
5. Rebellion
Merton’s Conformity
Conformity applies to
the law-abiding
citizen
These people accept
both socially-produced
ends and the sociallylegitimated means to
achieve them
Merton’s Innovation


Innovation is deviant behaviour that
uses illegitimate means to achieve
socially acceptable goals
Drug crimes, property crimes
and some white collar crimes would
be examples of innovation
Merton’s Ritualism


3. Ritualism might refer to someone
who conforms to socially-approved
means, but has lost sight of the ends
(or has come to accept that they will
never achieve them)
Such people are likely to be elderly
and they probably enjoy a reasonably
comfortable lifestyle.
Merton’s Retreatism
An example of
retreatism is someone
who "drops-out" of
mainstream society. The
drug addict who retreats
into a self-contained
world, the alcoholic who
is unable to hold-down a
steady job
Merton’s rebbellion

Political deviance is a good example of the
rebellion response, whether this is expressed
in terms of working for a revolutionary group or
through political terrorism
Assessment




Monetary success is the only one
motive mentioned by Merton
Some criminals are engaged into
deviant activities for no apparent
reason (enjoyable)
White collar crime is not explained
If the strains of life really operates as
suggested by Merton, why it is most
member of society engage in lawabiding activities
Cohen’s “Deliquent Boys” (1955)




Lower class boys want to achieve success
and higher social status, just like middle
class boys
Hard work, relying on oneself, controlling
aggression, using individuals skills to get
ahead, etc
Lower class boys cannot compete with
middle class kids (verbal and social
deficiencies)
They fell despair and anger
Cohen’s Delinquent Boys




Boys can respond in one of three ways
“The college-boy” response (conforming
middle class expectations)
“The corner-boy” response (angry-smoking,
drinking, hooliganism)
The “delinquent-boy” response (like Merton’s
innovation and rebellion, have contradictory
values and behaviors to middle class, gain
status through deviance)
Cloward and Ohlin’s “Delinquency and
Opportunity” (1960)




Anomie because of inability to achieve
socially desirable goals
Try to find illegitimate ways of
achieving what they want
Lower class juveniles have differential
opportunities to achieving success
through illegitimate means
Delineated three possible delinquent
subcultural responses
Three types of juvenile gangs



The “crime-oriented gang”
The “conflict-oriented gang”
The “retreatist-oriented gang”
The Criminal Subculture



Legitimate aspirations of
juveniles are satisfied in some
slum neighborhoods where a
criminal subculture already
existed
Adult criminals, role models,
weapon
Theft, robbery, violence,
fraud, extortion
The Conflict Subculture




Poor, disorganized, transient,
unstable
Malicious and violent activities
that symbolize the protest
against the social structure
The activities make it visible
to media and public
Interpersonal violence,
fighting, gang warfare,
physical destruction of
property
The Retreatist Subculture



This is the last avenue for boys who
experience failure in both legitimate
and illegitimate activities
Juveniles who given up on the
struggle for success (blame both
society and themselves)
Turned to drugs
Assessment

Neither Cohen nor Cloward and Ohlin
specified why some lower-class boys
choose to identify with a delinquent
subculture while others select a collegeboy adjustment
Relative Deprivation Theory




Messner and Rosenfeld, 1997
To fell anomie a person should see/feel
deprivation
People with the same social standing can
have different sense of deprivation
The poorest Americans are far richer in
terms of material possessions that the
average citizen of many third world
nations
Relative Deprivation Theory



Inner-city inhabitants develop an increased
sense of relative deprivation because
they can witness well-to-do lifestyle in
nearby neighborhoods
People start question their place in the
reward structure of society
Sense of injustice is the source of strain
that can lead to criminal behavior