Social Structure Theory: Socioeconomic Inequality and Crime, Slides of Criminology

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Chapter 6 Social Structure Theory

Socioeconomic Structure and Crime

• The U.S. is a stratified society: social strata are created by the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and prestige.  Social classes are segments of the population who share attitudes, values, norms, and an identifiable lifestyle  The poverty rate is 2003 was 12.5 percent  Nearly 36 million people live in poverty

Socioeconomic Structure and Crime

• Child Poverty  Poverty during early childhood has a more severe impact than during adolescence  Low income children are less likely to achieve in school and more likely to suffer health problems  Social problems in lower-class slum areas are epidemic  Nearly 25 percent of children under age 6 live in poverty

• Figure 6.1 Number in Poverty and Poverty Rates, 1959-
• Figure 6.2 Poverty Rates by Age, 1959-

Socioeconomic Structure and Crime

• The Underclass  Culture of poverty is passed from one generation to the next  Gunnar Myrdal suggested that an “underclass” was cut off from society  Unemployment and underemployment disrupts family life and creates despair

Socioeconomic Structure and Crime

• Minority Group Poverty  20 percent of African Americans and Hispanics live in poverty  10 percent of Whites live in poverty  William Julius Wilson suggests disadvantaged minorities direct their aggression toward those close to them

Figure 6.3 The Three Branches of Social Structure Theory

Social Disorganization Theories  Links crime rates to neighborhood ecological characteristics  Social disorganization includes low income groups with large single-parent households and institutions of broken down social control  Residents in crime-ridden areas are trying to leave at the earliest opportunity

Social Disorganization Theories

• The Work of Shaw and McKay  Linked transitional slum areas to the inclination to commit crime  Transitional neighborhoods are incapable of inducing residents to defend against criminal groups  Concentric zone mapping identified the inner-city transitional zones as having the heaviest concentration of crime.  Slum children choose to join gangs when values are in conflict with existing middle-class norms  Crime rates correspond to neighborhood structure according to Shaw and McKay

Figure 6.5 Shaw and McKay’s Concentric Zones Map of Chicago

Social Disorganization Theories  Community fear: Social and physical incivilities increase the fear of crime (i.e. graffiti, prostitutes, dirt, and noise)

• Race and fear: Fear by Whites is based on racial stereotypes. Fear by minorities is greater
• Gangs and fear: Open activities of brazen gang activity creates community fear
• Mistrust and fear: A “siege mentality” develops based on mistrust of the outside world  Community change: Communities undergoing rapid structural changes experience great changes in crime rates (gentrification)  Change and decline: Neighborhoods most at risk contain large numbers of single-parent families and social strain

CNN Clip - New Approaches To Gang Problems

Strain Theories

• Theories that view crime as a direct result of lower-class frustration and anger.  Anomie (from the Greek word a nomos, without norms) – in an anomic society rules of behavior have broken down because of rapid social change, war, or famine. - Mechanical solidarity: pre-industrial styled societies held together by traditions and shared values - Organic solidarity: Complex post-industrial societies which are interdependent for services and needs

Figure 6.6 The Basic Components of Strain Theory