Explain Shaw and McKay’s theory of social disorganization. Describe some of the physical, behavioral and economic effects of life in deteriorating neighborhoods. Assess how effective this theory is in explaining crime.
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Social disorganization refers to an inability of community members to achieve sheared values or to solve jointly experienced problems. Shaw and McKay traced social disorganization to conditions endemic to the urban areas that were the only places the newly arriving poor could afford to live, specifically, a high rate of turnover in population and mixes of people from different cultural backgrounds.
Shaw and McKay developed social disorganization theory through their research that was conducted in Chicago. Basically, the theory of social disorganization states that, a person’s physical and social environments are primarily responsible for the behavioral choices that a person makes. At its core, is that, location matters when it comes to predicting illegal activity. In their arguments in the theory, Shaw and McKay noted that, neighborhoods with the highest crime rates have at least three common problems, which are none other than, physical dilapidation, poverty and higher level of ethnic and culture mixing. They claimed that, delinquency was not caused at the individual level, but is a normal response by normal individual to abnormal conditions.
Focusing on the physical, behavioral and economic effects of life in deteriorating neighborhoods, Shaw and McKay, reached a conclusion that, crime was likely a function of neighborhood dynamic, and not necessarily a function of the individuals within neighborhoods. On the question of the characteristics of various neighborhoods which account for the stability of the crime rate, Shaw and McKay focused on the urban areas experiencing rapid changes in their social and economic structure, or the zones of transition. Specifically, they looked to neighborhoods that were low in socioeconomic status. In their arguments, they stated that, the areas characterized by economic deprivation had high rates of population turn over since these were undesirable residential communities, which people left once it became feasible for them to do so. That socioeconomically deprived areas also tended to be settled in by newly immigrants, which then resulted in the ethnic and racial heterogeneity of these areas. That as such, socioeconomically deprived areas had high rates of residential mobility and racial heterogeneity. Thus, these neighborhoods were viewed as, socially disorganized. That mainly in such areas, conventional institutions of social control for example family, churches, schools and voluntary community organizations, were weak and unable to regulate the behavior of the neighborhood’s youths. Shaw and McKay, further noted that, other than lack of behavioral regulations, socially disorganized neighborhoods tended to produce criminal traditions that could be passed to successive generations of youths. That, this system of predelinquency attitudes could be easily learned by youths through their daily contacts with older juveniles. Therefore, a neighborhood characterized by social disorganization provides a fertile soil for crime and delinquency in two ways and that is, through a lack of behavioral control mechanisms and, through the cultural transmissions of delinquency values.
Social disorganization theory is effective in explaining crime owing to the fact that, it is widely used as an important predictor of youth violence and crime. For instance, majorly through this theory, Shaw and McKay discovered that there were four specific assumptions as an explanation of delinquency. The first assumption is, the collapse of community based-based controls and people living in these disadvantaged neighborhoods, respond naturally to environmental conditions, second is, the rapid growth of immigration in urban disadvantage neighborhoods, third is, business located closely to the disadvantaged neighborhoods that are influenced by the ecological approach of competition and dominance, and fourth is, the disadvantaged urban neighborhoods leading to the development of criminal values that replace normal society values. On top of this, in their research conducted in Chicago, Shaw and McKay discovered that, rates of crime were not evenly dispersed across time and space in the city. Instead, crime tended to be concentrated in particular areas of the city and importantly remained relatively stable within different areas despite continued changes in the population who lived in each area. In the neighborhoods with high crime rates for instance, the rates remained relatively high regardless of which racial or ethnic group happened to reside there at any particular time and as these previously crime prone groups moved to lower areas of the city, their rate of criminal activity decreased accordingly to correspond with the lower rates characteristic of that area.
Provide an explanation of Shaw and McKay’s theory of social disorganization
Social disorganization refers to an inability of community members to achieve sheared values or to solve jointly experienced problems. Shaw and McKay traced social disorganization to conditions endemic to the urban areas that were the only places the newly arriving poor could afford to live, specifically, a high rate of turnover in population and mixes of people from different cultural backgrounds.
Shaw and McKay developed social disorganization theory through their research that was conducted in Chicago. Basically, the theory of social disorganization states that, a person’s physical and social environments are primarily responsible for the behavioral choices that a person makes. At its core, is that, location matters when it comes to predicting illegal activity. In their arguments in the theory, Shaw and McKay noted that, neighborhoods with the highest crime rates have at least three common problems, which are none other than, physical dilapidation, poverty and higher level of ethnic and culture mixing. They claimed that, delinquency was not caused at the individual level, but is a normal response by normal individual to abnormal conditions.
Focusing on the physical, behavioral and economic effects of life in deteriorating neighborhoods, Shaw and McKay, reached a conclusion that, crime was likely a function of neighborhood dynamic, and not necessarily a function of the individuals within neighborhoods. On the question of the characteristics of various neighborhoods which account for the stability of the crime rate, Shaw and McKay focused on the urban areas experiencing rapid changes in their social and economic structure, or the zones of transition. Specifically, they looked to neighborhoods that were low in socioeconomic status. In their arguments, they stated that, the areas characterized by economic deprivation had high rates of population turn over since these were undesirable residential communities, which people left once it became feasible for them to do so. That socioeconomically deprived areas also tended to be settled in by newly immigrants, which then resulted in the ethnic and racial heterogeneity of these areas. That as such, socioeconomically deprived areas had high rates of residential mobility and racial heterogeneity. Thus, these neighborhoods were viewed as, socially disorganized. That mainly in such areas, conventional institutions of social control for example family, churches, schools and voluntary community organizations, were weak and unable to regulate the behavior of the neighborhood’s youths. Shaw and McKay, further noted that, other than lack of behavioral regulations, socially disorganized neighborhoods tended to produce criminal traditions that could be passed to successive generations of youths. That, this system of predelinquency attitudes could be easily learned by youths through their daily contacts with older juveniles. Therefore, a neighborhood characterized by social disorganization provides a fertile soil for crime and delinquency in two ways and that is, through a lack of behavioral control mechanisms and, through the cultural transmissions of delinquency values.
Social disorganization theory is effective in explaining crime owing to the fact that, it is widely used as an important predictor of youth violence and crime. For instance, majorly through this theory, Shaw and McKay discovered that there were four specific assumptions as an explanation of delinquency. The first assumption is, the collapse of community based-based controls and people living in these disadvantaged neighborhoods, respond naturally to environmental conditions, second is, the rapid growth of immigration in urban disadvantage neighborhoods, third is, business located closely to the disadvantaged neighborhoods that are influenced by the ecological approach of competition and dominance, and fourth is, the disadvantaged urban neighborhoods leading to the development of criminal values that replace normal society values. On top of this, in their research conducted in Chicago, Shaw and McKay discovered that, rates of crime were not evenly dispersed across time and space in the city. Instead, crime tended to be concentrated in particular areas of the city and importantly remained relatively stable within different areas despite continued changes in the population who lived in each area. In the neighborhoods with high crime rates for instance, the rates remained relatively high regardless of which racial or ethnic group happened to reside there at any particular time and as these previously crime prone groups moved to lower areas of the city, their rate of criminal activity decreased accordingly to correspond with the lower rates characteristic of that area.