Social Structure Theories Flashcards
Social Structure and Crime
Social and economic forces in deteriorated lower class areas push residents into criminal behavior
Social Disorganization Theory
Breakdown of institutions
Crime is a product of traditional neighborhoods
Criticisms of SDT
Neighborhoods less stable than Shaw and McKay imagined
Overreliance on police record
Social Ecology School
Crime related to: Community Deterioration Chronic Unemployment Community Fear Community Change
Social Control and Collective Efficacy
Informal social controls: exerted in intimate relationships, by either awarding or withholding approval, respect, and admiration
Institutional social control: exerted by cohesive communities utilizing institutions like schools, businesses, stores, and churches
Public social control: the use of external sources such as more police and financial government assistance
Theory of Deviant Places
Kinds of Places vs. Kinds of People
Physical features of neighborhoods may be more relevant than the people living in them
Crowded neighborhoods and housing, poverty, dilapidation and coexistence of commercial and residential buildings
Strain Theory
Crime as a function of goals and means available to obtain these goals
Anomie Theory
People who adopt the goals of society but lack the means to attain them seek alternatives such as crime
Competition for success creates conflict and crime
Social conditions, not personality, can account for crime
Legitimate means are unequally distributed by class, gender and race Explains high lower-class crime rates
5 Modes of Adaptation
Conformity Innovation Ritualism Retreatism Rebellion
Macro Level (Institutional Anomie)
Obsession with economic wealth (American Dream) drive the adoption of illegitimate means to achieve it
Micro Level (General Strain)
Negative affective states (strain) cause crime
