Week 2 - Social Disorganisation And Ecological Criminology

Question 1

What considerations does the sociological study of crime make?

Answer 1

It considers extraneous societal factors as to why people commit crime

Question 2

Why did these studies start in the 19th century?

Answer 2

Because of the start of the industrial revolution

Question 3

What are the two types of deprivation?

Answer 3

Material derivation and multiple deprivation

Question 4

What is material deprivation?

Answer 4

The absence of material goods such as food, clothing and housing

Question 5

What is multiple deprivation?

Answer 5

The absence of both material goods and resources such as education and knowledge

Question 6

What are the two types of poverty?

Answer 6

Absolute poverty and relative poverty

Question 7

What is absolute poverty?

Answer 7

The absence of fundamental needs due to lack of income (e.g. “a family is poor if they cannot afford to eat” Keith Joseph, 1979)

Question 8

What is relative poverty?

Answer 8

Relative poverty is when someone is poor within the overall standard of living within a society. If an individual is said to be poor if they lack the resources to achieve the lifestyle that is commonly acceptable.

Question 9

What is social exclusion?

Answer 9

When a society pushes out the poor people within in, leading to poorer areas being denied opportunities for self-betterment such as education and employment

Question 10

Who discussed the “ghetto poor”?

Answer 10

Wilson (1999)

Question 11

What is the “ghetto poor”?

Answer 11

The ghetto poor is the poor community that experience multiple deprivations, from low educational qualifications and standards of health, to high levels of criminal victimisation

Question 12

Give some examples of weak urban infrastructure

Answer 12

Inadequate public transport, community facilities and educational institutions

Question 13

What does Wilson (1999) say are the effects of the “ghetto poor” and weak urban infrastructure?

Answer 13

They reduce the chances of social integration into society socially, politically and economically

Question 14

Give three examples of the likeliest groups to experience poverty

Answer 14

Any of the following:

Women, children, the elderly, people with disabilities, single parents, ethnic minorities and the working class

Question 15

Give some examples of why the working class are poor

Answer 15

Any of the following:

Low pay, immediate gratification, unstable/temporary employment and low educational qualifications

Question 16

What are the two themes sociological explanations of crime fall under?

Answer 16

Blaming the victim and blaming the system

Question 17

What is the social democratic approach?

Answer 17

It is based on the ideas of labour and they believe that poverty is a result of the inequalities created by the labour market of capitalist societies (e.g. low wages and high unemployment results in a need for welfare)

Question 18

Who discusses the “poverty trap”?

Answer 18

Field (1989)

Question 19

What is the name of the social class proposed by Field (1989)?

Answer 19

The underclass

Question 20

Who is the underclass?

Answer 20

Consists of three groups of people: the frail elderly pensioner, the long term unemployed and the lone parent

Question 21

What is the cultural explanation of poverty?

Answer 21

It proposes that it is the norms and values of the poor that keep them poor, such as rarely taking opportunities and being reluctant to work or plan for the future

Question 22

Who learns the “culture of poverty”?

Answer 22

Children learn it from their parents, creating the cycle of deprivation

Question 23

Who is associated with the Cycle of Deprivation?

Answer 23

Sir Keith Joseph

Question 24

Who developed the Cost of Exclusion?

Answer 24

The Princes Trust (2007)

Question 25

Describe the Cost of Exclusion

Answer 25

Cost of Exclusion is the idea that their is a link between unemployment and crime, and that young people are the most effected, as they are both victims and are dependant on the offenders

Question 26

How does the Cost of Exclusion model, developed by the Princes Trust, explain the link between unemployment and crime?

Answer 26

The Cost of Exclusion proposes that the decline of labour market opportunities increases the incentive to engage in economically-motivated crime, such as shoplifting or burglary.

Question 27

Who developed Social Ecology?

Answer 27

The Chicago School of Thought

Question 28

What is Social Ecology?

Answer 28

Social Ecology focuses on social changes that occurred in Chicago due to population growth and migration. This population growth caused poverty and strain on institutions

Question 29

How did Park (1928) describe the city of Chicago?

Answer 29

“The city is a super organism”

Question 30

Who developed the Centric Zone Model?

Answer 30

Park and Burgees (1925)

Question 31

What are the 5 zones in the Centric Zone Model?

Answer 31

The Centric Business District, The Transitional Zone, The Working Class Zone, The Residential Zone and the Commuter Zone

Question 32

What zone within the Centric Zone Model is deviance most likely to occur in?

Answer 32

The Transitional Zone, due to deteriorated housing, factories and abandoned buildings.

Question 33

Who developed the Theory of Social Disorganisation?

Answer 33

Shaw and McKay (1942)

Question 34

Describe the Theory of Disorganisation in relation to the Centric Zone Model

Answer 34

The theory of disorganisation supports the same ideas as the Centric Zone Model, and argues that deviancy isn’t caused by the individual, but that it is the abnormal conditions those individuals live in that push them to commit crime.

Question 35

Who developed “The Tipping Process”?

Answer 35

Bottoms and Baldwin (1976)

Question 36

What were the findings of Bottoms and Baldwin’s (1976) research?

Answer 36

It looked at the extent and what types of crimes were linked to housing estates. They found that less desirable areas, such as housing estates, got a bad reputation and, as a result, got “tipped”, which led to negative consequences such as increasing crime due to problem families and subcultures that had formed.

Question 37

Who developed the “Broken Windows” theory?

Answer 37

Wilson and Kelling (1982)

Question 38

Describe the “Broken Windows” Theory

Answer 38

The broken windows theory goes as follows. “Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it’s unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside.”

Question 39

What are the overall suggestions of the “Broken Windows” Theory?

Answer 39

It suggests that crime comes from disorder and, in turn, weakens social control

Question 40

What are some critiques of the Chicago School of Thought?

Answer 40

1) It reduces the significance of social and cultural factors
2) Victim blaming
3) Deterministic (e.g. because you live in this area, you’re more likely to commit crime)
4) The model doesn’t work everywhere