Social Disorganization Theory

The Social Disorganization Theory is a theory that can explain why people commit crime. The theory states that socially disorganized neighborhoods are more likely to be filled with crime. Beginning in the early 1920’s and continuing on for almost the next 30 years, Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay, two criminologists tracked the data of all of the arrests that were made in Chicago. What they found is that crime does not occur evenly across a city. They found that crime occurs more in certain parts of the city. In their observations, they realized that certain ethnic groups were not a factor in the neighborhoods that had relatively high crime rate. They came to a conclusion that crime rates were based on the function of the neighborhood, rather than the function of the people that live in it. However, they wanted to figure out the exact reason as to why people in those neighborhoods commit crime. They decided to examine the urban areas and found that neighborhoods that experienced more racial heterogeneity were more likely to be socially disorganized. So, what exactly connects social disorganization to crime?

There are three neighborhood variables that they found were connected to the crime rates. The variables were residential instability, economic disadvantage, and ethnic heterogeneity. Residential instability is the reason why populations are able to drop and increase. It is defined as “the major means for an individual or household to adjust housing consumption to changing needs and circumstances.” (Wiley) This means that people often move around neighborhoods based on what they need, like employment or a certain amount of space. This can increase amounts of crime because it is often difficult to be accustomed to places if you move around a lot. Because residents are moving around a lot, they are failing to build a connection with the other residents that may live near them. Thus, they will not be as inclined to feel remorse when participating in crimes inflicted on their neighbors. This also means that residents will be less likely to intervene or defend other residents when other unrelated crimes occur. It demonstrates a lack of social control and because of that, crime increases in such neighborhoods.

On the other hand, Shaw and McKay did not exactly state that economic disadvantages are directly related to crime. They, however, theorized that residential instability is a result of economic disadvantages. When looking at economic disadvantages, crime amongst the youth is always considered as a result. This is because in some instances, “in poor communities, institutions lack adequate money and knowledge.” (Kornhauser) Because their parents cannot support them, youth will find ways to illegally obtain the things they need, like food and clothes. Sometimes, even the parents will encourage the youth to commit such crimes because they are young and most likely will not get into trouble. When crimes like these are taught at a young age, the habits will often be carried throughout adulthood and taught to younger generations in a never-ending cycle.

Finally, Shaw and McKay claimed that ethnic or racial heterogeneity has also played a big factor in social disorganization. When multiple minority groups live in the same neighborhood, there are often many differences that may drive a wedge between he different groups. Economic status is one these most important factors. For example, if two different ethnic groups are considered to be on different economic platforms and once is considered higher up in society, then it may drive a wedge in between the two ethnic groups in that area. This leads to the same issues as residential instability as well as as economic disadvantages. Thus, there will be reinforced class differences that can eventually lead to an increase in crime in certain neighborhoods.

Shaw and McKay figured that the reason that disorganized areas have high crime rates are because of weak controls and because of delinquent traditions or values learned from others as a result of economic disadvantages. The three components of social disorganization all go hand in hand to complete the cohesiveness of the theory. All in all, Shaw and McKay theorized that social disorganization can lead to low social control and increased criminal values, which can increase crime rates in certain areas.

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