CHAPTER 6

 

 

The next six chapters we will be reading out of order. This assignment includes chapter 6 and next week we will study chapter 7. The order for the next four chapters is 5, 9, 8, and 4. Chapter 6 and 7 are focused on social environmental causes of crime. Chapter 5 takes a look at biological and psychological motivations. Chapter 8 is concerned with the political influences over criminal behavior and finally Chapter 9 introduces some of the theories that try and combine the different perspectives. Finally, Chapter 4 discusses the modern choice theories.

 

LECTURE NOTES

 

As I discussed in the last assignment, America's perspectives on crime have evolved through time. In the mid to late 19^th century, there were mixed views on crime causation. Ideas were kindled by attempts to use the scientific method to study human behavior. As we saw in Chapter 1, Cesare Lombroso wrote in "Criminal Man" in 1876 that criminals were the product of their inferior heredity. It would have been quite common during that time period for Americans to view criminals as intellectually, morally and physically inferior to civilized beings. However, there were a number of persons who observed that ones social environment impacted behaviors and attempts were made by some groups to remove children from negative urban influences and raise them in more wholesome rural settings. However, there were no academic programs in place to study the social environment until the development of the Chicago School of Sociology in 1899. The Chicago School probably had more influence on criminology than any other institution. In fact, the sociological perspective from about 1915 dominated our thinking about crime through the 1960's.

Chicago, like many other Northern cities at that time was undergoing great social change. First of all, after the Civil War, the industrial revolution really began in earnest. America had been 90% rural before the war but progressively became more urban and by 1900 was only 50% rural. The industrial revolution required large numbers of laborers. Industries developed in the larger cities close to the labor force. People in need of employment flocked to the cities. Immigrants of the early part of the 20^th century tended to be from Eastern Europe including, Italy, Russia, Poland and the Slavic countries. Cities at that time were populated with citizens who had migrated from Western Europe in the 19^th century and they were relatively well socialized into the urban life. The newer immigrants were poor, uneducated and unskilled in industry. They flocked to the inner city ghettos seeking cheap rent and employment. Most industrial laborers at that time lived an average of two blocks from their place of employment. African Americans began immigrating to the northern industrial cities in large numbers in the 1920's. These later immigrants suffered considerable social ills including poor sanitation, disease and crime. Cities at the time had no systematic means to help their needy population as we do today and relied on local humanitarians for help. These ghetto inhabitants were viewed by the older Chicago residents as morally destitute, crime ridden and inferior. Finally, primarily as a result of prohibition, organized crime became the means to an end for many in the urban areas that helped to exacerbate the crime problems.

The earlier social structure theories blamed crime and other social ills on the social, political and economic class structure in American life. Those in the lower class were responsible for crime because of the oppressive conditions in the poverty stricken slums.  Crime was equated with the lower class and therefore social structure theories ignore crimes outside the lower class. They include social disorganization theories, strain theories and cultural deviance theories of crime. The text provides a very adequate description of each of these but I have tried to provide a summary or premise of each of these theories which you should know for testing purposes.

 

SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION

PREMISE: Transient populations in high poverty areas in the inner city prevent social institutions in the community from providing social control. The community develops a criminal subculture that is passed on through the generations.

Clifford Shaw and Henry Mckay were two Chicago area sociologists who proposed the idea that crime was a function of where one lived as opposed to individual choice and that "high risk areas, not high risk people" are associated with high crime rates. They studied people in relation to their social environment helping to popularize the social ecology studies. They also utilized the so-called concentric circles originally developed by Ernest Burgess and Robert Park from the Chicago School to study the social problems in the city. See page 195 for an illustration of the concentric circles.

Be sure and read about how weak social controls contribute to crime in the socially disorganized neighborhoods on page 188 and then contrast and compare how socially organized neighborhoods affect community behavior. Social activists have tried to emulate methods used in these more organized neighborhoods with mixed success. Some communities are so disorganized that not even a concerted effort with government backing is effective. Shaw and McKay organized one such endeavor termed the Chicago Area Project that was deemed a failure by the 1950's. Another effort by Walter Miller in Boston was also a failure. Artificially developing social controls did not work and social disorganization as an explanation of crime diminished in importance. It also failed to explain why most people in socially disorganized neighborhoods did not engage in crime. Despite the history of failure of such programs, we continue to seek ways to strengthen the social fabric in our poverty stricken inner cities.

 

STRAIN THEORY

PREMISE: Crime and delinquency is a result of the frustration and anger people experience when they are unable to achieve social and financial success through conventional means because of their lower social class status.

There are three strain theories that our text discusses as follows:

Theory of Anomie (Robert Merton, 1938)

Premise: All social and cultural structures are characterized by two elements: goals which are the aspirations of all societies and means which are the socially approved ways in which to achieve the goals. Legitimate means to the goals in America are blocked for the lower class and they will experience strain and may choose criminal solutions.

Merton designed a typology to describe the methods available to Americans he termed "modes of adaptation." There are five and you should know these which can be found on page 192.

Anomie theory, like social disorganization theory, can only be used to explain lower class crime and it also fails to explain why people choose the various adaptations. Why do some choose innovation and others conform? Strain theory is still a very popular theory but it has limited usefulness in explaining a majority of crime.

Institutional Anomie (1998)

Premise: The goal for financial success is so powerful in our society that all other institutions such as the family, church and school that could control our appetite for wealth have been rendered powerless.

This theory tries to explain crime from a macro level rather than from an individual level. Though probably very close to the truth in explaining the high crime rate in America overall, it has no utility. In order to make the changes necessary to decrease the crime rate, we would have to have complete cultural re-generation. Material possessions would no longer be used to measure social worth. Parenting, teaching, learning and community service would have to be elevated somehow and that is unlikely.

Relative Deprivation:

This theory was removed from the most recent edition of our text and is only alluded to on page 191 which I think is unfortunate because I think it helps explain why poverty in and by itself  is not necessarily an significant cause of crime.

Premise: The perception of social injustice including income inequality between the rich and poor may produce anger and frustration (strain) and subsequent criminal behavior.

The key to this theory is the group's perception and not necessarily what is. Whether one group is truly deprived is not as important as how they see themselves in comparison. This is an important theory and I believe helps to explain why America is viewed so negatively and is under attack by terrorist groups. Terrorist's perceptions along with much of the rest of the world is that America is unjustly rich and they are unjustly deprived and thus some of the more violent prone seek vengeance. It also may help to explain crime committed by those who may appear to be well off because if they have set higher standards and don't measure up they may feel relative deprivation as well. Unfortunately, as with Institutional Anomie, this theory has little utility accept as an explanation of criminal behavior.

General Strain (Robert Agnew, 1992)

In the newest edition of our text, the author organized strain theories into structural and individual strain.  The previous theories are structural and the following theory is individual.  The strain produced in this theory is more psychologically based than structurally based and probably would be better included in the psychological theories.

Premise: People engage in delinquent behavior because of negative affective states which include anger, frustration and other adverse emotions that result in pressure placed on people by negative and destructive social relationships. The reaction to strain depends upon the coping mechanisms available to them.

This theory takes a much different approach than the ones we have studied to date. It is much more complex and attempts to understand strain on an individual basis as opposed to the society as a whole. Consequently, it has more utility because it identifies areas where criminal behavior can be reduced. For example, by strengthening coping mechanisms may help to reduce negative reactions. It really goes beyond sociological explanations by including psychological and biological influences. Our text states that this theory fails to explain the gender differences in reaction to strain but that could be that males and females react differently because of differences in biology which we will look at later.

 

SUBCULTURAL THEORIES (CULTURAL DEVIANCE)

PREMISE: Crime in lower class neighborhoods is a result of the individuals desire to conform to the unique cultural values of their immediate environment that are in conflict with the dominant culture of the greater society.

These theories essentially excuse criminal behavior because the offenders are adhering to the value system to which they are accustomed. Conventional values do not make sense in the ghetto. The offender had been socialized to live a life without regard for the law and without caring about other people. As one offender on death row from a St. Louis ghetto remarked "everybody in my neighborhood was crooked….I was just living like everybody else….This is the way we lived….It’s the Ghetto… we did what we had to do to survive."

 

The following two theories were proposed in the 1950's in response to youth gang problems in the inner cities. The first one by Robert Cohen says that people living in the ghetto commit crimes in defiance of conventional society whereas Miller's perspective is that people create their subculture to meet the conditions of the ghetto. After reading through these, compare them and then try to determine which of these may be most applicable to the gangs of today.

Delinquent Boys (Albert Cohen, 1955)

Premise: Delinquent behavior of lower class youth is actually a protest against the norms and values of the middle class.

The delinquent youth cannot measure up to the standards set by the middle class Cohen terms these middle-class measuring rods. For example, a gang member growing up in the ghetto will be tested in school that measures students based on what the dominant middle class says is appropriate. The youth fails to measure up and lashes out in direct opposition to the middle class norms.

Lower Class Culture Conflict (Walter Miller, 1958)

Premise: Lower class neighborhoods manifest a distinct culture that remains stable over long periods of time and that residents seek to achieve personal satisfaction in their neighborhood culture.

Miller found seven values specific to the lower neighborhoods he called lower class focal concerns. (page 200).  Miller believed that these values did not develop as a rebellion against lower class values but instead evolved specifically to fit the conditions of the slum. For example, a youth in a lower class neighborhood appreciates smartness but not the kind manifested in school but rather street savvy. Getting good grades in school just did not make sense in the lower class neighborhood but knowing how to survive on the streets did.

EVALUATION OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES:

According to social structure theory, eliminating social and economic class differences should reduce or eliminate crime.  From a practical standpoint, this is not going to happen.  There are some other problems with these theories.  After having studied them you may have learned that not any one of the theories explains all crime but each one contributes to the whole. Do social structure theories really have validity? We cannot ignore the fact that most serious crimes occur in the lower class neighborhoods. However, not all members of the lower class are involved in crime. In fact most are not. Further, considerable crime occurs in other social classes. Are there other forces operating with the lower class neighborhoods that are influencing residents not related to the social structure? In the next chapter we will be studying theories designed to answer that question and to try and explain crime outside the lower class neighborhoods again using sociological methods.