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Social Disorganization and Ecological Criminology

Social Disorganization and Ecological Criminology. Dan Ellingworth Wednesday, 12 November 2014. Lecture Outline. Durkheim and Anomie The Chicago School Robert Park Shaw and Mackay’s ‘Concentric Zones’ Social Disorganization Environmental Criminology Routine activities theory

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Social Disorganization and Ecological Criminology

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  1. Social Disorganization and Ecological Criminology Dan Ellingworth Wednesday, 12 November 2014

  2. Lecture Outline • Durkheim and Anomie • The Chicago School • Robert Park • Shaw and Mackay’s ‘Concentric Zones’ • Social Disorganization • Environmental Criminology • Routine activities theory • Crime Mapping • Community crime careers • Community Crime Prevention

  3. Durkheim and Anomie • Central concern: how does society maintain itself, whilst undergoing major social upheaval • Mechanical Solidarity → Organic Solidarity • Underdeveloped conscience collective resulting in normlessness or Anomie • Crime and deviance results from a temporary lack of norms and values

  4. Social Disorganization Theory / Ecological / Environmental Criminology • Area crime / offending rates • Influences of community characteristics on crime • Land use and routine activities • Importance of Informal Social Control

  5. Chicago School • Established 1892 • Aim: to establish sociology as an organized, empirical discipline • Robert Park: anthropological and ecological study of crime • Chicago: an evolving city, characterised by waves of immigration from Europe: aim was to understand this process

  6. E.W. Burgess“Concentric Circles” I - The Loop II- Zone of Transition III - Zone of workingmen’s homes IV- Residential Zone V - Commuters’ Zone I II III IV V

  7. Chicago School: 1940s • Shaw and Mackay: social disorganisation • juvenile delinquency residence rates, and other social problems, concentrated in the zone of transition • Patterns stable over time despite change • Cultural heterogeneity & constant turnover of population inhibit maintenance of social order

  8. Criticisms of Chicago School • Crime the product of social organisation, not disorganisation • Delinquency seen as the product and result of disorganisation • Social disorganisation ignores differential power levels, and the role of economic factors

  9. Legacy of Chicago School • Crime can be effected by the broader policies shaping the urban city • Measures against crime should seek to socialise and integrate (especially youth) • The geography of crime • Most effective resource for crime prevention is to be found in the ordinary members of the population: “natural surveillance” in communities

  10. Crime Mapping • Technologically driven GIS mapping • Identification of offenders and offending • “Hotspot” analysis : a recognition that crime incidents are clustered in small areas

  11. Wilson and Kelling • “Broken Windows” Thesis Disorder Fear of Crime Informal control undermined Potential increase in serious crime

  12. Disorder and Fear of Crime • Innovative focus on disorder and fear within areas • Disorder: Signals of a breakdown in the realisation of conventional norms about public behaviour, and a diminished capacity for problem solving • Fear of Crime: withdrawal from community, as well as “secondary victimisation”

  13. Spiral of decline • Evidence that the pattern of decline is most marked in working class communities where residents are more sensitive to such “barometers of decline” • “Tipping points”: communities gain reputations for tolerance of social disorder • Psychological / behavioural consequences: fatalism and mutual distrust

  14. Defensible Space: Oscar Newman • Territoriality: ‘zones of influence’ • Surveillance: design buildings to allow easy observation of areas • Image: design buildings to avoid stigma in low-cost / public housing • Environment: the juxtaposition of public housing with ‘safe zones’ • a neglect of social factors?

  15. Routine Activities Approach • Marcus Felson • A crime event occurs when 3 things coincide in time and space • a motivated offender • a suitable victim / target • the absence of capable guardianship • Social Disorder can inhibit capable guardianship

  16. Primary Crime Prevention • Primary Crime Prevention • reduction of crime without reference to criminals and potential criminals • leading role played by the police • A.K.A. “Situational” crime prevention • Increasing the effort required for crime • Increasing the risks of detection • Reducing the reward of crime

  17. Secure by Design “See and Be Seen” Bus Shelters Big Issue Offices, Manchester Royds Community Association, Bradford

  18. Social Capital • Individuals have resources associated with inter-connections – Social Capital • Communities benefit when social capital is high • “Collective efficacy” – the ability of groups to respond and resist • Putnam – social capital is in decline • Communitarians (eg. Amitai Etzioni) – a need to reinvigorate the social / community in the face of unfettered individualism

  19. Summary • Ecological approach of Chicago School looked at social disorganization (akin to Durkheim’s anomie) • Functionalist: both theories saw norms / values / culture / ecology as the key to social order • Contemporary approaches have borrowed this, and applied it to a community based approach to offending and crime prevention

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