CHAPTER 4 SOCIOLOGICAL VIEWS OF DELINQUENCY LEARNING OBJECTIVES

CHAPTER 4: SOCIOLOGICAL VIEWS OF DELINQUENCY

LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading this chapter, students should: 1. Be familiar with the association between social conditions and crime 2. Be able to describe the principles of social disorganization theory 3. Be able to define the concepts of anomie and strain and how they are applied to the study of delinquency 4. Be familiar with the concepts of social process and socialization and theories that hold they are the key to understanding delinquent behavior 5. Be able to explain how the labeling process is related to delinquent careers

SOCIAL FACTORS AND DELINQUENCY § What are the social factors believed to cause or affect delinquent behaviors? § Interpersonal interactions § Social relationship with families, peers, schools, jobs § Community ecological conditions § Deterioration of inner-city areas § Social change § Political unrest/mistrust, economic stress, and family disintegration § Socioeconomic status § People on the lowest rung of the economic ladder have the greatest incentive to crime § Racial disparity § The consequences of racial disparity and poverty take a harsh toll on minority youths § About 6% of white, 11% of black and 22% of Hispanics drop out of high school each year

SOCIAL FACTORS Interpersonal interactions

SOCIAL FACTORS Community ecological conditions Deterioration of inner-city areas

SOCIAL FACTORS Social change Political Unrest Family Disintegration

SOCIAL FACTORS Socioeconomic status People on the lowest rung of the economic ladder have the greatest incentive to crime

SOCIAL FACTORS Racial disparity

QUESTION 1. Which of the following is not one of the critical social factors believed to affect delinquent behaviors presented in the text? a. b. c. d. interpersonal interactions gender disparity community ecological conditions social change

SOCIAL FACTORS AND DELINQUENCY § Social problems can turn American youths toward antisocial behaviors § Three main sociological theoretical groups: ① Social structure theories ① Social process theories ② Critical theories

SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES § Oscar Louis (1966) coined the phrase “culture of poverty” § The view that lower class people form a separate culture with their own values and norms § “Underclass” § Group of urban poor whose members have little chance of upward mobility or improvement § William Julius Wilson and the “Truly disadvantaged”: § The impoverished are deprived of a standard of living enjoyed by the other citizens § People who are left out of the economic mainstream and living in the deteriorated innercity

SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES § The theories tie delinquency rates to: § Socioeconomic conditions § e. g. poverty, neighborhood deterioration § Cultural values § e. g. gang culture § Three prominent views: ① Social disorganization ② Anomie/strain ③ Cultural deviance

SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION § Clifford Shaw and Henry Mc. Kay-Chicago School § Neighborhoods marked by culture conflict, lack of cohesiveness, a transient population, and insufficient social organizations…reflected in the area schools. § Transitional neighborhoods § Areas changed from affluence to decay § Teenage gangs developed as a means of survival, defense, and friendship § Cultural transmission § The process of passing on deviant traditions and delinquent values from one generation to the next § Social control § An organized community has the ability to regulate itself via formal/informal social control § Relative Deprivation § Condition that exists when people of wealth and poverty live in close proximity to one another

QUESTION 2. Oscar Lewis coined the term _________ to describe feelings of apathy, helplessness, and mistrust of institutions experienced by the urban poor. a. anomie b. learned helplessness c. culture of poverty d. truly disadvantaged

QUESTION 3. The ____________ theories tie delinquency rates to socioeconomic conditions and cultural values; areas that experience high levels of poverty and social disorganization will also have high delinquency rates. a. b. c. d. social structure traits process learning

QUESTION 4. ____________ is the process of passing on deviant traditions and delinquent values from one generation to the next. a. b. c. d. Social disorganization Social control Cultural transmission Social learning

SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION § Clifford Shaw and Henry Mc. Kay. Chicago School § Community Change § Impoverished areas “gentrified” to stabilize them § Community Fear § As fear increases, quality of life deteriorates § Poverty Concentration § Poverty becomes concentrated to specific area(s) as people flee; i. e. - Detroit § Collective Efficacy § Process in which mutual trust and a willingness to intervene in the supervision of children and help maintain public order create a sense of well-being

SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION § Delinquency is caused by the neighborhood in which a child lives § Divided Chicago into nine concentric circles § Run down areas of a city create social disorganization, fostering physical & cultural conflicts that allow delinquency to become a tradition

UNDERSTANDING ZONING

QUESTION 5. According to social disorganization theory, neighborhoods that are disorganized are incapable of effective social control. a. True b. False

FIGURE 4. 2 PERCENTAGES OF YOUTHS AGES 12 TO 17 ENGAGING IN PAST-YEAR VIOLENT BEHAVIOR, BY FAMILY INCOME

St. Louis – Current Example Ø According to 2011 UCR reports, St. Louis, Missouri was the “most dangerous city” in the US; specifically, the most dangerous area was the public housing complexes on the east side of the river. A few factors were named as the potential causes of this high crime rate: limited economic opportunities, inadequate educational system, and poverty. ü Compare the situation in your community with the situation in St. Louis. Based on social disorganization theory, please explain why the crime rate in your neighborhood is lower than St. Louis’.

ANOMIE/STRAIN § Strain § A condition caused by the failure to achieve one’s social goals § Anomie § Robert Merton (1910 -2003) § Without acceptable means for obtaining success, individuals feel social and psychological strain § Consequently, these youths may use deviant methods to achieve their goals or reject socially accepted goals and substitute deviant ones

STRAIN THEORY § Stems from the idea of anomie originally developed by Emile Durkheim § When society goes through abrupt, rapid social change, the normative structure is disrupted, which can cause a period of anomie or normlessness leading to social disorganization. § Strain theory argues humans are moral but may commit crime when under great pressure § If society eliminated the conditions that produce strain, then it would be possible to prevent delinquency.

GENERAL STRAIN THEORY § Robert Agnew § General strain § Links delinquency to the strain of being locked out of the economic mainstream, which leads to anger and frustration § Sources of strain § Failure to achieve positively valued goals § Removal of positively valued stimuli § Presentation of negative stimuli § Negative affective states § Anger, depression, disappointment, fear, and other adverse emotions that derive from strain

ELEMENTS OF GENERAL STRAIN THEORY

QUESTION 6. According to Robert Merton, individuals without acceptable means for obtaining success experience: a. b. c. d. alienation empathy growth and enrichment anomie

QUESTION 7. According to Agnew's General Strain Theory, adolescents engage in delinquency as a result of ____________ – the anger, frustration, fear, and other adverse emotions that derive from strain. a. b. c. d. negative affective states psychopathological anomalies relative deprivation cognitive dissonance

CULTURAL DEVIANCE THEORY § Links delinquency to the formation of independent subcultures with a unique set of values that clash with the mainstream culture § By joining gangs, lower-class youths are rejecting the culture that has already rejected them § They may be failures in conventional society, but they are the kings and queens in their own neighborhood

SOCIAL PROCESS THEORIES: SOCIALIZATION AND DELINQUENCY § Sociologists argue that the root cause of delinquency may be traced to learning delinquent attitudes from peers, experiencing conflict in the home, etc. § Socialization is the process of learning the values and norms of the society or subculture to which the individual belongs § Early socialization experiences have a lifelong influence on self-image, values, and behaviors § Major influences on a child’s socialization: § Family relations § Parental efficacy § School § Peers

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES: DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION THEORY § Delinquency is learned through close relationship with others § Children are born “good” and learn to be “bad” § Differential Association Theory: § Edwin Sutherland § Children are socialized, exposed to, and learn pro-social and antisocial attitudes and behaviors from peers, parents, and so on through a process of communication

Wrestling with Crime – Current Example Ø In 2011, former international wrestling superstar Nightmare Ken Wayne, and his student, Dan Matthews, teamed up to fight crime and drug use among at-risk youths. They started the New Experience Wrestling Youth League to keep the kids of West Memphis and surrounding areas off the street, and to provide them with a positive environment to learn and grow. ü Do you think it is a viable program to reduce delinquency and drug use? Why? ü How much can at-risk youths benefit from positive learning?

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES: SOCIAL CONTROL THEORIES § Posits that delinquency results from a weakened commitment to the major social institutions § Social Control Theory § Travis Hirschi – Causes of Delinquency § Four main elements ① ② ③ ④ Attachment Commitment Involvement Belief § Assumes that all people have the potential to commit crimes but are kept in check by their attachments to society

QUESTION 8. “Delinquency is a result of youths’ desire to conform to lower-class neighborhood values that conflict with those of the larger society. ” This statement most closely reflects: a. b. c. d. differential association theory critical theory social process theory cultural deviance theory

QUESTION 9. Which broad sociological category of theories considers socialization to be the key determinant of behavior? a. b. c. d. Social structure Social process Critical Social reaction

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES: SOCIAL CONTROL THEORIES § Delinquents have low self-control that can be traced to childhood experiences. § Children develop high self-control when their parents: Ø Love a child enough to monitor and react to bad behavior Ø Supervise the child Ø Recognize naughtiness when it occurs Ø Punish bad behavior

QUESTION 10. Which of the following theories assumes that all people have the potential to commit crimes but are kept in check by their attachments to society? a. b. c. d. social disorganization social control social learning strain

SOCIAL REACTION/LABELING THEORY § Delinquency is caused by “stigma” applied by agents of social control, including official and unofficial institutions § Labeling Theory § Society creates deviance through a system of social control agencies that designate certain individuals as delinquent, thereby stigmatizing them and encourage them to accept this negative personal identity § Self-fulfilling prophecy § The process by which a person who has been negatively labeled accepts the label as a personal role or identity

Scared Straight and Negative Label – Current Example Ø Scared Straight, which began in the 70 s, intended to reduce delinquency by using inmates serving life sentences in a New Jersey prison to scare at-risk youths from committing crimes. The supporters of scared straight believe that if teens witness a realistic view of life in prison they will be deterred from crime. However, critics argue that this approach could lead to “labeling” and to future delinquency/criminality. ü In your opinion, does “Scared Straight” work? Why or why not?

CRITICAL THEORY § Society is in a constant state of internal conflict § Those in power use the justice system to maintain their status while keeping others subservient § The poor may not commit more crimes than the rich, but they are certainly arrested more often § Views delinquent behavior as a function of the capitalist system’s inherent inequity

MERTON’S MODES OF ADAPTATION § Conformists - buy into the system and accept the goals and means of a culture § Innovators - strive for a societies goals but do so through means that deviate from the larger society § Ritualists - do not subscribe to the goals but participate in socially acceptable means § Retreatists - dropped out of society altogether; reject both means and the goals § Rebels - reject both the means and the goals; define their own goals and ways to achieve them

THEORY AND DELINQUENCY PREVENTION § Social structure theories: § Social programs have been designed to reduce/ eliminate delinquency § i. e. Operation Weed and Seed § Social process theories: § Delinquency can be prevented by strengthening the socialization process § i. e. Boys and Girls Clubs § Labeling theories: § To limit the interface of youths with the Juvenile Justice System § i. e. deinstitutionalization § Critical theories: § An approach that relies on non-punitive strategies for delinquency control § i. e. restorative justice

QUESTION 11. Which theory posits that society creates deviance through a system of social control agencies that designate certain individuals as delinquent, thereby stigmatizing them and encouraging them to accept this negative personal identity? a. b. c. d. General strain theory Social bond theory Social learning theory Labeling theory

SUMMARY ü Familiarity with the associations between social conditions and crime ü Know the principles of social disorganization theory ü Know the concepts of anomie and strain ü The meaning of social process and socialization ü Know the elements of labeling process