Social Disorganization Theory

The theory that crime and other deviant behaviour is most likely to occur where social institutions are not able to direct and control groups of individuals.

It is argued that gangs will arise spontaneously in social contexts that are weakly controlled.

Some criminologists think that the concept of social disorganization just reflects middle-class failure to comprehend organization different from their own.

Further Testing of Social Disorganization Theory: An Elaboration of Sampson and Groves's "Community Structure and Crime" BONITA M. VEYSEY, STEVEN F. MESSNER 
In one of the more important studies in the criminological literature over the past decade, Sampson and Groves analyze data from 238 British neighborhoods to test the mediating effect of indicators of social disorganization variables on the relationship between structural community characteristics and crime. In this article, the authors recognize that advances in statistical theory and software allow for a more detailed analysis of Sampson and Groves's integrated theory of community-level social disorganization. Using covariance structure modeling (LISREL), the results of their analysis reveal that (1) Sampson and Groves's argument regarding the mediating effect of social disorganization variables is only partially supported, (2) social disorganization is not one construct but rather represents several mechanisms by which communities maintain stability, and (3) the resulting model may be interpreted as supportive of several theories of crime, including peer affiliation theories, as well as social disorganization.

New Directions in Social Disorganization Theory - Charis E. Kubrin, George Washington University, Ronald Weitzer, George Washington University 
Social disorganization theory focuses on the relationship between neighborhood structure, social control, and crime. Recent theoretical and empirical work on the relationship between community characteristics and crime has led to important refinements of social disorganization theory, yet there remain some substantive and methodological deficiencies in this body of work. This article addresses these problems and charts some promising new directions in social disorganization theory. - jrc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/40/4/374

A Multilevel Assessment of Social Disorganization Theory in Taipei, Taiwan 
SHU-LUNG YANG, National Chung-Cheng University 
JOHN P. HOFFMANN, University of Chicago 
Recent interest in community-level studies of crime has generated substantial evidence that Shaw and McKay's social disorganization model continues to be a notable explanation of crime and delinquency. However, the plausibility of social disorganization theory in a Chinese cultural setting has not been well investigated. This article develops a multilevel social disorganization model and tests it using data from a representative sample of 1,704 in-school adolescents from Taipei, Taiwan. The results offer general support for the social disorganization model: Higher community income and lower population density in the community are related to lower delinquency, while family disorganization and associations with deviant peers are related to greater involvement in delinquency. These results show the promise of social disorganization as an explanation of delinquency in a rapidly changing Chinese cultural system. - ccj.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/14/3/222

American Indian Homicide - A County-Level Analysis Utilizing Social Disorganization Theory - Christina Lanier - University of Delaware, Newark 
Lin Huff-Corzine, University of Central Florida, Orlando 
Research on lethal violence has generally been directed at White and African American populations, with few studies addressing this issue among American Indians. Interestingly, national data indicate that American Indians have one of the highest homicide rates among racial groups. In an effort to identify the etiological underpinnings of this violence, the current study examines whether variation in county-level American Indian homicide rates can be explained by social disorganization theory. Specifically, the authors investigate the impact of economic deprivation, ethnic heterogeneity, mobility, and family disruption on homicide levels among American Indian populations. - hsx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/10/3/181

Emphasizing Fear of Crime in Models of Neighborhood Social Disorganization
Rachael A Woldoff
Abstract: The place of fear of crime in traditional models of neighborhood social disorganization is rather ambiguous. This paper discusses the literatures on social disorganization theory and fear of crime, arguing for a model of social disorganization that explicitly incorporates fear of crime rather than ignoring it, assuming it, or using proxies for it. After providing an overview of the links between the social disorganization and fear of crime literatures, this paper elaborates on Robert Bursik's (1988) framework to show how a dynamic model of social disorganization may incorporate fear of crime. Specifically, this paper more closely examines the idea that fear of crime is the point of departure for a reciprocal effect feedback loop in social disorganization theory. This paper also claims that a dynamic model of social disorganization can include the concept of fear of crime as a mediator between community-level structures and the intervening social control variables that causally precede crime.

Community Social Organization as a Predictor of Mortality: Analyzing Chicago Neighborhoods - Seth L Feinberg, Department of Sociology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA
Abstract: This research explores the relationship between community social organization and neighborhood rates of mortality. Community social organization is a latent term that captures a variety of social interactions between residents that bring individuals together, providing an opportunity for a collective response to perceived neighborhood problems. Drawing from social disorganization theory, I suggest that more efficacious communities should have lower rates of mortality, particularly for youth. Using survey and secondary data for Chicago neighborhoods, I find that social organization (measured as collective efficacy) has a strong protective effect in terms of reducing youth death rates. The impact of collective efficacy holds for both preventable and health-related youth mortality. Results suggest that neighbors may contribute to protecting the lives of youth by helping mobilize residents to engage in community social organization. -

The Span of Collective Efficacy: Extending Social Disorganization Theory to Partner Violence - Christopher R. Browning
ABSTRACT: This research applies the social disorganization perspective on the neighborhood-level determinants of crime to partner violence. The analysis brings data from the 1990 Decennial Census together with data from the 1994–1995 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods Community Survey, the 1994–1995 Chicago homicide data, and data from the 1995–1997 Chicago Health and Social Life Survey. The findings of this study indicate that collective efficacy—neighborhood cohesion and informal social control capacity—is negatively associated with both intimate homicide rates and nonlethal partner violence. Collective efficacy exerts a more powerful regulatory effect on nonlethal violence in neighborhoods where tolerance of intimate violence is low. Collective efficacy also increases the likelihood that women will disclose conflict in their relationships to various potential sources of support. - apt.allenpress.com

Replicating Sampson and Groves's Test of Social Disorganization Theory: Revisiting a Criminological Classic - Christopher T. Lowenkamp ; Francis T. Cullen ; Travis C. Pratt 
Article explores the test of social disorganization theory with data from 1994 British Crime Survey. 
Abstract: Social disorganization theory includes three measures of community-level variables thought to cause social disorganization: low economic status, ethnic heterogeneity, and residential mobility. Two additional sources were added: urbanization and family disruption. A convincing test of social disorganization theory was conducted using data from the 1982 British Crime Survey. No single study did more to advance the image of social disorganization theory. The work became a criminological classic. But subsequent research has not replicated this study. The question arises whether this research offers unshakable support for social disorganization theory or merely produced an idiosyncratic finding that was unique to a certain time and place. The British Crime Survey was revisited a decade later to investigate whether the findings reported in the original analysis would remain stable as social disorganization theory would predict. The replication of the test using 1994 data generally mirrors the results found using the 1982 data. The analysis reveals a relatively high level of empirical support for the social disorganization perspective. In each instance where the parameter estimates from the 1994 sample did differ significantly from the 1982 data source, the results generated from the more recent sample indicated a greater degree of support for social disorganization theory than was previously revealed. This analysis provides both empirical support for the social disorganization perspective and support for the conclusion that the previous study results were not idiosyncratic to the 1982 data. The findings of the initial classic study were not artifactual but demonstrated an underlying empirical pattern that has persisted over time. 4 tables, 7 notes, 71 references.