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15 Urban Unrest and Social Control

15 Urban Unrest and Social Control. Kleniewski & Thomas pp. 319-343. Theories Stressing Order. Tönnies, Durkheim & Simmel all thought social ties were weaker in urban than in rural communities. Lofland & Goffman emphasized that we “live with strangers”

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15 Urban Unrest and Social Control

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  1. 15 Urban Unrest and Social Control Kleniewski & Thomas pp. 319-343

  2. Theories Stressing Order • Tönnies, Durkheim & Simmel all thought social ties were weaker in urban than in rural communities. • Lofland & Goffman emphasized that we “live with strangers” • Chicago school ecologists found correlations between disorder (juvenile delinquency, crime, prostitution, drugs & alcohol) and poverty, high levels of immigrants & African Americans • But social disorganization fell out of use as Suttles, Gans, & others found slums to be highly organized with strong group ties. • Culture-of-poverty theories

  3. Theories Stressing Conflict • Marx & Weber • Class, status and power struggles • Much crime is a result of struggles for resources that are scarce in poor urban areas • Wealth and income are associated with political power (votes and contributions to political candidates), so poor people may be left with social conflict as a means of political expression

  4. Types of Urban Unrest • Crime • Gang activity • Riots • Social movements • Castells • Collective consumption, or the movement to maintain high-quality, publicly supported goods and services, such as subsidized housing and parks, and to preserve historic areas. • Community, or the search for cultural identity that affirms ethnically or socially based ties within a neighborhood. • Citizen’s movements, or movements organized to gain political influence or self-management • Terrorism • Domestic (Ku Klux Klan, Black Liberation Army, Animal Liberation, Oklahoma City Federal Building 1995, Atlanta Olympics 1996) • International (World Trade Center 1993, 9/11/2001

  5. Crime rates by city size: 2008 Group I (66 cities, 250,000 and over; population Group II (168 cities, 100,000 to 249,999; population Group III (406 cities, 50,000 to 99,999; population Group IV (701 cities, 25,000 to 49,999; population Group V (1,535 cities, 10,000 to 24,999; population Group VI (6,199 cities under 10,000; population Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States, 2009, Table 31 http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2009/data/ table_31.html

  6. Crime rates by city size: 2008 Group I (66 cities, 250,000 and over; population Group II (168 cities, 100,000 to 249,999; population Group III (406 cities, 50,000 to 99,999; population Group IV (701 cities, 25,000 to 49,999; population Group V (1,535 cities, 10,000 to 24,999; population Group VI (6,199 cities under 10,000; population

  7. Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/csv/t432009.csv

  8. Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/csv/t432009.csv

  9. Uniform Crime Reports County Data GeoStats University of Virginia http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/crime/

  10. Causes of Urban Disruptions • Crime rates are closely related to lack of adequate employment. • Reasons given for joining a gang • Identity, fun, friendship & prestige unavailable elsewhere • Rewards (alcohol, drugs, money) • Protection from harassment • Young men, without opportunity, poor schools, no prospects for jobs, little recreation, lots of time on hand.

  11. Urban Street Gangs Brenda C. Coughlin and Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh. 2003. “The Urban Street Gang after 1970” Annual Review of Sociology, 29: 41-64 http://www.jstor.org/stable/30036960 LeBlanc, Adrian Nicole. 2003. Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx. New York: Scribner. HV4046.N6 L43 2003

  12. Approaches to Reducing Urban Disruptions • Social Control Mechanisms • Informal social control • Formal social control • Laws, rules, regulations, penalties, criminal law & criminal justice system • Traditional policing • Community policing • Strategic Reinvestment of money and cultural capital into poor urban areas is the most promising solution to urban disruption

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