scholarly journals (Re)conceptualizing Neighborhood Ecology in Social Disorganization Theory: From a Variable-Centered Approach to a Neighborhood-Centered Approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 001112872110415
Author(s):  
Charis E. Kubrin ◽  
Nicholas Branic ◽  
John R. Hipp
Keyword(s):  
Social Disorganization ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Social Disorganization Theory ◽  
Ethnic Heterogeneity ◽  
Residential Instability ◽  
Communities And Crime ◽  
Structural Forces ◽  
Spatially Distributed ◽  
Independent Effects ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Shaw and McKay advanced social disorganization theory in the 1930s, kick-starting a large body of research on communities and crime. Studies emphasize individual impacts of poverty, residential instability, and racial/ethnic heterogeneity by examining their independent effects on crime, adopting a variable-centered approach. We use a “neighborhood-centered” approach that considers how structural forces combine into unique constellations that vary across communities, with consequences for crime. Examining neighborhoods in Southern California we: (1) identify neighborhood typologies based on levels of poverty, instability, and heterogeneity; (2) explore how these typologies fit within a disorganization framework and are spatially distributed across the region; and (3) examine how these typologies are differentially associated with crime. Results reveal nine neighborhood types with varying relationships to crime.

The Rural/Urban Divide: Examining Different Types of Assault Through a Social Disorganization Lens

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (17-18) ◽  
pp. 3530-3553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Goodson ◽  
Leana A. Bouffard
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Urban Communities ◽  
Social Disorganization ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Poisson Regression ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Social Disorganization Theory ◽  
Ethnic Heterogeneity ◽  
Different Types

Most studies of social disorganization theory focus on urban communities. In addition, these studies largely ignore more intimate crimes, such as intimate partner violence. Yet, results from extant studies are often generalized to explain all types of crime in all types of communities, thus potentially ignoring the dynamics surrounding intimate crimes and rurality. The current study expands on previous research in two ways. First, this study examines whether characteristics of social disorganization can predict assault across various victim–offender relationships. Second, this study applies social disorganization predictors to both metropolitan (or urban) and nonmetropolitan (or rural) counties. The sample consisted of 690 counties located across 13 different states. Results from the Poisson regression models indicate higher levels of ethnic heterogeneity and concentrated disadvantage were associated with increased rates of assault across various victim–offender relationships. Furthermore, the measures of social disorganization functioned in the expected direction in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties. These results highlight the importance of controlling for community structures when examining rates of violence, including intimate partner violence. Programs and policies designed to reduce intimate partner violence should include neighborhood components as these affect rates of violence within a community.

Individual- and School-level Predictors of Latent Profiles of Bullying Victimization: Comparing South Korea and the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052199795
Author(s):  
Yoonsun Han ◽  
Shinhye Lee ◽  
Eunah Cho ◽  
Juyoung Song ◽  
Jun Sung Hong
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Social Disorganization ◽  
Latent Profile Analysis ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Level ◽  
Social Disorganization Theory ◽  
Bullying Victimization ◽  
Latent Profiles

This cross-national research investigated nationally representative adolescents from South Korea and the United States, explored similarities and differences in latent profiles of bullying victimization between countries, and examined individual- and school-level variables that predict such latent profiles supported by the Social Disorganization Theory. The fourth-grade sample of the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study from South Korea ( N = 4,669) and the United States ( N = 10,029) was used to conduct a latent profile analysis based on eight items of the bullying victimization questionnaire. Multilevel logistic regression was conducted using latent profiles as dependent variables. Independent variables include individual-level (material goods, school absence, academic interest, school belonging) and school-level (concentration of affluent families, school resources, the severity of delinquency, academic commitment) factors. More similarities existed than differences in the latent groups of bullying victimization between South Korea ( rare, low-moderate, verbal-relational-physical, and multi-risk) and the United States ( rare, low-moderate, verbal-relational, and multi-risk). Evidence for school-level variables as predictors of bullying victimization profiles was stronger for adolescents in the United States, with a concentration of affluent families and severity of delinquency being significant in four of the six models. For the South Korean sample, the severity of delinquency predicted bullying victimization in only one model. Examination of both individual- and school-level factors that predict unique bullying victimization experiences grounded in Social Disorganization Theory may be informative for addressing key areas of intervention—especially at the school-level context in which victimization primarily takes place and where anti-bullying intervention programs are often provided.

Social disorganization theory and the college campus

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Barton ◽  
Bonnie Lynne Jensen ◽  
Joanne M. Kaufman
Keyword(s):  
Social Disorganization ◽  
College Campus ◽  
Social Disorganization Theory

A Tale of Two Theories: Whither Social Disorganization Theory and the Routine Activities Approach?

2021 ◽  
pp. e20210013
Author(s):  
Jen-Li Shen ◽  
Martin A. Andresen
Keyword(s):  
Social Disorganization ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Property Crime ◽  
Routine Activities ◽  
Routine Activity ◽  
Social Disorganization Theory ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Crime Types ◽  
Routine Activities Approach

Social disorganization theory and the routine activities approach have been extensively applied separately as theoretical frameworks for the spatial analysis of crime, with general support. As hypothetical explanations for complex social phenomena, criminological theories can impact how studies are framed and how the crime problem is approached. Thus, it is important to evaluate theories continuously in various geographical, as well as contemporary contexts. This study uses both theories in tandem to examine their ability to explain 2016 property crime in Vancouver, Canada, using 2016 census data. Both theories found moderate support. Of particular note is that all of the variables designated as proxies for ethnic heterogeneity in social disorganization theory were either not statistically significant or negative, consistent with the immigration and crime literature. Additionally, almost all variables, when statistically significant, were found to have consistent results across crime types. These results bode well for the continued use of social disorganization theory and the routine activity approach in spatial analyses of crime.

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