The Roots of Organized Crime

1962 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 325-338
Author(s):  
Gus Tyler
Keyword(s):  
Organized Crime ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
The Social ◽  
Patterns Of Behavior ◽  
Robber Barons ◽  
American Society ◽  
Free People ◽  
Established Order

The hierarchy of organized crime is a new economically powerful and politically influential class in American society. Once the servant of politics, business, and labor in social struggles, organized crime now reaches out to become the master: an economy behind the economy, a government behind govern ment. Its roots lie deep within the American culture, drawing nourishment from the traditional virtues as well as the popular ized vices of our civilization. Our revolutionary tradition is a proud expression of our desire to be a free people; yet this same readiness to challenge the established order when it denies what individuals and groups consider to be their rightful heritage has made America a lawless nation. Our material riches are our international boast; yet this pursuit of riches was institutional ized by generations of "robber barons" whose unethical patterns of behavior became sanctified when sufficiently aged in gilt. The challenge to accumulated wealth, coming from the "lower" orders, continued the pattern of subordinating means to ends. The frontier provided the social background for continuing the tradition of advancing "rights" and "riches" through a process of organized anarchy; when the open frontier ran out, the metropolises produced the "internal" frontier, the pockets of deprived, alienated, but aspiring subcultures that challenged the established order. Out of the clash issued new gangs, the nuclei of organized crime. Even our desire to be pure has added more than its share to the impurity known as organized crime. A puritan heritage, superimposed on a materialistic pragmatism, has created a widespread hypocrisy in which Amer icans collectively outlaw the practices in which they privately indulge. In this inner clash of values, the organized criminal provides the "outlawed" services that the "respectables" crave. While the top gangster tends to move from violence to di plomacy, from strong arm to investment, from hood to statesman, the institution of gangsterism is constantly renewed from the ranks of the juvenile delinquent gang, youth alienated from the dominant culture by age, by poverty, and by ethnic diversity.

Explaining Organized Crime

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Lombardo
Keyword(s):  
Organized Crime ◽  
Human Ecology ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Social Disorganization Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
American Society ◽  
Ethnic Succession ◽  
Deviance Theory ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Succession Theory

This chapter reviews the theoretical underpinnings of the alien conspiracy and ethnic succession theories as explanations for the emergence and continuation of organized crime in American society. It first considers the arguments of the alien conspiracy theory, as well as the cultural deviance theory upon which it is based, before discussing the claims of the social disorganization theory as the basis of the ethnic succession theory. The chapter also examines the theories of human ecology, cultural transmission, and differential social organization, along with delinquency theories and their relation to organized crime, with particular emphasis on recruitment issues. Finally, the chapter looks at the relationship between Gerald Suttles's conceptualization of the defended neighborhood and racket subcultures.

Organized Crime in Chicago

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Lombardo
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Political Corruption ◽  
Conspiracy Theory ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
American Society ◽  
Sociological Explanation ◽  
American Cities

This book provides a comprehensive sociological explanation for the emergence and continuation of organized crime in Chicago. Tracing the roots of political corruption that afforded protection to gambling, prostitution, and other vice activity in Chicago and other large American cities, the book challenges the dominant belief that organized crime in America is a descendent of the Sicilian Mafia. According to this widespread “alien conspiracy” theory, organized crime evolved in a linear fashion beginning with the Mafia in Sicily, emerging in the form of the Black Hand in America's immigrant colonies, and culminating in the development of the Cosa Nostra in America's urban centers. Looking beyond this Mafia paradigm, this volume argues that the development of organized crime in Chicago and other large American cities was rooted in the social structure of American society. Specifically, the book ties organized crime to the emergence of machine politics in America's urban centers. It contends that Chicago's criminal underworld could not have existed without the blessing of those who controlled municipal, county, and state government. These practices were not imported from Sicily, the book contends, but were bred in the socially disorganized slums of America where elected officials routinely franchised vice and crime in exchange for money and votes. The book also traces the history of the African American community's participation in traditional organized crime in Chicago and offers new perspectives on the organizational structure of the Chicago Outfit, the traditional organized crime group in Chicago.

scholarly journals A Social Background of Kaibarta Community in Assam

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Poli Konwar
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Life Style ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Heterogeneous Population ◽  
The Other ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
Scheduled Castes

Assam is well-known as the land of heterogeneous population with ethnic diversity. The society in the ancient days was predominantly a non-Aryan society in Assam.  The people of Assam can be divided broadly into tribal and non-tribal categories from another angle. It is to be noted that the non-tribal category are included into three major groups such as the General Caste (GC), the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the Other Backward Classes(OBC). There are sixteen SC, twenty seven Scheduled Tribes (ST) and twenty nine communities are listed as OBC in Assam. The people of all communities are basically honest, truthful, straightforward and trustworthy in Assam. They are more interested to maintain social peace and harmony in Assam. They have moved away more or less from their traditional social life style after independence in Assam. The members of the Kaibarta community are playing a very important role in social development of Assam. The culture of the Kaibarta community is very rich in Assam. In this context, the present study is an attempt to discuss about the social background of Kaibarta community in Assam.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Lombardo
Keyword(s):  
Organized Crime ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Conspiracy Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
American Society ◽  
Ethnic Succession ◽  
The City ◽  
Succession Theory

This book has has argued that traditional organized crime in America is directly related to the social conditions that were found in American society during the early years of the twentieth century, rather than the result of a transplanted Sicilian Mafia as claimed by the alien conspiracy theory. Additional evidence against the alien conspiracy thesis comes from sociologist William Chambliss's study of “Rainfall West,” a pseudonym given to the city of Seattle. This concluding chapter first considers the arguments of ethnic succession theory before discussing racket subcultures and street crew neighborhoods and how the failure of social control allowed organized crime to develop further. It asserts that organized crime in Chicago was not related to the emergence of the Sicilian Mafia but was the product of America's disorganized urban areas. It also highlights the importance of community social structure for recruitment issues and the influence of differentially organized community areas for the development and continuation of organized crime in Chicago.

Are Immigrants Healthier? The Case of Depression among Filipino Americans

2007 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krysia N. Mossakowski
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethnic Discrimination ◽  
Filipino Americans ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
The Social ◽  
American Society ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Immigration has fundamentally changed American society by increasing racial and ethnic diversity. Yet, our knowledge of the relationship between immigrant status and mental health remains limited. This study provides evidence that Filipino American immigrants have significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms than Filipinos born in the United States, net of gender, age, marital status, socioeconomic status, and place of residence. I also examine the mediating effects of individualism, collectivism, ethnic identification, and perceived racial/ethnic discrimination to understand why immigrants are healthier. Furthermore, my results suggest that age at immigration warrants more attention. Immigrating during childhood predicts significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms in adulthood than immigrating after childhood, independent of the duration of residence in the United States. Although this study is specific to Filipino Americans, it has implications for theories about selective migration and the social psychological ramifications of adapting to American culture as a racial/ethnic minority.

The Social Origins and Provenance of the English Bishops during the Reign of Edward II

1959 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 51-79
Author(s):  
K. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Early Career ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Origins ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Edward Ii ◽  
The Social ◽  
Complete Study ◽  
History Of

During the last twenty or twenty-five years medieval historians have been much interested in the composition of the English episcopate. A number of studies of it have been published on periods ranging from the eleventh to the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. A further paper might well seem superfluous. My reason for offering one is that most previous writers have concentrated on analysing the professional circles from which the bishops were drawn, and suggesting the influences which their early careers as royal clerks, university masters and students, secular or regular clergy, may have had on their later work as bishops. They have shown comparatively little interest in their social background and provenance, except for those bishops who belonged to magnate families. Some years ago, when working on the political activities of Edward II's bishops, it seemed to me that social origins, family connexions and provenance might in a number of cases have had at least as much influence on a bishop's attitude to politics as his early career. I there fore collected information about the origins and provenance of these bishops. I now think that a rather more careful and complete study of this subject might throw further light not only on the political history of the reign, but on other problems connected with the character and work of the English episcopate. There is a general impression that in England in the later middle ages the bishops' ties with their dioceses were becoming less close, and that they were normally spending less time in diocesan work than their predecessors in the thirteenth century.

Similarities and differences in the social background of female medical, nursing and health visitor students

2008 ◽  
Vol 149 (24) ◽  
pp. 1137-1142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helga Judit Feith ◽  
Zsuzsanna Soósné Kiss ◽  
Ágnes Kovácsné Tóth ◽  
Péter Balázs
Keyword(s):  
Social Background ◽  
Health Visitor ◽  
The Social ◽  
Similarities And Differences

Ismereteink szerint ez idáig nem történt olyan átfogó vizsgálat Magyarországon, amely egészségügyi felsőoktatásban tanuló hallgatók szociokulturális hátterét vizsgálta volna. Célkitűzés: Keresztmetszeti kutatásunk fő célkitűzése az volt, hogy megismerjük és elemezzük a leendő orvosnők, diplomás ápolónők és védőnők társadalmi hátterében megmutatkozó különbségeket. Módszer: Jelen kutatásunk orvostanhallgató-nők, valamint egészségügyi főiskolai karon tanuló hallgatónők között készült, a Semmelweis Egyetemen. Összesen 295 hallgatónőt vontunk be a kutatásba, értékelhető választ adott 68,08% ( n = 201). Az eredményeket az SPSS programcsomag segítségével elemeztük, leíró statisztikai megközelítésben. Eredmények: A felmérésben részt vevő hallgatónők számos szociodemográfiai jellemzőjében meghatározó különbséget tapasztaltunk. Az orvostanhallgató-nők nagyobb hányada diplomás szülők gyermeke, ugyanakkor a főiskolai szintű képzésben részt vevő hallgatónők esetében ennek jóval kisebb az esélye. Nem találtunk ugyan statisztikailag alátámasztható különbséget a három hallgatói csoport családi állapotában, de megállapítható, hogy kevesebb diplomásápoló-hallgatónő volt férjezett, illetve élt élettársi kapcsolatban. Következtetések: A főiskolai hallgatónők, valamint az orvostanhallgatók szociokulturális hátterében megmutatkozó különbségek, az ebből következő társadalmi hátrányok nagyobb mértékben sújtják az ápoló- és védőnőhallgatókat, mint az orvostanhallgató-nőket.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE AMARNA LETTERS TOWARDS A STUDY OF SYRO-PALESTINIAN SOCIAL STRUCTURE (1). TERMINOLOGY FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 788-832
Author(s):  
Lukas M. Muntingh
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
The Social ◽  
Amarna Letters ◽  
Free People ◽  
Shed Light

Egyptian domination under the 18th and 19th Dynasties deeply influenced political and social life in Syria and Palestine. The correspondence between Egypt and her vassals in Syria and Palestine in the Amarna age, first half of the fourteenth century B.C., preserved for us in the Amarna letters, written in cuneiform on clay tablets discovered in 1887, offer several terms that can shed light on the social structure during the Late Bronze Age. In the social stratification of Syria and Palestine under Egyptian rule according to the Amarna letters, three classes are discernible:1) government officials and military personnel, 2) free people, and 3) half-free people and slaves. In this study, I shall limit myself to the first, the upper class. This article deals with terminology for government officials.

The inspection of actual runoff control facilities five years after construction

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 373-377
Author(s):  
Yuzo Akagawa ◽  
Yasutoshi Matsumoto ◽  
Mitsuyoshi Zaizen
Keyword(s):  
Return Period ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Groundwater Table ◽  
Control Functions ◽  
Design Rainfall ◽  
The Social ◽  
Athletic Field ◽  
Runoff Control

This report describes runoff control facilities (five years after construction) which are basically an athletic field consisting of tennis courts, constructed in an area of about four hectares in Tokyo. The report is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the social background of the fact that the athletic field has come to have runoff control functions. The second part concerns the summary of these facilities, and then the last part relates to the effects of runoff control. Concerning the effects of the facilities, the return period of design rainfall for runoff control facilities is ten years, but stormwater has been stored on the tennis courts twice in five years after construction. Though these two cases of rainfall were very extraordinary, as the outcome of the inspection of the runoff control facilities we were able to confirm the effects of runoff control by means of simulating under the condition of those two cases of rainfall. In addition, we were able to confirm the effect of groundwater cultivation by means of researching the transition of the groundwater table.

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