scholarly journals Disagreement in Assessing Neighboring and Collective Efficacy: The Role of Social Distance

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 237802311876953 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Hipp ◽  
Seth A. Williams ◽  
Adam Boessen
Keyword(s):  
Measurement Error ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Collective Efficacy ◽  
Social Distance ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
General Measure ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Whereas existing research typically treats variability in residents’ reports of collective efficacy and neighboring as measurement error, the authors consider such variability as of substantive interest in itself. This variability may indicate disagreement among residents with implications for the neighborhood collectivity. The authors propose using a general measure of social distance based on several social dimensions (rather than measures based on a single dimension such as racial/ethnic heterogeneity or income inequality) to help understand this variability in assessments. The authors use data from wave I (2001) of the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey ( n = 3,570) to aggregate respondents into egohoods of two different sizes: quarter-mile and half-mile radii. Consistent with expectations, neighborhoods with higher levels of general social distance have higher variability in reports of neighboring and the two components of collective efficacy, cohesion and informal social control.

Perceptions of Collective Efficacy Among Single Mothers: Insights for Conceptualization and Measurement

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (17) ◽  
pp. 4019-4040 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Barnhart ◽  
Michael C. Gearhart ◽  
Kathryn Maguire-Jack
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Collective Efficacy ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Teen Pregnancy ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Single Mother ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Family Outcomes ◽  
Study Results

Neighborhoods with higher levels of collective efficacy are associated with more favorable family outcomes such as lower teen pregnancy rates and less antisocial behavior among children. Collective efficacy is traditionally measured by combining the constructs of social cohesion and informal social control, yet these two constructs may have unique influences on family outcomes. While prior studies have examined collective efficacy’s factor structure, there is limited understanding of this construct among single-mother families, who have unique social and economic characteristics. In this exploratory study, we tested a single-factor model and two-factor model separating social cohesion and informal social control to examine the underlying factor structure of collective efficacy with a diverse sample of 2,084 unmarried mothers who participated in the third wave in-home survey of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. Results support that informal social control and social cohesion were best modeled as two distinct, but related, constructs.

scholarly journals Neighbourhood land use features, collective efficacy and local civic actions

Urban Studies ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (11) ◽  
pp. 2372-2390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Corcoran ◽  
Renee Zahnow ◽  
Rebecca Wickes ◽  
John Hipp
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Collective Efficacy ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Land Uses ◽  
Civic Action ◽  
New Classification ◽  
Demographic Context

This paper explores the association between neighbourhood land use features and informal social control. More specifically, we examine the extent to which such features in combination with the socio-demographic context of the neighbourhood facilitate or impede collective efficacy and local civic actions. We achieve this through spatially integrating data from the census, topographic databases and a 2012 survey of 4132 residents from 148 neighbourhoods in Brisbane, Australia. The study creates a new classification of a neighbourhood’s physical environment by creating novel categories of land use features that depict social conduits, social holes and social wedges. Social conduits are features of the neighbourhood that facilitate interaction between individuals, social holes are land uses that create situations where there is no occupancy, and social wedges are features that carve up neighbourhoods. We find some evidence to suggest that residents’ reports of collective efficacy are higher in neighbourhoods with a greater density of social conduits. Density of social conduits is also positively associated with local civic action. However, in neighbourhoods with more greenspace, residents are less likely to engage in local civic actions.

Informal social control of sex offenders

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly R. Kras
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Support Function ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Informal Controls ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Insight Into

This essay discusses the role of informal social control for sex offenders who are reentering the community after imprisonment. The essay begins by reviewing the reintegration of sex offenders into communities, noting that they might reintegrate differently than other offenders. Considering how informal social control occurs across the life course for sex offenders may offer insight into specific mechanisms of desistance. The essay discusses the role in reentry of relationships, such as family, friends, and intimate partners, as well as the support function of social networks and community-oriented informal controls, such as school, employment, and other forms of civic engagement. The role of the community for sex offenders is tenuous, considering the legal and social policies that govern their movement and involvement in certain activities. The emerging role of the therapeutic community and the treatment group is examined. Controversies in the role of social support for sex offenders are also reviewed.

Guardianship and Informal Social Control

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle M. Reynald
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Key Points ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Critical Overview ◽  
Neighborhood Level

This article provides a critical overview of the concepts of guardianship and informal social control. The discussion compares these fundamental criminological concepts and highlights areas where there is overlap, as well as key points of departure. The relationship between these concepts is scrutinized to illustrate their distinct origins as well as the distinctive ways each of these concepts have developed within the criminological literature. This article focuses on informal social control as a multi-level community process, and on guardianship as a multi-dimensional situational concept comprising, in its most fundamental form, the presence or availability of guardians, inadvertent and/or purposive supervision and direct or indirect intervention. In doing so it showcases the dimensions of guardianship which bear close resemblance to aspects of informal social control, while simultaneously emphasizing that there are important distinctions to consider when comparing some of these dimensions and the levels at which they operate. One core distinction is that informal social control is dependent on neighborhood social ties and collectively shared expectations. On the other hand, while guardianship can be strengthened by social ties at the street-block or neighborhood level, it does not necessarily require such ties to function effectively at the microlevel. Although these concepts do coincide the discussion stresses that theoretical and empirical clarification about what makes them distinct is important. In conclusion, this article shows how each concept makes a unique contribution to criminological understanding about the role of informal citizens in crime control at places.

“You’re a Different Kind of Black—Where You From?”: The Qualifying Role of Place in the Construction of Black Racial and Ethnic Identities among Louisiana Creole Migrants

2020 ◽  
pp. 233264922094990
Author(s):  
Faustina M. DuCros
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Internal Migration ◽  
Black People ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethnic Identities ◽  
Region Of Origin ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
The Great Migration ◽  
Racial Ethnic

Much of the contemporary scholarship on Black identities focuses on how multiraciality, immigrant status, class, and neighborhood characteristics shape how social actors negotiate identities. In contrast, little analysis exists of how internal migration and regional origin or ancestry shape such negotiations. The study addresses this gap using interview data to examine how U.S.-born Black Louisianans with Creole heritage, who moved to Los Angeles along with their children during the Great Migration, actively negotiate racial/ethnic identities. The results show that participants negotiate identities situationally, especially when ambiguous appearances or surnames trigger interactional encounters in which they are mis-placed as “foreign” to the United States. Specifically, as migrants from one internal U.S. region to another, they use geographical references to situate Black racial and Creole ethnic identities (e.g., they refer to Louisiana or New Orleans) when interacting with non-Creole African Americans and non-Black people in Los Angeles. The study extends prior research on heterogeneous Black identities by demonstrating how internal migration, mixed racial/ethnic ancestry, and region of origin influence native-born Black American identities.

Who will intervene to save news comments? Deviance and social control in communities of news commenters

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 1840-1858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan R Watson ◽  
Zhao Peng ◽  
Seth C Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
News Media ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Online News ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Authoritarian Personality ◽  
White Males

Which bystanders will confront racist, misogynist, personal attacks in news comment sections? This article applies sociological concepts of deviance and social control to categorize efforts to moderate online news comments. Three dimensions of social control are theorized: affirming and sanctioning social control, formal and informal social control, and direct and indirect social control. Particular focus is on indirect informal social control (i.e. rating and reporting of news comments) in order to examine which users are likely to intervene to maintain social order. An analysis of secondary data from a survey of online news users found that demographics play an important role—younger, wealthier, White, males are most likely to report abusive comments. Trust in the news media and authoritarian personality traits also significantly predicted bystander intervention. Theoretical implications for the role of social control in enforcing social norms in news comment spaces and for professional comment moderation are discussed.

scholarly journals Measuring Collective Efficacy

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross L. Matsueda ◽  
Kevin M. Drakulich
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Collective Efficacy ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Measurement Model ◽  
Survey Response ◽  
Informal Social Control ◽  
Informal Control ◽  
Measurement Models ◽  
Level Model

This article specifies a multilevel measurement model for survey response when data are nested. The model includes a test–retest model of reliability, a confirmatory factor model of interitem reliability with item-specific bias effects, an individual-level model of the biasing effects due to respondent characteristics, and a neighborhood-level model of construct validity. We apply this model for measuring informal social control within collective efficacy theory. Estimating the model on 3,260 respondents nested within 123 Seattle neighborhoods, we find that measures of informal control show reasonable test–retest and interitem reliability. We find support for the hypothesis that respondents’ assessments of whether their neighbors would intervene in specific child deviant acts are related to whether they have observed such acts in the past, which is consistent with a cognitive model of survey response. Finally, we find that, when proper measurement models are not used, the effects of some neighborhood covariates on informal control are biased upward and the effect of informal social control on violence is biased downward.

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