Transcript Urbanization, Crime, & Deviance

Crime & Deviance
Race & Ethnicity

Three Waves of Migration (1930s-40s)
◦ “Classical”
 Rural to Urban
◦ From Europe (especially Eastern Europe)
◦ “Classical,” part II
 Rural Black Farmers
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Added Importance to:
◦ Race
 A social category based upon some inherited,
biological characteristic
◦ Ethnicity
 A social category based upon some cultural trait or
characteristic
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Contributes to:
◦ Stereotypes:
 simplified, rigid mental images of what members of
certain groups are like
◦ Discrimination:
 the unequal treatment of certain people on the basis of
their race, ethnicity, religion, gender
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“Ecology” of the city
◦ Process of invasion & settlement of a territory
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Concentric Zones
◦ Zone 1: Central Business District
◦ Newcomers: settle in Zone 2 (the zone in transition)
 “Natural Areas”
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Assimilation:
◦ "a process of cooperation in which one ethnic
group loses its identity"
◦ Differences between 1st and 2nd Generation
Immigrants
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Louis Wirth, “Urbanism as a Way of Life”
◦ The city as a troubled place
◦ Especially Zone 2
 The zone in transition
◦ Crime, mental illness, alcoholism, drug addiction,
etc.
◦ Crude crime rate (#crimes/1000)
 Always highest in zone 2
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Biological & Psychological Attempts to Explain
◦ Inherited inferiorities/abnormalities
 Physique
 Phrenology
 XYY
◦ Minority of Cases
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Correlation
◦ “X” and “Y” are always found together in time and
space
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Temporality
◦ “X” always precedes “Y”
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Intervening Variables?
◦ “X”  “Z”  “Y”
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Not biological, not psychological
Time in zone in transition = 4-7 years
◦ Over time, population turns over
◦ But crime & deviance rates consistently highest in
zone 2
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Social Disorganization (Wirth et al.)
◦ Not individuals; not biology, not psychology
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Thorstein Sellin: cultural conflict
Frederick Thrasher: gang activity
Daniel Bell: “Crime as an American Way of
Life”
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Edwin Sutherland
◦ Differential Association
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Gresham Sykes & David Matza
◦ Techniques of Neutralization
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Robert Merton
◦ Anomie
◦ Deviance and Opportunity Structures
Culturally
Approved Goals
Legit Instit.
Means
+
Conformity
+
Innovation
Ritualism
+
-
+
Retreatism
-
-
+/-
+/-
Rebellion
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Universal, so necessary
◦ Society of monks
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Boundary Maintenance
Group Solidarity
Innovation
Tension Reduction
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Howard Becker & Edwin Lemert
◦ Not the act, but the societal reaction
◦ Secondary deviance (Lemert)
◦ Deviance varies across:
 Time
 Situation
 Culture & Society