social desorganisation Archive

Main proponent

Theorie

Cloward & Ohlin’s theory of differential opportunities represents a link between learning, subculture, anomie and social desorganisation theories.

On the one hand, the approach is based on Sutherland, starting from the assumption that criminal motives, techniques and rationalizations are learned through criminal associations. On the other hand, Cloward and Ohlin share with Merton and Cohen the notion that deviant behaviour is a consequence of the stratum-specific pressure to adapt, or more precisely of blocked access to legitimate means, and that this adaptation (according to Cohen) typically takes place collectively through interaction processes in groups.

Cloward and Ohlin see the answer, which is why not all persons suffering from adaptation problems become criminals, in the fact that access to illegitimate means can also be blocked for criminal action – the opportunities differentiate. For example, drug trafficking is more difficult to access in some parts of the city than in others. A person who intends to become a drug dealer not only requires drug suppliers, but also a customer base and a street corner where he can sell his drugs. Access to these means, however, is not open to everyone. It requires relationships with experienced people who are willing to share their knowledge and professional network.

The opportunity to break into cars also depends on the social situation of the environment, the car owner and the presence of possible accomplices. Socially disorganized neighbourhoods thus, according to Shaw and McKay’s theory, offer more access to criminal behaviour than others.

However, the theory of differential opportunities can also be applied within subcultural structures. So it seems obvious that delinquent gangs can only commit crimes if they have the means to do so.

At both the macro-social and subcultural levels, after Cloward and Ohlin, it can now happen that an individual has neither legitimate nor illegitimate means at his disposal. Since in such a case neither the legitimate nor illegitimate means are available to an individual, the authors speak of double failures.

According to Cloward and Ohlin, members of subcultures in such a dilemma react with random violence and intensified territorial expansion.

Altogether it can be said that Cloward and Ohlin aim more at the crime opportunity and less at the motivation for the crime. Crime is only possible if society, certain neighbourhoods, or delinquent subcultures provide illegitimate means. A certain kinship cannot be ignored with routine activity approach where, for example, the presence of an alarm system prevents the opportunity to commit a crime.

Implications for Criminal Policy

Just like the theory itself, the political demands and conclusions are a mixture of different approaches.

According to the theory of differential opportunities, rehabilitation is achievable by learning to conform to behaviour, good social policy, moral education, the resolution of problematic neighbourhoods, but also, to a certain extent, deterrence and situational crime prevention.

Above all, Cloward and Ohlin demand more education and improvement of the economic conditions for the US underclass in order to enable cultural and financial success for all members of society. This includes the establishment of social and political structures within vulnerable or socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Critical Appraisal & Relevance

Cloward’s and Ohlin’s theory shares some strengths as well as some weaknesses of their related theories, which, however, are partly resolved by their combination.

What remains in any case is the criticism that not every offence needs specific opportunities or certain illegitimate means to be executed. Pure violence or kleptomaniac behaviour is obviously always and everywhere possible. The basic assumption of Cloward and Ohlin that criminal acts are in principle always reactions to status and adaptation problems is and remains debatable. Merton, Cohen and others have already been accused of this narrow view.

Nevertheless, the theory of differential opportunities succeeds in making clear the illegitimate means necessary for most crimes. This underlines situational elements in the criminological discussion on the one hand, and on the other hand plays with the idea of whether everyone would not end up acting criminally if they had the necessary access to it.

[also known as: Social Ecology, Area Approach, cultural transmission]

Theories of social disorganization assume that in areas with certain ecological conditions such as high unemployment rates, population mobility or material decay, crime rates are constant. Such conditions prevent social organisation and cohesion in the neighbourhood and thus informal social control of delinquency. Once crime is widespread, criminal norms and values that compete with normative values are transmitted through cultural means. People are thus influenced in their actions by a certain environment.

Main proponents

Clifford Shaw und Henry McKay

Theory

Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas (1929 developed by Clifford Shaw, 1942 published in collaboration with his assistant Henry McKay.)

In his 1929 study “Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas” in Chicago Shaw examined the residences of 60,000 male youths who had been registered as school truants or offenders by the city, police or courts. He called the areas where a large number of the young men to be investigated lived “delinquency areas”.

Shaw introduced another term, that of “natural areas” which are areas that are distinguished from their surroundings by special geographical, social and cultural features, areas that have formed in the course of natural urban growth.

Shaw’s basic thesis is that the delinquency areas largely correspond with the natural areas, since any city could be divided into areas created in a natural way, creating certain structures suitable for describing and measuring different factors.

In the 1930s, Shaw, in collaboration with McKay, extended his research to other North American cities in an attempt to explain why socially deviant behaviour is concentrated in certain neighbourhoods (also called the ecological approach). Thus, the ecological situation of a residential area (infrastructure, quality of housing, supply of shops, etc.) influences the spatial distribution of criminal behaviour by influencing both the perpetrator’s personality and different opportunities to commit crimes.

Shaw and McKay focused their studies on juvenile suspects and delinquents aged 16-18. The findings, conducted in four American cities, were as follows: In each of these cities there were areas with particularly high crime rates. They characterized these delinquency areas as follows:

higher delinquency and truancy rates,
high infant mortality,
high number of tuberculosis patients,
Overpopulation,
high number of families living on state support,
unfavourable social structure, due to a lack of leisure activities, but also to high population mobility.

They also came to the conclusion that the high crime rates were to be regarded independently of the ethnic structure of the inhabitants and expressed the assumption that the area itself was the source of crime. This could lead to the conclusion that certain factors exist in these areas for decades which, irrespective of the culture and values of the respective inhabitants, repeatedly ‘infect’ young people with criminality.

Soziale Desorganisation – Zonenmodell — Zonenmodell (Shaw & McKay nach: Ernest Burgess)

Ein zweiter Erklärungsansatz wäre die Annahme, dass der Raum Kriminelle anzuziehen vermag. – Die Delinquenzgebiete lagen dort, wo die Stadtteile am verfallensten waren und aufgrund billiger Mieten vor allem von Armut betroffene Menschen anzogen. In diesen Wohngebieten kam es unter dem Druck sozial zersetzender Kräfte zu einer Auflösung gesellschaftlicher Bindungen und daher zu höherer Kriminalität (geringe soziale Kontrolle).
Bezüglich der unterschiedlichen sozialen Strukturen entstanden mehrere Ringe, die sich um die Innenstadt gruppierten. Entsprechend dieser Verteilung von innen nach außen nahmen auch die Kriminalitätszahlen ab.

Kriminalpolitische Implikation

Die Beobachtungen zur soziale Desorganisation durch Shaw & McKay dienen als Ausgangspunkt für kommunale Regionalanalysen und führten u.a. zur Broken Windows Theorie und zur Null-Toleranz-Strategie (Zero Tolerance Policing).
Die makrosoziologischen Beobachtungen der Theorie der sozialen Desorganisation mit ihrer Fokussierung auf Formen der informellen Kontrolle stehen zudem im Zusammenhang mit Kontrolltheorien. Schließlich lässt sich eine Verbindungslinie zwischen der postulierten Weitergabe kultureller Werten und der Theorie des differentiellen Lernens ziehen.

Kritische Würdigung & Aktualitätsbezug

Hauptkritikpunkt an der Theorie der sozialen Desorganisation als Erklärung für abweichendes Verhalten und Kriminalität lautet, dass die Verantwortung für individuelles Handeln von dem Einzelnen weg, hin zur Gesellschaft verlagert werden würde.

Literatur

Primärliteratur

Shaw, C.R., McKKay, H.D. (1969): Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas: A Study of Delinquency in Relation to Differential Characteristics of Local Communities in American Cities.

Sekundärliteratur

Weiterführende Informationen

siehe: Kriminalpolitik im Städtebau

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