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Sie befinden sich hier: Home / Theories of crime / Social Disorganization

Social Disorganization

27. March 2019 | zuletzt aktualisiert am 2. April 2025 von Christian Wickert

The central thesis of spatial theories—often referred to as theories of social disorganization—is that crime is rooted in specific social and structural characteristics of certain environments. In short: some environments foster crime more than others.

Context

This theoretical approach originated in the United States, with the city of Chicago playing a particularly important role through a number of influential spatial studies. The influx of immigrants and African Americans from the southern states, combined with the rise of organized crime during Prohibition (1920–1933), prompted detailed research into the development and transformation of urban neighborhoods. These studies are now considered foundational to the so-called Chicago School of Sociology. One of its central questions: Why do some neighborhoods exhibit consistently higher crime rates than others?

According to the theory, social disorganization weakens informal social control, which in turn facilitates higher levels of criminal behavior.

Robert Park and Ernest Burgess contributed significantly to this line of thought with their concept of “urban ecology,” which heavily influenced Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay’s Theory of Social Disorganization. Also notable in this context is Frederick Thrasher, who studied the living and activity spaces of 1,313 gangs in Chicago. He observed that gang activity tended to concentrate in certain transitional zones on the city’s outskirts—areas he termed “gang lands.”

Finally, James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling drew on Shaw and McKay’s work to develop the influential Broken Windows theory, further extending the implications of social disorganization for modern urban criminology.

 


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Kategorie: Theories of Crime Tags: social desorganisation

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Lektionen

  • Social Disorganization Theory
    Shaw & McKay
  • Broken Windows Theory
    Wilson & Kelling

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SozTheo is a collection of information and resources aimed at all readers interested in sociology and criminology. SozTheo was created as a private page by Prof. Dr. Christian Wickert, lecturer in sociology and criminology at the University of Applied Sciences for Police and Public Administration in North Rhine-Westphalia (HSPV NRW). The contributions and linked articles available here do not necessarily reflect the official opinion, attitude or curricula of the HSPV NRW.

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