Citation

Sampson RJ, Groves WB. Am. J. Sociol. 1989; 94(4): 774-802.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Shaw and McKay's influential theory of community social disorganization has never been directly tested. To address this, a community-level theory that builds on Shaw and McKay's original model is formulated and tested. The general hypothesis is that low economic status, ethnic heterogeneity, residential mobility, and family disruption lead to community social disorganization, which, in turn, increases crime and delinquency rates. A community's level of social organization is measured in terms of local friendship networks, control of street-corner teenage peer groups, and prevalence of organizational participation. The model is first tested by analyzing data for 238 localities in Great Britain constructed from a 1982 national survey of 10,905 residents. The model is then replicated on an independent national sample of 11,030 residents of 300 British localities in 1984. Results from both surveys support the theory and show that between-community variations in social disorganization transmit much of the effect of community structural characteristics on rates of both criminal victimization and criminal offending. (abstract Adapted from Source: American Journal of Sociology, 1989. Copyright © 1989 by The University of Chicago Press)

Social Disorganization Theory
Community Factors
Community Environment
Crime Causes
Community Structure
Foreign Countries
England
Juvenile Crime
Juvenile Offender
Adult Crime
Adult Offender
Juvenile Delinquency
Delinquency Causes
07-02