Citation

Lodhi AQ, Tilly C. Am. J. Sociol. 1973; 79(2): 296-318.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1973, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

10.1086/225548

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This investigation treats the plausibility of "structural" and "tension" analyses of the relationships among crimes against persons, crimes against property, collective violence, urban population, and urban growth. It treats France during the century after 1830. Over the long run, crimes against property appear to have declined significantly in frequency, crimes against persons fluctuated mildly without trend, and collective violence varied sharply from year to year; none of them shows a close correspondence to the pace of urban growth. Cross-sectional comparisons of the 86 French departments at five-year intervals from 1831 to 1861 bring out a strong relationship of property crime to urban population, a highly variable relationship of collective violence to urban population, and no reliable relationship of personal crime to urban population. The relationships with the pace of urban growth in all these regards are weak or nonexistent. There is no detectable association between crime and collective violence. We interpret the weight of the evidence as against tension arguments and toward structural ones.