Social Disorganization Theory Summary

As Venkatesh continued to meet new people living in the Homes, and as he got to know J.T. better, he began noticing that most of them participated somehow in hustling. J.T. is a pro by now, and runs many side hustles besides only being a gang leader. He allows squatters to live in the Robert Taylor Homes in exchange for a tax, and he manages some prostitutes for a cut of their wages, for example. Some squatters, like C-Note, also hustle though. C-Note revealed to Sudhir that he was making more money than he was reporting to J.T., through fixing cars for instance, which allowed him to keep more of his money. These hustles are the resident’s illegal means of making ends-meet, since they are all living in poverty. Some residents use their money …show more content…
Sampson and W. Bryon Groves examined the validity of the Social Disorganization Theory and tested three aspects in Great Britain, the three aspects focused on teenagers, and were community levels of friendship networks, street-corner teenage peer groups, and the amount of organizational participation. The researchers tested over 200 communities in Great Britain, and were looking at teenagers because they made up a majority of gangs. Also, they examined that of those in gangs as teenagers, 70% of them were arrested when they became adults. In addition to testing teenagers, they also looked at socioeconomic factors such as poverty levels in a community, residential mobility, racial heterogeneity, family disruption, and urbanization. Their results all supported the hypothesis of Shaw and McKay, despite urbanization having a smaller effect on friendship networks than expected. The results for socioeconomic status validated that it is one of the strongest factors for social disorganization. Additionally, they found that communities with strong family guidance had the lowest rates for …show more content…
Agnew points out in his article that General Strain Theory is extremely broad, and therefore, it inhibits researchers from being able to choose a specific type of strain to examine. Through Agnew’s research, he aimed to specify the types of strain that were most prominently attached to crime and delinquency. Additionally, Agnew described strain refers to when someone is not being treated in the way they wish or think they should be. In order to separate strains that indicate criminal behavior and those that do not, he came up with four types of factors that link most heavily to criminal behavior. They were that strains are most likely to lead to crime when they are seen as unjust, seen in high magnitude, associated with low social control, and create pressure to participate in criminal coping behaviors. Agnew argues that some strains will be unrelated to crime, while others, such as parental rejection or child abuse, have a higher correlation with criminal behavior. Some strains Agnew claimed are highly related to crime are: desire to have money in a short amount of time, homelessness, and dealing with prejudice. Some strains he claims are less related to crime are failure to achieve success and burdens associated with child care. However, these latter types of strain are seen as linked to criminality when seen in extreme