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Social Disorganization Theory (SDT)

Clifford Shaw & Henry McKay (1942)

Assumptions
Nature = ?? (may be hedonism)
Behavior = Soft determinism
Theory type
Theory of Crime and Criminal Behavior
Macro-level
Explains geographical differences in crime rates

SDT : Intellectual Roots

Chicago in the 1920/30s

Immigration, urbanization, industrialization
Population heterogeneity along lines of race, ethnicity, culture, religion
Sociologists Robert Park & Ernest Burgess
Park & Burgess Concentric Zone Theory (1925)
Human behavior impacted by social conditions
City growth as evolutionary process that impacts neighborhood structure, social
interaction, social control, & behavior
5 Zones Zone 1 (CBD)Zone 2 (Zone in Transition***)Zone 3 (Working-Class
Zone)Zone 4 (Residential Zone)Zone 5 (Commuter Zone)
Crime not focus of research

Establishment of SDT

Concentric zone theory applied to crime

Chicago research drove theory development
Geographic location of male delinquents, delinquency rates, & zone comparisons
SDT explains process by which high crime & delinquency rates in poor, inner city communities
are established & maintained
Its a place-based, lower-class crime theory
SDT integrates factors from other theories
(1) Mertons (1938) notion of anomie;
(2) Sutherlands DAT;
(3) Notion of informal social control;
(4) Community characteristics & Park & Burgess concentric zone theory

The Concentric Zone Model

1. Central Business District
2. Transitional Zone
a. Recent Immigrant Groups
b. Deteriorated Housing
c. Factories
d. Abandoned Buildings
3. Working Class Zone
a. Single Family Tenements
4. Residential Zone
a. Single Family Homes
b. Yards/Garages

5. Commuter Zone
a. Suburbs

Major Premises
1. Communitya micro-social system (Disorganized --- Organized)
2. In a socially disorganized community, informal social control has broken down
Social disorganization: Communitys inability to bring to fruition the common
values of its members & maintain effective informal social controls
Social disorganization ~ low informal social control
Informal social control: Informal, nonofficial actions by community members to
regulate (prevent/reduce) crime
Examples: Informal surveillance (eyes/ears), presence, admonish, chide,
question
3. In a socially organized community, there is:
Internal solidarity in values/norms (non-anomic)
Cohesive & integrated membership
Member bonding & regular interaction
High informal social control
4. Community characteristics determine the degree of social disorganization by
hindering/promoting the development of informal social control
Examples of barriers to informal social control: Mobility, poverty, family disruption, racial and
cultural heterogeneity

The Model
General Model:
Community characteristics Level of social organization

Behavior
(i.e., low informal social control)
Crime-Specific Model:
Poverty
Ethnic heterogeneity Social disorganization

Crime
Residential mobility
(i.e., low informal social control)
Family disruption
Urbanization
Why are stable crime rates over time?
Intergenerational transmission of pro-crime definitions