The summary discusses the key ideas and findings of the Chicago School of sociology from 1914-1934: 1) Sociologists like Robert Park studied cities as natural areas and proposed theories like the concentric zone model to explain urban social organization. 2) Shaw and McKay mapped juvenile delinquency rates and found they decreased moving outward from the city center, which they linked to factors like poverty, instability, and weak community controls in inner zones. 3) Though criticized for ecological fallacy and treating crime as a measure of social disorganization, the Chicago School established urban sociology and the importance of community factors like collective efficacy in preventing crime.

1. Positivism, Social Ecology, and the Chicago SchoolCJS 380 Crime Science:Principles, Strategies and Practice ofCrime Prevention and ReductionJ.A. Gilmer

2. The positivists

3. Lombroso and the Innate CriminalItalian criminologistFounder or Positivist School of criminology“Born criminal” as atavist (evolutionary throwback) identified through physical stigmata1835-1919

4. Goddard – IQ and HeredityPsychologist, eugenicistFeeblemindedness caused criminality, an inherited traitIQ test used to “scientifically” validateAuthor of The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-MindednessInfluenced immigration control policy of early 1920s1866-1957

5. The chicago school

6. The Chicago School (of Sociology)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_school_%28sociology%29Founded urban sociology 1914-1934Period of rapid expansion and social changeChicago Population Trends, 1870-1940

7. Durkheim – Social Change and AnomieFrench sociologistStudied evolution of societiesMechanical-organic continuumNorms – shared expectations of behaviorCollective conscience – shapes common identityAnomie – ‘normlessness’ due to rapid societal change 1858-1917

8. Robert E. Park and Natural AreasJournalist, sociologistPositivism & functionalsimThe City as natural areaSocial ecological/environmentalThe city is a state of mind, a body of customs and traditions, and of organized attitudes and sentiments that inhere in this tradition. The city is not, in other words, merely a physical mechanism and an artificial construction. It is involved in the vital processes of the people who compose it, it is a product of nature and particularly of human nature.http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/projects/centcat/centcats/fac/facch17_01.html1864-1944

9. Burgess and Concentric ZonesUrban sociologistCollaborated with ParkDeveloped concepts of urban Zones1886-1966

10. Shaw & McKay – DelinquencyShaw, Clifford R. & McKay, Henry D. (1942/1969). Juvenile Delinquency in Urban Areas.Sociologists and founders of Chicago Area ProjectMapped addresses of male delinquentsExamined delinquency rate in different areasStudied relationship of nativity and other social and demographic characteristics to delinquency "Perhaps the results of the Project should not be measured by the rate of juvenile delinquency alone. The project has uncovered latent talent within the communities. Committees have improved parent-teacher relationships and shouldered responsibility for school attendance and improvement. They have brought to bear effective public opinion on specific contributors to juvenile delinquency. They have succeeded in leading children away from crime and reincorporating parolees in the neighborhood."http://www.chicagoareaproject.org/historical-look-chicago-area-project

11. Main Findings of Zone TheoryDelinquency rates decreased moving out from the center of the cityRelated to other ‘social pathologies’ – unemployment, poverty, poor health, mortality, broken familiesNeighborhood stability a key characteristicHome ownership (stake in the community)Ethnic turnover did not affect high rates of delinquency in inner zone

12. Interpretation of Zone DynamicsOuter zones Shared values, norms, collective conscienceEngagement in conventional activitiesCommunity containment of devianceInnermost zonesExtreme diversity -> mixed messages Greater exposure to violence Weak community controls -> subcultural deviance thrives -> crime“inability of a community structure to realize the common vslues of its residents and maintain effective social controls.” Sampson and Groves (1989)

13. Critique of Social Disorganization Labelingpower to define conduct as delinquent or rationalize it awayEcological Fallacy“the danger of making assertions about individuals as the unit of analysis based on the examination of groups or other aggregations” (Maxfield and Babbie, 1995)Tautological (circular reasoning)Socially disorganized b/c high crime but high crime used to define socially disorganized area

14. Community-level Factors and CrimeLow socioeconomic status / relative deprivationHaving little? or having less than other?Ethnic heterogeneityRace consistently correlated with crime – why?Population DensityIncreased interactions and relative anonymityResidential instabilityImpact on family structure

15. Legacy of The chicago school

16. Collective Efficacy Hypothesis“social cohesion among neighbors combined with their willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good” (Sampson, et al., 1997)High mutual trust/shared valuesStrong social ties/social networkExpectation of interventionRobert J. Sampson

17. Elijah Anderson -- SociologistThis is because the street culture has evolved what may be called a code of the streets, which amounts to a set of informal rules governing interpersonal public behavior, including violence. The rules prescribe both a proper comportment and a proper way to respond if challenged. They regulate the use of violence and so allow those who are inclined to aggression to precipitate violent encounters in an approved way. The rules have been established and are enforced mainly by the street-oriented, but on the streets the distinction between street and decent is often irrelevant; everybody knows that if the rules are violated, there are penalties. Knowledge of the code is thus largely defensive; it is literally necessary for operating in public. Therefore, even though families with a decency orientation are usually opposed to the values of the code, they often reluctantly encourage their children's familiarity with it to enable them to negotiate the inner-city environment.Elijah Anderson