Crime & DevianceRace & Ethnicity

Three Waves of Migration (1930s-40s)◦ “Classical”

Rural to Urban◦ From Europe (especially Eastern Europe)◦ “Classical,” part II

Rural Black Farmers

Added Importance to:◦ Race

A social category based upon some inherited, biological characteristic

◦ Ethnicity A social category based upon some cultural trait or

characteristic

Contributes to:◦ Stereotypes:

simplified, rigid mental images of what members of certain groups are like

◦ Discrimination: the unequal treatment of certain people on the basis

of their race, ethnicity, religion, gender

“Ecology” of the city◦ Process of invasion & settlement of a territory

Concentric Zones◦ Zone 1: Central Business District◦ Newcomers: settle in Zone 2 (the zone in

transition) “Natural Areas”

Assimilation: ◦ "a process of cooperation in which one ethnic

group loses its identity" ◦ Differences between 1st and 2nd Generation

Immigrants

Louis Wirth, “Urbanism as a Way of Life”◦ The city as a troubled place◦ Especially Zone 2

The zone in transition◦ Crime, mental illness, alcoholism, drug addiction,

etc. ◦ Crude crime rate (#crimes/1000)

Always highest in zone 2

Biological & Psychological Attempts to Explain◦ Inherited inferiorities/abnormalities

Physique Phrenology XYY

◦ Minority of Cases

Correlation◦ “X” and “Y” are always found together in time

and space Temporality

◦ “X” always precedes “Y” Intervening Variables?

◦ “X” “Z” “Y”

Not biological, not psychological Time in zone in transition = 4-7 years

◦ Over time, population turns over◦ But crime & deviance rates consistently highest in

zone 2 Social Disorganization (Wirth et al.)

◦ Not individuals; not biology, not psychology

Thorstein Sellin: cultural conflict Frederick Thrasher: gang activity Daniel Bell: “Crime as an American Way of

Life”

Edwin Sutherland ◦ Differential Association

Gresham Sykes & David Matza◦ Techniques of Neutralization

Robert Merton◦ Anomie◦ Deviance and Opportunity Structures

Culturally Culturally Approved GoalsApproved Goals

Legit Instit.Legit Instit.MeansMeans

ConformitConformityy

++ ++

InnovatioInnovationn

++ --

RitualismRitualism -- ++RetreatisRetreatismm

-- --

RebellionRebellion +/-+/- +/-+/-

Universal, so necessary◦ Society of monks

Boundary Maintenance Group Solidarity Innovation Tension Reduction

Howard Becker & Edwin Lemert◦ Not the act, but the societal reaction◦ Secondary deviance (Lemert)◦ Deviance varies across:

Time Situation Culture & Society