Assignment 2 - Social Disorganization and Collective Efficacy

Reading Assignment 2 (Section 3)

Social Disorganization and Collective Efficacy

Introduction, Tammy L. Anderson /

Introduction and Growth of Chicago and Differentiation of Local Areas from Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas, Clifford R. Shaw and Henry D. McKay /

Collective Efficacy Theory: Lessons Learned and Directions for Future Inquiry, Robert J. Sampson /

The Urban Ecology of Bias Crime: A Study of Disorganized and Defended Neighborhoods, Ryken Grattet /

Connections: The Prison Community from a Social Disorganization and Collective Efficacy Perspective, Lori Sexton, Critical Thinking Questions /

Answer one question:

Shaw and McKay's delinquency studies link the growth and differentiation of Chicago to social disorganization and crime rates in city neighborhoods. Summarize the various concentric zones of the map of Chicago as discussed on pp. 109-110. Which zone has the highest rates of crime/delinquency and why?

Discuss in detail Sampson's concept of collective efficacy (pp. 128-129). Do you think collective efficacy adequately is an adequate explanation for lower crime rates in city neighborhoods?  Why or why not?

Sexton attempts to apply the concepts of social disorganization and collective efficacy to the study of prisons as total institutions. Do you think her argument is convincing?  Pay particular attention to her treatment of prison violence and collective efficacy as it relates to the community of transgender prisoners.

1. Reading Assignment 2 (Section 4)

Social Pathology, Degeneracy and Medicalization

1. Introduction, Tammy L. Anderson /

Social Pathology: A Systematic Approach to the Theory of Sociopathic Behavior, Edwin Lemert /

1. Whatever Happened to Social Pathology? Conceptual Fashions and the Sociology of Deviance, Joel Best /

The Shifting Engines of Medicalization, Peter Conrad / 17. Connections: Mental Illness as Degeneracy and Disease, Victor Perez, Critical Thinking Questions /

Points Possible: 25

Deliverable Length: 2-3 pages

Answer one question:

Define and differentiate between Anderson's use of the concepts degeneracy and medicalization (pp. 170-171). Do you agree with Anderson that social pathology has limited use in the study of society and deviance?  Why or why not?

Summarize Lemert's treatment of psychological/psychiatric and sociological approaches to the study of sociopathic behavior (pp.176-177).

Best claims that social pathology as a viable concept "gradually fell out of style" by the 1960s, replaced by a more relativistic emphasis on deviance. Then he makes a similar argument for the "death" of the concept of deviance in the present day.  Summarize his three principles of deviance definition (pp. 181-182) which are now debated as inadequate to the task.