(Re)conceptualizing Neighborhood Ecology in Social Disorganization Theory: From a Variable- Centered Approach to a Neighborhood-Centered Approach

Crime & Delinquency

25 Pages Posted: 1 Sep 2021

See all articles by Charis E. Kubrin

Charis E. Kubrin

University of California, Irvine

Nicholas Branic

Independent

John R. Hipp

University of California, Irvine - Department of Criminology, Law and Society

Date Written: August 30, 2021

Abstract

Shaw and McKay advanced social disorganization theory in the 1930s, kick-starting a large body of research on communities and crime. Studies emphasize individual impacts of poverty, residential instability, and racial/ethnic heterogeneity by examining their independent effects on crime, adopting a variable-centered approach. We use a "neighborhood centered" approach that considers how structural forces combine into unique constellations that vary across communities, with consequences for crime. Examining neighborhoods in Southern California we: (1) identify neighborhood typologies based on levels of poverty, instability, and heterogeneity; (2) explore how these typologies fit within a disorganization framework and are spatially distributed across the region; and (3) examine how these typologies are differentially associated with crime. Results reveal nine neighborhood types with varying relationships to crime.

Keywords: crime, neighborhoods, social disorganization, latent class analysis

Suggested Citation

Kubrin, Charis and Branic, Nicholas and Hipp, John R., (Re)conceptualizing Neighborhood Ecology in Social Disorganization Theory: From a Variable- Centered Approach to a Neighborhood-Centered Approach (August 30, 2021). Crime & Delinquency, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3914355

Charis Kubrin (Contact Author)

University of California, Irvine ( email )

Department of Criminiology, Law and Society
Social Ecology II, Rm 3379
Irvine, CA 62697-3125
United States

Nicholas Branic

Independent

John R. Hipp

University of California, Irvine - Department of Criminology, Law and Society ( email )

2340 Social Ecology 2, RM
Irvine, CA 92697
United States
949-824-8247 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.soceco.uci.edu/faculty/hippj/

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