Criminology: Social Disorganization Theory Explained

In 1942, two criminal scholars from the "Criminal Studies Chicago School" Clifford Show and Henry D. McKay developed their social collapse theory through their research.

The theory of social collapse points out that the physical and social environment of a person is primarily responsible for the choice of behavior made by a single person. The core of the theory of social collapse is that this position is important when predicting illegal behavior. Shaw and McKay pointed out that communities with the highest crime rate have at least three common problems: physical disintegration, poverty, and a higher level of ethnic and cultural mix. Shaw and McKay claim that crime does not occur at the individual level, but rather argue that ordinary people correspond to abnormal situations. Social collapse theory is widely used as an important predictor of youth violence and crime

Shaw and McKay have found four concrete hypotheses as explanation of crime.

The first hypothesis is the collapse of community-based management measures, and people living in these vulnerable communities naturally respond to environmental conditions.

The third is a company that is closely related to a weak community that is affected by the "ecological approach" of competition and control.

The fourth and final assumption is that the weak urban community brings about the development of criminal value that will replace normal social value.

In the theory of social collapse, when predicting criminal behavior, it is considered that the individual's place of residence is more important than the characteristics of the individual. Therefore, according to the theory of social collapse, the place is very important when it becomes a crime.

Since the theory was first introduced in 1942, the theory of social collapse has been widely noticed in the field of criminal science. Many studies in major US cities have repeated the results of the first studies of Shaw and McKay.

Research on social collapse theory helps governments and law enforcement decision makers make informed decisions from evidence and helps vulnerable groups to prevent making criminal acts safe for everyone Strategies can be developed.

Criminal studies and other social sciences have considered countless aspects when trying to explain the factors that individuals deviated from the social norm of social collapse. Sociologists established social structural theory ("social collapse theory") in the process of linking behavior patterns to socioeconomic management and other socioecological factors. It is pointed out that the theory of social collapse is extended from the theory of social structure, and the community in which social structure is declining is highly likely to have a high crime rate ("social cost").

In the 20th century, two other criminal theories were developed. These theories are social structural criminology and social process criminal study. Social structural criminal studies are studying how criminal behavior is affected by structural and / or social situations. The idea behind this theory is that crime is the product of social structural flaws. Social process criminal study is the theory of how some people become criminals. The theory also considers criminal acts as learning behavior; for example, the younger brother learns how to shop from older brothers, or young gang members learn crime from experienced gang members