Social Disorganization In The Chicago School: A Literature Review

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During the late 1800s and early 1900s, northern cities such as Chicago were experiencing social problems because of population booms caused by “waves of immigrants, displaced farm workers, and blacks fleeing the rural south” (Gabbidon, 2010). By the 1920s the University of Chicago had put together a group of scholars to investigate the social ills plaguing the city. Together, these scholars combined their ideas to formulate what is now known as the “Chicago School” (Gabbidon, 2010). It was at the Chicago School where the concept of social disorganization was first introduced. Social disorganization by definition is a breakdown in the equilibrium of forces, a decay in the social structure, so that old habits and forms of social control no longer …show more content…

Haynie published a study, Community Context, Social Integration Into Family, and Youth Violence, in order to analyze the extent to which neighborhood-level family structure and feelings of family integration will predict an adolescent's risk of committing violence (Knoester & Haynie, 2005). They suggested that they expect adolescents who live in neighborhoods with higher concentrations of single-parent families are more likely to engage in violence. Secondly, they hypothesize the risk of engaging in violence can be reduced with higher levels of social integration into family. Due to family structure being associated with both youth violence and social integration into the family, they predicted an adolescent's risk of committing violence in three separate models depending on whether adolescents perceive that they have (a) two parents residing at home, (b) two resident parents and one or more nonresident parents, or (c) one resident parent (Knoester & Haynie …show more content…

First is that social integration into family has a stronger negative effect on the risk of youth violence in neighborhoods with higher proportions of single-parent families. Secondly, social integration into family has a weaker effect on the risk of youth violence in neighborhoods with higher proportions of single-parent families (Knoester & Haynie, 2005). Essentially, for those adolescents living in neighborhoods with higher proportions of single-parent families social integration into family does not have much effect in deterring violent

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