Paper Example on Social Disorganization Theory and Strain Theory

Introduction

The Corner provides the most convincing cases of how social and institutional dysfunction impacts the lives of the residents of crime-ridden streets (Dutton et al., 2013). The theory of social disorganization links the rate of crime in neighborhoods to ecological characteristics. In the theory, the core principle is that residential location is critical in shaping the potential of engaging in criminal activities. On the other hand, strain theory opines that structures in a given society can drive residents towards criminal tendencies. These two perspectives are compared in the context of the first episode of The Corner.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Social Disorganization Theory Perspectives

According to Inderbitzin, Bates and Gainey (2017), residential location is one of the multiple determinants of future illegal activities and even more significant than the characteristics of an individual. The social dysfunction theory provides the most convincing explanation of deviant behavior in the first episode of The Corner, "Gary's Blues." As shown in the episode, individuals from the disadvantaged neighborhood of Baltimore engage in a subculture that approves delinquency, which encourages members to acquire criminality in such cultural and social settings.

The Corner considers the diverse experiences with poverty and addiction of a neighborhood and family in Baltimore. The production embraces a documentary approach to the experiences of the McCullough family. Garry and his Francine struggle with heroin addiction as their son, DeAndre consider drug trade as a successful career. Simon reveals the effects of drug and crime on the lives of the ordinary people and their neighborhoods. He foregrounds the urban issues, which aid to understanding the high crime rate within African American neighborhoods. The daily struggles of Garry McCullough as an addict is clear, as well as the urban American life. The social disorganization theory provides a frame for contextualizing the episode.

The protagonist's life is ridden with incidents of shootings, addiction, and stealing, which are deviant behaviors that characterize the neighborhoods in Baltimore. The relationship between Gary and his son is relatively timid and one marked with a high level of desperation. In the episode, a flashback of Baltimore during the 1970s shows much friendlier and brighter streets, which are a sharp contrast to the present. Currently, the neighborhood community is ridden with drug dealers and addicts. These scenes depict the work ethic of Gary as a child and the parental support and motivation that drove him to a successful education and business career. Presently, the life of Gary is depicted as tragic with any regard for traditions. He lives with his working parents, assisting them with simple household chores. He comes into contact with the justice system following an altercation with Francine over a batch of heroin.

As Gary, his son DeAndre confidently enters the drug trade influenced by the ecological characteristics of the Baltimore neighborhoods. The neighborhoods are filled with elderly addicts with youths locked in the drug trade. The director skillfully uses the flawed characters with complex clues to their deviant behavior. It is evident that the realities of addiction are complicated, and they establish the reaction the director poses. It demonstrates the difficulty of developing distinct connections between the success and decline of Garry's life. Similarly, the real representation Gary's addiction coupled with the shots of sore veins and desperation reveals the impact of ecological characteristics of Baltimore on the residents.

Strain Theory Perspectives

Strain theory considers that social structures in a given society can be a driving factor for residents to engage in criminal acts. Robert King Merton (1938) advanced the perspectives of Emile Durkheim (Inderbitzin et al., 2017). According to Merton, the society pressurizes individuals to attain the American dream despite the apparent lack of means. Such compulsions result in strains that can lead to criminal acts, such as drug dealing and prostitution. As demonstrated in the first episode of The Corner, there are multiple processes at the neighborhood level that filter down and impact on ways in which individual perceive their needs. In Baltimore, there are inherently inadequate social structures and regulation, which subsequently alters the perceptions of Gary and DeAndre with regards to opportunities and means. Gary is exposed to pains and frictions that come with heroin addiction with his son struggling to meet his needs. The latter considers the American dream as a significant goal and achieving it is more critical compared to the means adopted.

Baltimore and its neighborhoods encouraged deviance to a great extent as the socially accepted goals placed more pressure on conformance. The scenes are aligned with the perspectives of the strain theory, which was formulated as per the economic circumstances in the American society during the nineteenth century. The principle of the theory stems from the efforts to explain the different rates of deviance among societies (Dutton et al., 2013). Flashback on Gary's childhood life shows the difference in how success was defined and the most appropriate means of achieving such goals. Gary attended college and after his graduation, he went to become a successful businessman. Contrarily, the present society is marked by a high level of deviance due to the high value assigned to success.

In contemporary Baltimore, success is primarily defined in financial terms, which is a contradiction for the traditional definition of success. As a college educated businessman, Gary was respected, but DeAndre is admired for his money as well regardless of the means he adopted to achieve his success. Despite attending college, the standards set by the society are so high such that DeAndre can only meet through unconventional means. Such contradictions raise questions on how highly the American society esteems success. Members of the society are compelled to accept their situation or embrace the deviant subculture to attain the desired objective. The residents of the Baltimore strain to bridge the gap between their current status and their financial objectives. Such members can choose to conform by pursuing their goals using socially acceptable means with poverty as the ultimate destination. Inderbitzin et al. (2017) believes that these members can alternatively choose to innovate by adopting socially unapproved means to attain the American dream. Gary chose to resist socially acceptable means, succumbing into heroin addiction. He lost his family, wealth and career but later attempts to fix the problem with apparent difficulty.

Comparison of Theoretical Utility

In the episode, social disorganization is the most useful perspective in comprehending the problems faced in the Baltimore neighborhood unlike strain theory. Due to the lack of behavioral regulation, Baltimore, a socially disorganized neighborhood encourages the production of criminal traditions, which are inherently transferred to successive generations. The pro-delinquency attitudes characterize the system and are learned by members through their frequent contact with juveniles. Therefore, Baltimore is marked with social disorganization that presents fertile grounds for delinquency and crime through lack of behavioral regulation mechanisms and cultural transfer of delinquent values.

Social disorganization is in line with the theories of labeling, control, and social learning. Following it adjustment and subsequent expansion, the theory encompass constructs past the originally specified micro-level components, such as residential mobility, economic status, and racial heterogeneity. The theoretical utility of the social disorganization is more enhanced, with mediating variables or intervening mechanisms have been tested between crime rates and conventional social organization variables. Some of these intervening variables are the impact of social disorganization on the degree of collective efficacy and family disruption.

Neighborhood processes are a mainstay in the link between crime and social disorganization. The intervening mechanisms between crime rates and social disorganization include peer network, the degree of organizational participation and prevalence unsupervised friendship network. It is argued that ethnic heterogeneity, low economic status and residential mobility impact informal control frameworks in manners that contribute to delinquency and crime rates. It is predicted with certainty that neighborhoods with disproportionately lower socio-economic status and relatively higher racial heterogeneity, residential mobility and family disruption have high crime rates. The high rates of criminal activities are associated with limited friendship networks, unsupervised groups, and minimal organizational participation. These social disorganization variables are proved as an effective means of transmitting the impacts of structural characteristics of deviant behavior.

Unlike the social theory, social disorganization perspective is more effective in demonstrating the reluctance of the residents to intervene for the common good. Social disorganization has a tremendous impact on crime and violence and Baltimore is a neighborhood with a low level of collective efficacy. In the area, rules are extremely clear and residents are full of fear and mistrust. Baltimore did not present a fertile environment where social control could thrive. The approach supports the assessment of the key social dynamics and processes that bring about supportive and cohesive neighborhoods. The sense of community is more comprehensive, valid and applicable metric for the intervening variables of the theory of social disorganization.

References

Dutton, C., Simon, D., Mills, D., Burns, E., Carter, T. K., Alexander, K., Nelson, S., ... Peters, C. (2013). The corner. Burbank, CA: HBO Home Entertainment.

Inderbitzin, M. L., Bates, K. A., & Gainey, R. R. (2017). Deviance and social control: A sociological perspective. Los Angeles: Sage.