Sociological Theory and the Production of a Social Problem - The Case of Fear of Crime

• NCJ Number: 79646
• Author(s): D A Lewis
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 198 pages
• Sale Source: UMI Dissertation Services; Not Available Through National Institute of Justice/NCJRS Document Loan Program
• Publication Type: Thesis/Dissertation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. University of California, Santa Cruz - doctoral dissertation

Annotation

This essay seeks to explain the distribution of fear of crime in American cities from a social control perspective. It argues that the level of fear in a community is a consequence of the level of social disorganization perceived by its residents.

Abstract

Through an analysis of four neighborhoods in Chicago, the essay demonstrates that fear levels are higher, not merely as a function of rising crime rates, but more as a result of the declining capacity of local institutions to control the social disorganization residents perceive around them. The paper describes the social control perspective and the victimization perspective and analyzes their theoretical assumptions and intellectual traditions. Specifically, the development of the social control perspective as it emerged as a general theoretical orientation at the University of Chicago in the 1930's is described, with special attention given to the importance of urbanization and its impact on community life. Next, the social control perspective is applied to the study of the fear of crime, and the intellectual decline of the social control perspective and the transition to motivational theories of crime and delinquency are traced. In addition, the different approaches to the concept of the preservation of community are analyzed, with particular attention paid to the social control and victimization perspectives. The four Chicago communities are described demographically and the crime problems in each area are outlined. Key concepts of both the victimization and social control perspectives are applied to data previously obtained on these communities. The final chapter concludes with a discussion of fear of crime as a social problem. The paper suggests that the motivational theory implicit in the victimization perspective is inadequate in explaining fear of crime in urban America. Footnotes, tables, figures, and over 130 references are provided. Data and study instruments are appended. (Author summary modified)