Investment in Place, Neighborhood Disorder, Social Cohesion and Informal Social Control

• In Event: 224 - Section on Community and Urban Sociology Paper Session. Crime, Disorder, and the City

Abstract

Previous research on collective efficacy has typically focused on the perceptions local social cohesion and expectations for informal social control, but has often failed to analyze the conditions in which individuals actually engage in the associated neighboring behaviors. Using nationally representative data from approximately 29,000 households in the 2013 American Housing Survey (AHS), my results run contrary to what would be expected given prior research on the social disorganization theory. I find that those with higher incomes, White respondents, and those who are more socially or economically invested in their communities have more friends in their neighborhoods and talk to their neighbors more frequently. Conversely, residents of neighborhoods with above average physical disorder and those who are unsatisfied with local police protection in their area are more likely to engage in informal social control. Black respondents and those in central cities are also more likely to exercise informal means of addressing neighborhood problems. I suggest that informal social control might be one strategy of coping with less resources, less institutional support, and constrained social opportunities.

Author

• Alex Currit, Cornell University