Churches, Conventional Values, and Informal Social Control

• In Event: Mechanisms of Neighborhood Informal Social Control

Abstract

In Kornhauser’s (1979) re-articulation of Shaw and McKay’s (1942) social disorganization theory as a purely control theory, she particularly emphasized the role of organization and institutions in providing control. Although contemporary social disorganization research has examined neighborhood organizations and residents participation in them, findings from this literature have been ambiguous. Further, studies of neighborhood organizations often lack theoretical development and fail to examine the mechanisms through which organizations are hypothesized to affect crime control. In this paper we examine the role of one important type of neighborhood organization –churches—and the effect that they have on both promoting conventional values and, subsequently increasing informal social control. The study examines data from 66 block groups in two major cities in a Southern state.

Authors

• Barbara D. Warner, Georgia State University

• Rebecca Ann Headley, Georgia State University