Exploring Pathways to Crime: A Comparison of Georgia and Virginia

• In Event: Macro-level Studies of Strain and Crime

Abstract

Institutional anomie theory (IAT) argues that high serious crime rates in the United States, in comparison with other advanced industrialized countries, is the result of the combination of an institutional balance of power that favors the economy and a culture that values material gain (i.e., the American Dream). Research testing IAT has used quantitative methods to assess the effect of institutional strength on crime rates in the 50 U.S. states. However, this empirical research has not assessed the configurations of weak and strong social institutions that produce high serious crime. In this presentation, I compare the configurations that lead to high serious crime and not high crime in two southern U.S. states, Georgia and Virginia. While these states have similar historical context, Georgia is a high serious crime state and Virginia is a not high serious crime state. The presentation will include implications for the theory and future research.

Author

• Amanda Kahl Smith, University of Michigan - Flint