Processes of Neighborhood Social Control: Why the Informal Becomes Formal

• In Event: Roundtable: Empirical Tests of Community-Level Theories of Crime

Abstract

Informal social control at the neighborhood level reflects the willingness and ability of a community’s residents to enforce conformity with norms and values without activating more formal processes of crime control. Despite its importance in reducing and preventing crime, little is known about the factors that give rise to informal social control or when and why formal social control is activated by residents. Drawing on ethnographic data from Beverly, a highly collectively efficacious neighborhood on Chicago’s far southwest side, I explore neighborhood processes of social control. I find that in Beverly, perceptions of safety facilitate informal social control and a willingness to intervene. The roots of perceived safety lie in the neighborhood’s relatively low crime rate but also in its high social cohesion. A strong familiarity with neighbors creates a non-threatening environment in which neighbors feel comfortable self-policing among recognized co-residents, but also feel justified and free from the possibility of retribution when reporting suspicious behavior by those who are perceived to be outsiders. While strong informal social control contributes to safety in the neighborhood, it also has less desirable consequences such as intense gate-keeping and occasional discriminatory practices of exclusion.

Author

• Joy Kadowaki, Purdue University