Social Disorganization: Letter To The Chicago Times

Social Disorganization Theory is based upon looking for outside motivations that contribute to the acts of delinquency. Some of the connections, however, that the theory makes to the letter to the Chicago Times are the following: heterogeneity from the Social Ecological Model, Disorganized neighborhoods from the Collective Efficacy Model, and social control from the Sampson and Grove’s Model. The letter explains youth want more protection and better relationships with police and community. The Social Ecological Model says, “differences among people living in a given area, there is a lack of shared norms” (Bates and Swan 2014:122). Without heterogeneity (relationship between individuals/ social groups) in a mutual agreement of wanting a

better community, they will fail to come to a comprise by working together and instead all that would be accomplished is failure. As the theory says, “we give and take from each other” (Bates and Swan, 2014:122) because of lack of shared norms.The letter points out, “little police intervention… have nobody to turn to” (Bates and Swan 2014:126). Which connects to the Sampson and Grove’s Model of social control, since they fail to realize and contribute to what the community is asking of more protection, there is no organization in the community and no participation. The last connection is the Collective Efficacy Model, which states that communities that are disadvantaged tend to have a higher rate of crime and protection. This connects to the letter because people are running with the fear of robbed or hurt in their own communities. In order to eliminate these threats, the community must find other alternatives to reestablish their neighborhood. In conclusion, I believe that everything has to do with the cooperation of the community and more importantly with the location.