I enjoyed reading this chapter, it does seem to be a complex subject and as I have gone through and planned how I will be wording this post I have caught myself wondering how strong of a grasp that I have on the subject. Sampson's collective efficacy theory is described as social cohesion and shared expectations of control. So essentially there should be desirable shared norms and rules within a community and the establishment of these norms will give people perspective of a degree of trust and shared expectations that exist in that community regardless of their involvement, giving people a mutual perspective on their community.
I found an article in The Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquenc, written by Lorraine Mazerolle, Rebecca Wickes, and James McBroom, titled Community Variations in Violence: The Role of Social Ties and Collective Efficacy in Comparative Context. It was published in 2009 and the study contains a survey performed of nearly 2,859 people from 82 different communities In Brisbane Australia
The authors embrace Sampson's theory of collective efficacy and "how contemporary communities can function and prosper with minimal crime problems yet without the types of social ties that have, in years gone by, served as the foundation to civic society." They recommend having a measure of social relationships and community based crime prevention programs.
Sampson sent out surveys with the following questions and this is how I feel that my neighborhood would respond.
Children Skipping School: I can honestly say that I think that my neighbors and people in the area would not hesitate to ask what kids would be up to. I could also see neighbors not letting kids "hanging around on a corner" without finding out what they might be up to.
Graffiti: Kids were spotted spraying graffiti on a building, I don't think that there would be a bit of hesitation to intervene or call the police.
Disrespect: This one is tricky, there is so much disrespect in society today. One of the traits that this current (youth) generation possesses is a sense of entitlement for no apparent reason. They seem to feel that they deserve stuff and along with that they lack respect for others. (I will call that my crotchety old man moment) Although, I think most would disapprove I think few would take an active approach. I live in a neighborhood where most people are pretty passive and unfortunately I don't know if just disrespect would be enough to get people out of their comfort zone and say something.
Fight: I would assume that most people in my neighborhood would call the police and not intervene personally. I also think that it would be a situational thing, if it were two youth going at it then I think that the police would be called to intervene but if it were someone picking on a weaker kid or an elderly person then I think that would be enough to get someone involved.
Fire/Budget Cuts: I live in a pretty generous neighborhood and I can see people in the community coming to the aid of a less fortunate person or organization. I have seen my community active in raising funds for a cause. I know that for myself personally, I would expect to see that and also be involved.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Broken Windows
I found this chapter very interesting, it took me quite a bit longer to read than the previous ones but I found it extremely informative. When I read the quote by Ralph Ellison "When they approach me they only see my surroundings, themselves or figments of their imagination- indeed, anything and everything except me."
I thought for sure that this chapter was going to be a one sided argument of how people are products of their environment and circumstance. I found that as I read that Sampson really only agrees with a small part of the "Broken Windows" theory. While Wilson and Keller argue that incivilities like graffiti and public drinking attract predatory crime because it shows that neighbors are unwilling to confront strangers or call the police giving predatory criminals the green light to go about causing harm, essentially creating an environment where crime causes crime and it becomes contagious.
From my understanding, Sampson was more concerned with the perception of disorder, I found it fascinating the idea that signs of disorders in one area would not be noticed in another area it basically comes down to context.
It was fascinating but something that I wouldn't consider to be a new idea that perceived disorder increases with increased ratios of black or immigrant within a neighborhood Sampson's research reveals that blacks and immigrants also have perceived higher levels of disorder in their neighborhoods. I would be lying if that had not already been a perception of mine. I have worked in a lot of major cities which include: Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Diego and of course Las Vegas. I have been to plenty of neighborhoods and had the opportunity to interact with people from all different walks of life and in some of the neighborhoods where I felt a bit less safe I was often the minority. At the same time, I have met some of the friendliest and kind people in those same neighborhoods but even they were quick to give advice on where and where not to go in those neighborhoods and of course when.
The article that I found was written by Albert Hunter from Northwestern University and is titled: Symbols of Incivility: Social Disorder and Fear of Crime in Urban Neighborhoods. There were a lot of similarities between Hunter and Sampson. They are both using Chicago neighborhoods as the focus of their study and they both talk a lot about perception. one thing that I do like that Hunter talks about is that It is not necessarily the state to maintain social order. Although police perform a valuable service and function, it is not them that are going to change a neighborhood. Hunter argues that wholesome interaction will make that change.
Here is the article if you are interested in reading it.
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/82421.pdf
I thought for sure that this chapter was going to be a one sided argument of how people are products of their environment and circumstance. I found that as I read that Sampson really only agrees with a small part of the "Broken Windows" theory. While Wilson and Keller argue that incivilities like graffiti and public drinking attract predatory crime because it shows that neighbors are unwilling to confront strangers or call the police giving predatory criminals the green light to go about causing harm, essentially creating an environment where crime causes crime and it becomes contagious.
From my understanding, Sampson was more concerned with the perception of disorder, I found it fascinating the idea that signs of disorders in one area would not be noticed in another area it basically comes down to context.
It was fascinating but something that I wouldn't consider to be a new idea that perceived disorder increases with increased ratios of black or immigrant within a neighborhood Sampson's research reveals that blacks and immigrants also have perceived higher levels of disorder in their neighborhoods. I would be lying if that had not already been a perception of mine. I have worked in a lot of major cities which include: Chicago, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Diego and of course Las Vegas. I have been to plenty of neighborhoods and had the opportunity to interact with people from all different walks of life and in some of the neighborhoods where I felt a bit less safe I was often the minority. At the same time, I have met some of the friendliest and kind people in those same neighborhoods but even they were quick to give advice on where and where not to go in those neighborhoods and of course when.
The article that I found was written by Albert Hunter from Northwestern University and is titled: Symbols of Incivility: Social Disorder and Fear of Crime in Urban Neighborhoods. There were a lot of similarities between Hunter and Sampson. They are both using Chicago neighborhoods as the focus of their study and they both talk a lot about perception. one thing that I do like that Hunter talks about is that It is not necessarily the state to maintain social order. Although police perform a valuable service and function, it is not them that are going to change a neighborhood. Hunter argues that wholesome interaction will make that change.
Here is the article if you are interested in reading it.
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/82421.pdf
Monday, September 9, 2013
Poverty Traps
After reading the New York Times article, I felt a bit overwhelmed for J.R. I respect how he saw a problem and he decided to do something about it to the best of his ability. He and Sampson have very different approaches on how to help a community or neighborhood but both can make a large impact. What I kept thinking about after I read the article was that J.R.'s work might seem like a small drop in the bucket in respect to the magnitude of the poverty problem itself but if you look at it on a personal level, think about the families or the individuals that he could have helped. His small acts could help change their immediate surroundings and even their world. He could even help build some momentum, just like bad deeds or bad habits I think good deeds or acts can be contagious. Other people could see his efforts and follow suit. On the other hand an individual like Sampson can have an extremely large impact on these "poverty traps" his use of the bucket loads of data and studies of other communities and of course his potential to find larger resources to attack a much bigger problem than a single neighborhood. I would agree with Sampson that "poverty traps" are a real issue in inner cities and that eliminating those housing projects and stopping inner city decay is a monumental task and a seemingly insurmountable challenge. It's tough to change the momentum of an entire community. People are for the most part a product of their environment and circumstance.
I would say that the most blighted neighborhood that I have ever seen was a neighborhood that I lived in as a missionary while serving in Peru. The first city that I lived in was called Chimbote which in it self was poverty stricken, there was not a lot of industry and that being the case there was not a lot of job options. I lived in a neighborhood called 21 de Abril, it was probably the second poorest/roughest neighborhoods in the city. Most of the houses were adobe brick with tin roofs. Violence was a real issue, I was robbed once, luckily I didn't have much to take and wasn't hurt. There was a few nights that I woke up to gun fire outside of my house. The city itself was very dirty, there was trash everywhere and not very many places to enjoy like a clean park or any place with maintained vegetation. What was encouraging was that the community leaders were making strong efforts to improve their neighborhoods. We assisted in multiple service projects that were intended to beautify 21 de Abril. There was a particular project that they had been working on for almost a year. They were building a soccer field and a small park, but they didn't have tractors or heavy machinery. They were building this soccer field with shovels and about 100 people with 5 gallon tin buckets. They would go work on the field all day every day, moving what seemed to be mountains of dirt just so that some day they would have a nice place to play futbol and their kids can play in a safe and comfortable environment. I was impressed with the resolve of the community to try and better their situation.
I would say that the most blighted neighborhood that I have ever seen was a neighborhood that I lived in as a missionary while serving in Peru. The first city that I lived in was called Chimbote which in it self was poverty stricken, there was not a lot of industry and that being the case there was not a lot of job options. I lived in a neighborhood called 21 de Abril, it was probably the second poorest/roughest neighborhoods in the city. Most of the houses were adobe brick with tin roofs. Violence was a real issue, I was robbed once, luckily I didn't have much to take and wasn't hurt. There was a few nights that I woke up to gun fire outside of my house. The city itself was very dirty, there was trash everywhere and not very many places to enjoy like a clean park or any place with maintained vegetation. What was encouraging was that the community leaders were making strong efforts to improve their neighborhoods. We assisted in multiple service projects that were intended to beautify 21 de Abril. There was a particular project that they had been working on for almost a year. They were building a soccer field and a small park, but they didn't have tractors or heavy machinery. They were building this soccer field with shovels and about 100 people with 5 gallon tin buckets. They would go work on the field all day every day, moving what seemed to be mountains of dirt just so that some day they would have a nice place to play futbol and their kids can play in a safe and comfortable environment. I was impressed with the resolve of the community to try and better their situation.
Place
My understanding of Sampson and his notion of "place" made most sense of when he stated that a neighborhood is not something as simple as a visible area but a neighborhood is more "kinds of people" which means to me that its more people with similar values and social similarities or similar circumstance. I think of the examples in my own life and where I've lived and who the people that I considered my neighbors. When my wife and I were first married 6 years ago this past summer, we got our first place together in a neighborhood not far from where I grew up. It was a little association housing community with roughly 90 houses. It was a cute little 1300 square Ft. house with a cute little yard, we thought that it was going to be a great place to start our lives together. The first day of moving in we were moving furniture, hanging pictures and everything else that I despise about moving and we heard a knock at the door. I answered it and it was the association president and his hello was something along the lines of "Hi, just so you know, this community is being made into a 55 and older community and we discourage younger families to move in here, so I hope that you don't feel like getting too comfortable for too long." That was not the warm welcome that we had expected, we ended up staying in that house for the next five years and we received multiple notes on cars and complaints about our kids playing in our yard. Out of those 90 homes in that little association I can probably name 4 people that I would have considered neighbors and those were the people that we knew from church. We considered them neighbors because we had a common bond with them and felt like we could rely on them. About a year ago when we moved to a new house on the other side of town on a street where we were surrounded by people in similar situations, young families that were in similar situations and even those that weren't in similar situations valued the things for the most part what we did: children, family, and work. We have lived in this house for a year now and we know our neighbors, we don't all go to the same church or have the same beliefs but we do have similar values ( previously mentioned). My wife and I were having this conversation about a year ago how we felt like we were finally in a real neighborhood and how in only 2 months we knew those around us better than the people that we lived by for the previous 5 years. So when Sampson spoke about Place and how real neighborhoods were "kinds of people" it made sense to me that I was finally part of a neighborhood and a community.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Ints 3900- First Blog Response
My name is Carson McKim, I am 30 years old, married for 6 years to a beautiful, and wonderful woman who is and will most likely be way out of my league and we have two beautiful children Lincoln and Nixin (a boy and a little girl). I was born up in Wyoming and my family moved to southern Utah when I was about eight or nine for my dad's new job and to of course get out of the snow. I grew up with a huge love of sports and the out doors, and as I have grown older the only thing that has changed is that my love for those things has grown immensely. I say that because most of the most important life lessons that I've learned and my work ethic came from both team and individual sports. I am majoring in integrated studies with an emphasis in business and spanish. My ultimate goal is to go on and get my masters degree. My goal is a lofty one, for me, at least. I want to go to Thunderbird and get a masters in international business management and then see what I can make out of myself with a multinational company. I've always enjoyed work and I am beginning to appreciate and enjoy school, I am not usually the smartest guy in class but I am still able to contribute where I can in discussions.
When I think about neighborhoods and communities, my first notion is to think of a group of people in a geographical setting, but as I got reading, I started thinking about how it could be much more than that. Neighborhoods and communities have just as much if not more to do with the things that people have in common such as values, beliefs, and social status. Religion and faith is a good example, are people more inclined to know their neighbor if they share the same values and beliefs as them? Most people I think are.
When I think about neighborhoods and communities, my first notion is to think of a group of people in a geographical setting, but as I got reading, I started thinking about how it could be much more than that. Neighborhoods and communities have just as much if not more to do with the things that people have in common such as values, beliefs, and social status. Religion and faith is a good example, are people more inclined to know their neighbor if they share the same values and beliefs as them? Most people I think are.
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