Local Social Ties in a Community and Crime Model: Questioning the Systemic Nature of Informal Social Control

Community Social Organization, Parents, and Peers as Mediators of Perceived Neighborhood Block Characteristics on Delinquent and Prosocial Activities

“…These findings support social disorganization and collective socialization frameworks by demonstrating that perceived neighborhood structural conditions are associated with official neighborhood rates of delinquency and that this influence is also partially mediated by neighborhood social and behavioral mechanisms. This finding also corroborates past research, which used census data for neighborhood structural variables, and found that community social organization variables transmit much of the influence of neighborhood stability on neighborhood crime and victimization outcomes (Bellair, 2000;Bursik & Webb, 1982;Kasarda & Janowitz, 1974;Sampson & Groves, 1989;Warner & Rountree, 1997).…”

“…Research has also demonstrated that the link from social organization to informal social control and decreased crime and delinquency is not as straightforward as originally hypothesized. In fact, research has found that this relationship may not hold across different types of communities or types of crime (Bellair, 1997(Bellair, , 2000Warner & Rountree, 1997). Finally, by just focusing on behavioral intentions and intervention behaviors in the public domain, other important dimensions of informal social control are neglected, such as informal surveillance, movement governing rules, and even more subtle forms that neighbors employ such as the "raised eyebrow" and withdrawal of instrumental and social support (Bellair, 2000;Bursik, 1988;Bursik & Grasmick, 1993).…”

Community types and mental health: a multilevel study of local environmental stress and coping

“…For example, in contrast to evidence for supportive minority kinship networks (Stack, 1974), the positive impact of informal social ties found in advantaged, predominantly white communities is not necessarily found in minority communities and the protective effect of informal ties may even be reversed in those communities (Caughy et al, 2003;Ceballo & McLoyd, 2002;Warner & Roundtree, 1997;Wen et al, 2005). Qualitative data also reveal that single, AfricanAmerican mothers residing in poor neighborhoods often cite relations with friends and extended family as a sources of stress (Brodsky, 1999).…”

“…A recent literature review on the community context of mental and physical health concluded that processes may play out differently in different contexts (Shinn & Toohey, 2003). For example, evidence shows that informal ties with neighbors are beneficial in advantaged areas but that they can be detrimental in disadvantaged areas (Caughy et al, 2003;Ceballo & McLoyd, 2002;Warner & Roundtree, 1997;Wen et al, 2005). Wilson (1996, p. 63) explains how social integration, although generally positive, may not be beneficial in areas where deviant behaviors are common.…”

“…Informal ties with neighbors have been shown to buffer the negative effect of neighborhood disadvantage on mental health (Ross & Jang, 2000;Xue et al, 2005). However, evidence also suggests that the beneficial effect of informal ties may depend on the type of neighborhood in which they are found (i.e., more or less wealthy, predominantly white versus minority neighborhoods) and the extent to which informal networks are coupled with more formal ties to institutions (Caughy et al, 2003;Latkin & Curry, 2003;Warner & Roundtree, 1997;Wen, Cagney, & Christakis, 2005). Thus, formal organizational participation needs to be considered in addition to informal networks.…”