Directly Intervene or Call the Authorities? A Study of Forms of Neighborhood Social Control Within a Social Disorganization Framework*

Abstract

Informal social control is a central concept in the contemporary social disorganization literature, and much attention has been directed at examining community characteristics related to variation in the quantity of informal social control across communities. However, considerably less attention has been paid to variation in forms of informal social control. This study examines the extent to which neighborhood characteristics are related to residents’likelihood of using two different forms of informal social control: direct informal social control (i.e., through direct intervention) and indirect informal social control (i.e., through mobilizing formal authorities). Data for this study are based on surveys of residents in 66 neighborhoods. The analysis uses hierarchical modeling to examine whether neighborhood characteristics central to contemporary social disorganization theory have similar effects on these two forms of neighborhood social control. Findings indicate that social ties increase the likelihood of direct informal social control but not indirect informal social control, whereas social cohesion and trust decreases indirect informal social control but does not have a significant effect on direct informal social control. Faith in the police is not found to affect either form of informal social control. These findings are discussed in terms of current issues in contemporary social disorganization theory.

Policing community problems: Exploring the role of formal social control in shaping collective efficacy

“…The first is that police effectiveness encourages CE (Kubrin and Weitzer, 2003;Silver and Miller, 2004). When police perform their job well to effectively control crime and respond to community problems and calls for service, citizens feel they can rely on the police and will subsequently be willing to take the risks 5 associated with intervention (Kääriäinen and Sirén, 2011;Silver and Miller, 2004;Warner, 2007). Alternatively, residents who believe that the police in their community are 'ineffective' may 'feel vulnerable when considering whether to try to stop street deviance' (Kubrin and Weitzer, 2003: 383).…”

“…The remainder of this paper considers the relationship between policing and CE. Silver and Miller (2004) propose that when police are perceived to be effective in preventing and controlling crime, and are responsive to calls for service, community residents will be more willing to intervene in community problems (see also Kääriäinen and Sirén, 2011;Warner, 2007). Yet in Campbellville, residents' perceptions of police effectiveness were not uniform.…”

Fear of crime, incivilities, and collective efficacy in four Miami neighborhoods

“…Collective efficacy eventually emerged as the central process whereby community members create a sense of agency (see Sampson, Raudenbush, & Earls, 1997) and assume ownership for the state of their local community. It is one of several forms of formal and informal social control that predicts the overall functioning of a community (Warner, 2007). The purpose of this research is to understand the relationships among the perceptions of physical disorder (incivilities), collective efficacy, and fear of crime.…”

“…For decades scholars have noted that communities differ in their capacity to create and enforce normative levels of pro-social behavior (see Kornhauser, 1978;Bursik, 1988;Warner, 2007). Networks of informal social control are central to establishing value systems that are reflective of prevailing social norms.…”

“…In the most explicit sense, collective efficacy is expected to result in "direct" intervention to ameliorate problems. Warner (2007), for example, argues direct informal social control is when individuals take personal action to address an issue, and indirect informal social control is when third parties (e.g., governmental authorities) are mobilized by residents. More recent research suggests that collective efficacy works through other pathways, such as informal parenting styles, to create prosocial norms.…”