Social Isolation and Lethal Violence Across the Metro/Nonmetro Divide: The Effects of Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Poverty Concentration on Homicide*

Abstract

This study extends the macro-level criminological research tradition by examining the links between socioeconomic disadvantage, poverty concentration, and homicide in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan U.S. counties. Most research in this tradition has tested structural theories using urban areas as the unit of analysis. This "urban bias" has resulted in a limited understanding of the social forces driving violence in nonmetropolitan areas. To partially address this problem, we link the literature on the spatial and social organization of nonmetropolitan communities with the social isolation perspective from the urban poverty literature. We hypothesize that the spatial concentration of poverty drives up rates of homicide in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas regardless of levels of socioeconomic disadvantage. Negative binomial regression for 1,746 nonmetropolitan and 778 metropolitan counties suggest that both socioeconomic disadvantage and poverty concentration elevate homicide in metropolitan areas. However, in nonmetropolitan counties only socioeconomic disadvantage has a significant impact. We conclude by discussing the implications of these differential findings for the social isolation perspective.

Civic Community Theory and Rates of Violence: A Review of Literature on an Emergent Theoretical Perspective

“…Low socioeconomic status, one of the main structural variables of classic social disorganization theory by Shaw and McKay (1942), is thought to be positive and significantly related to crime. However, several researchers have failed to find a statistically significant association between measures of low socioeconomic status and violence in rural areas (Lee et al 2003;Li 2011;Osgood and Chambers 2000;Petee and Kowalski 1993). Even more unexpected is the negative relationship between poverty and rape, robbery, and assault in rural areas found by Bouffard and Muftić (2006), which indicates that higher levels of poverty actually reduce these crimes.…”

“…Even more unexpected is the negative relationship between poverty and rape, robbery, and assault in rural areas found by Bouffard and Muftić (2006), which indicates that higher levels of poverty actually reduce these crimes. However, noneconomic indicators of social disorganization theory have been found to perform fairly consistently in the rural context (Bouffard and Muftić 2006;Lee et al 2003;Li 2011;Osgood and Chambers 2000;Wells and Weisheit 2004).…”

“…Research has found conflicting results, with some studies finding the expected relationship, while others find the opposite or no relationship (Barnett and Mencken 2002;Bouffard and Muftić 2006;Li 2011;Osgood and Chambers 2000;Petee and Kowalski 1993;Wells and Weisheit 2004). In addition, one study examined the effects of the spatial concentration of poverty on violence in rural and urban communities and found that poverty concentration was related to violence only in urban counties (Lee, Maume and Ousey 2003).…”

Social Isolation and Weapon Use in Intimate Partner Violence Incidents in Rural Areas

“…"Poverty rates among people living in rural communities are higher than in urban populations across all ethnic and racial groups" (Krishnan, Hilbert and VanLeeuwen, 2001, p. 36). Being mostly traditional, single-industry economies (i.e., farming, mining or manufacturing), rural areas are hit hard by economic hardship in the form of job loss (displaced workers), unemployment, poverty and population loss (Lee, Maume, and Ousey, 2003;Hossfeld, Legerton and Keuster, 2004;Gallup-Black, 2005). From a theoretical standpoint, we argue that social disorganization/collective efficacy and feminist/rural patriarchy approaches share the concept of social isolation as a key factor in understanding violence in rural areas.…”

How Rural Criminology Informs Critical Thinking in Criminology

“…The Seydlitz et al (1993) article was the beginning of a steady parade of published studies of rural communities and crime utilizing social disorganisation theory or a closely related variant (Barnett and Mencken 2002;Bouffard and Muftić 2006;Cancino 2005;Ceccato and Dolmen 2011;Deller and Deller 2010; Donnermeyer, Jobes and Barclay 2009;Jobes 1999;Jobes Barclay, Weinand and Donnermeyer 2004;Jobes, Donnermeyer and Barclay 2005;Kaylen 2010;Kaylen and Pridemore 2011Lee 2006Lee , 2008 Bartkowski 2004A, 2004b;Lee, Maume and Ousey 2003;Lee and Ousey 2001;Lee and Thomas 2010;Li 2012;Mencken and Barnett 1999;Osgood and Chambers 2000;Ousey and Lee 2010; Resig and Cancino 2004;Spano and Nagy 2005;Tunnell 2006; Weisheit 2004, 2012). To a great extent, this 2 Portions of this paper are from two sources: (1) …”