Social disorganization theory is the inability of a community structure to realize the common values of its residents and maintain social control. Social disorganization theory suggests those macro social forces, such as migration and segregation, interact with community level factors, such as concentrated poverty and family disruption, to impede social disorganization. It was developed by Clifford R. Shaw and Henry D. Mc Kay during the first half of the twentieth century. Both were farm boys that came to Chicago for higher education. The two men extended the social disorganization theory by focusing on the social characteristics of the community as a cause of delinquency. They view juvenile delinquency as a result from a breakdown of social control among the traditional primary groups, such as families and neighborhoods, because of the social disorganization of the community. Rapid industrialization, urbanization, and
Two important policy implications of structural explanations of delinquency are the consequences of the reduced capital that lower class children have and the importance of disorganized communities in affecting the decisions that lower class children make.
Cultural deviance theories view delinquent and criminal behavior as an expression of conformity to cultural values and norms that are in opposition to those of the larger society. Walter B. Miller is an anthropologist that argued the motivation to become involved in delinquent behavior is endemic to lower class culture. Miller argued that a set of focal concerns of the lower class characterizes this socioeconomic group. These concerns command widespread attention and a high degree of emotional involvement. They are trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate, and autonomy. Miller contended that the lower class has a distinctive culture of its own. Its focal concers, or values, make lower class bo
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