Criminal Behavior. Social structure and crime

Criminal behavior
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Social structure and crime
Social structure relates to organization of a society through social institutions, these could include religious, political, economic, educational and family. At the same time, there is stratification based on status and roles in the society. On the other hand, culture relates to behaviors, beliefs, institutions and attitudes that dominate an organization or group. Social structure is more related to crime than culture. The mainstream society offers an avenue through which there is a unified social system. However, in areas where there is deprivation and weak institutions the prevalence of crime is common. Anderson (1994) stated that affinity to violence in inner city ghettos dominated by African Americans is an extension of lack of social structures. Thus, social structures are associated more with crime as economic deprivation, hopelessness and drug abuse are the consequence of lack of social institutions and this is manifested in aggression and violence among the residents.
Social learning does have an impact on the level of criminal activities especially in personal groups (Cullen & Agnew, 2011). Nonetheless, culture plays a less prominent role that the social structure as it is the lack of social structure that creates an imbalance in the society and gangs become an easy outlet for people to commit crime. Thus, if there is a social structure then there are fewer opportunities to commit crime and hence fewer chances of criminal behavior to happen in a group. People in lower social classes are likely to experience frustrations with every day life and this leads to disorganization, providing an avenue to commit crime
Theories on crime
Shaw & McKay (1972) stated that the high level of juvenile delinquency in urban areas was a result of the dire economic and social conditions of the population. Nonetheless, the theory has ...