The episode of “The Coroner,” interprets a city in
Baltimore wherein crime is a common occurrence. Due to social disorganization,
the city is depicted as a place where police respond to deter individuals from
partaking in criminal activity. In their response, they
attempt to enforce social control which evidently, as according to Merton’s
theory of strain, the criminals learn how to manage themselves in order to
evade police deterrence. It is portrayed in the episode that these people
in that community lack social bonds as according to Hirschi. These two
theories provide the Criminologist a way to explore methods which can analyze
and solve criminal behavior within developing communities. Therefore, it
is important to keep in mind these two theories as they explain the necessary
parts of a community which are affected resulting from the conflict of crime
versus justice, the modern conflict of any community today.
The selected deviance that is going to be looked at in this essay are drug use
and loitering.
Social disorganization theory is a concept originating from
the Chicago school. This concept attempts to explain how neighborhoods
are a correlate of the likelihood of criminal activity. Through the
concentric zones model the Chicago school, explains that there are a sum of
five zones. This model depicts an epicenter referred to as, “zone 1,”
wherein it is labelled as the business zone. This zone is where the
majority of commercial and industrial activity of a city takes place. As
one moves from, “zone 1” to “zone 2,” according to the model, this zone is
referred to as the, “zone in transition,” whereby people whom were pushed out
of “zone 1,” or were unable to secure employment reside. This is a place
of poverty and marginalization. (Akers, 2013) In the episode this is the zone
that is depicted. As one watches and observes this part of the
environment of Maryland, Baltimore, it is clear that the unkept streets and
houses of these neighborhoods represent “zone 2,” of the concentric zones model.
The,
“zone in transition,” is a result of various factors not limited to lack of
education, poor upbringing- teenagers, lack of opportunities- jobs, vandalism-
pollution and poor development of buildings/ structures amongst others.
Not only can these be found in this zone, according to the theory these less
fortunate people experience a lack or weak social ties. There are three
categories in which ties are divided. First is the private ties which
relate to friends and family. Second are the parochial ties referring to
the community or society at large. Third are the public ties which relate
to the government. Crime is said to occur in this zone because
of a lack of cohesion of one or more of these, “ties.” The episode
depicts Gary’s female friend stealing his drugs as she attempts to signal him
that the police are in the building at which point she exchanges the drugs with
another substance. Thus, it can be said that there is an impairment of
their relationship, a private tie. The main character, Gary has broken
parochial ties and this is depicted in such a way that he conducts himself
within the community in a defensive manner. The only government representation in the film depicts police whom are very
aggressive towards these drug pushers. Their treatment of these deviant
drug pushers indicates that these pushers have broken public ties. The
police routinely drive across the neighborhood and surprise these deviant drug
pushers with drug checks.
Moving on, the third, “zone,” is referred to as the, “men’s
houses,” zone wherein working families reside. The last two
zones, “zone 4,” and “zone 5,” are called residential zones. These are
basically the suburbs of the community where the majority of the people reside.
These people commute to the business zone in order to fulfill employment tasks
(Akers, 2013). It is important to understand this concept because society
needs a method to be able to study the development of communities in the hopes
that they may be able to alleviate poverty and or marginalization in an
efficient organized manner. It is important to understand all
zones because in order to understand the deviance
that is happening in Gary’s neighborhood, we must have a firm grasp on what
happens in the remainder of the zones. I am a critic of this theory because
it doesn’t really explain how social control is maintained or enforced within
the zones. It only points out the occurrences in each zone and how they
came to exist which lacks sufficient explanation on what is done or how deviant
matters are dealt with. Therefore, it is important to use the social
disorganization theory in tandem with the social control theory in order to
have a convincing explanation on the occurrences in any given zone.
Social control is a concept whereby it attempts to explain
how society enforces controls in order to dissuade people from certain
behaviors (Akers, 2013). This could be done through deterrence such as
sanctions or penalties amongst others. The police in the episode enforce
social control in order to apprehend deviant loiterers whom are pushing drugs.
This is done through aggressive police personalities whom seem to have adjusted
their demeanor according to the culture of the specific neighborhoods.
The police act in a very hostile manner as they search the loiterers.
Some of these deviants are known by the police and it is seen in the episode
that some of the police know some of these deviants by names as they are repeat
offenders.
Criminologist argue that human nature is deviant, chaotic
or even violent. Their beliefs are divided through two concepts, innatism
and tabula rasa. Innatism explains that humans are born with ideas or
beliefs which then increases the likelihood of a person committing deviance and
or crime. Tabula rasa on the other hand, attempts to explain that
individuals are born with a blank slate which then through concepts such as
social learning theory attempt to further the notion of learned behavior
through associations. This is observed in the episode through
flash backs in Gary’s childhood. Like a blank slate, it seems that he
grew up in an average working-class family however, as he got older it is
likely he became a drug user through what he has learned within his
surroundings such as his peer groups. According to Robert Merton’s strain
theory, societal structures cause people to break norms. These people
then use the modes of adaptation in order to be able to adjust to certain
situations. The modes of adaptation are as follows innovation,
conformity, rebellion, ritualism and retreatism (Akers, 2013). I will
focus on innovation and retreatism with pertinence to drugs and loitering in
the preceding paragraphs.
A prominent sociologist named Hirschi explains that
self-control is the same as social control. He critiqued social control
because of the fact that it lacks the consideration of bonds. His theory
explains that these bonds can be bridged or weakened which would then cause an
individual to do criminal activity. The bonds are as follows, attachment,
commitment, involvement and belief. Attachment is the empathy towards
another person. Commitment explains the ability to plan and or achieve
within society. Involvement is the participation within a community.
And lastly belief is the value system of a person (Akers, 2013). The people
depicted in the episode displayed a lack of the bond of attachment. As
specified above, Gary’s female friend tricked him by convincing him that the
cops were in the building in order to steal his drugs. This is an example
of a weak bond of attachment as she basically took from him. Furthermore,
as according to Merton’s strain theory this would be an example of retreatism
wherein this female character, as an addict, used illegitimate means to
ascertain her personal goal. She was lacking the funds in order to be
able to purchase her own drugs which is a form of strain or stress so
therefore, it caused her to deceive Gary via the mode of adaptation. Both
the drug users and pushers depicted in the episode lack a bond for commitment
as they are unemployed and loitering either to purchase or are awaiting an
illegal sale. This deviance is handled by the police through random drug
searches of loiterers throughout the neighborhoods. The police
would drive into the neighborhood and their drug search drill would commence.
In Criminology, this can be described through the theory of deterrence.
Since the penalty is likely jail time, those who covet drugs are either
imprisoned or become more cunning therefore, they would be less likely to
commit crime or get caught. In the episode, there is a scene where once
the police leave after they have conducted a drug search, the drug pushers/
users return for their dropped drugs. They have adjusted their behavior
according to the environment which is the main premise of the social learning
theory. Moreover, as according to Merton’s modes of
adaptation loitering would be an example of innovation wherein these people who
are loitering are in line with cultural goals but lack legitimate means in
order to fulfil their goals. The lack of anything useful to do in this
case would be considered the strain or pressure which is causing the loitering
to take place. It is also noted that self-control is learned and
developed through childhood thus, if one fails to develop this it would cause a
person to be more likely to criminal activity. Also, the lack of societal
enforcement of sanctions can cause a lack of self- control within people. Therefore, increasing the probability that people would or
could commit crime. In the former case it is likely that Gary at sometime
in his development to adolescence, he encountered peers wherein he adopted
their negative behaviors. People adopt negative behaviors to be able to
fit in or maybe its popularized by culture.
This episode of “The Coroner,” was an enlightening
experience. It allows the observers to get an idea of how the culture is
in Maryland, Baltimore. Through this observation, theories such as social
disorganization and social control can be utilized to evaluate the phenomena in
these neighborhoods. In my critique of these two theories, I believe that
they should be used hand in hand and not separately as it does not depict the
whole situation of a community on their own. Social organization gives an
idea of how neighborhoods came to be but lacks the ability to explain how
social control is enforced and vise versa. Therefore, these theories do
complement one another, and it is an effective tool in assessing communities.
On the other hand, I believe Robert Merton’s theory of strain can be used to
further assess the issue of social disorganization and social control as
Merton’s theory analyzes the effect of weak social bonds which therefore,
explains how intra/interpersonal matters affect the likelihood a person is to
commit deviance. However, I think that social disorganization theory is
more effective in explaining the deviance of loitering and or drug use because
it includes an explanation of a person’s, “ties,” which Merton’s theory
attempts explains.
“The Coroner,” episode that was assigned, depicts a
community in Baltimore riddled with poverty and marginalization. It gives
the audience an example of how social disorganization can occur in a community.
Furthermore, it shows how the police respond through deterrence in preventing
criminal activity. They attempt to enforce social control as they react
to the culture that has developed. The concepts of social disorganization
and social control lack a thorough definition of the crimes in that community
when used alone, however, when used together, can provide a complete
understanding on methods to analyze the development of communities wherein
poverty or marginalization can be rectified in a way that progresses society.
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