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NEIGHBORHOOD INEQUALITY, COLLECTIVE EFFICACY, AND THE SPATIAL DYNAMICS OF URBAN VIOLENCE *
Author(s) -
MORENOFF JEFFREY D.,
SAMPSON ROBERT J.,
RAUDENBUSH STEPHEN W.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9125.2001.tb00932.x
Subject(s) - homicide , collective efficacy , inequality , cohesion (chemistry) , disadvantage , criminology , poison control , social inequality , geography , sociology , economic geography , demographic economics , social psychology , human factors and ergonomics , psychology , political science , economics , environmental health , medicine , mathematics , mathematical analysis , organic chemistry , law , chemistry
Highlighting resource inequality, social processes, and spatial interdependence, this study combines structural characteristics from the 1990 census with a survey of 8,872 Chicago residents in 1995 to predict homicide variations in 1996–1998 across 343 neighborhoods. Spatial proximity to homicide is strongly related to increased homicide rates, adjusting for internal neighborhood characteristics and prior homicide. Concentrated disadvantage and low collective efficacy—defined as the linkage of social control and cohesion—also independently predict increased homicide. Local organizations, voluntary associations, and friend/kinship networks appear to be important only insofar as they promote the collective efficacy of residents in achieving social control and cohesion. Spatial dynamics coupled with neighborhood inequalities in social and economic capacity are therefore consequential for explaining urban violence.