Week 5 Paper

SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION

Alexia Bradley

CJA 325,Edward Rafailovitc

University of Phoenix, eCampus

January 9, 2017

SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION

Social disorganization refers to the lack of ability by the people in the society to come together and achieve a common goal or jointly solve a problem facing all the members of a society. It refers to a society which is not efficiently adjusted to function properly. Social disorganization is caused by various factors in the society which include;

The psychological factor- The disorganization in a society is affected by the state of a human mind and how it is functioning where the need to work together in a society is not considered by a large number in the society (Wickes, 2017). Psychological factors leads to social disorganization in two ways. First, the lack of clear communication among the members of the society- Communication is important for the success of any process and the lack of it in the society hinders the creation of awareness about a common problem affecting the society and thus leading to social disorganization.

The physical factors- The occurrence of a demographic condition which is extraordinary in the society contribute to disorganizing the society. Natural calamities for instance earthquakes displaces and leads to destruction of property in a society adjusting how the society function and therefore causing social disorganization.

Population growth- Rapid growth of population in a society leads to a number of people in the society having no roles to play in order to contribute to the development of the society. This leads to social disorder in the society as these individuals turn to criminal behaviors. A slow growth of population in the society leads to scarcity of man power needed for the community to function effectively leading to social disorder.

Relationship between social disorganization and organized crime

Organized crimes refer to illegal grouping in a society which is controlled by criminals with the intention of making money illegally. In a social disorganized society, the components of a society like the school, the church and family does not function properly and this contribute increase in the rate of organized crime. Family, being the first component of the society to install behavior to the members of a society, when it fail to function effectively there is a discipline gap created which is utilized by the criminals in charge of these illegal groups to radicalize more people into their groups and thus increasing the rate of crime in the society.

School, having the responsibility to educate the society on values, beliefs and good morals, when it fail due to social disorganization there is an information gap created which make the society vulnerable as it become easier for the organized criminals to radicalize more people in to the criminal groups. In a socially disorganized society, there is a high number of school drop outs who do not have the required skills to fit in the available job markets and therefore there join these criminal groups as an alternative way to generate income. This income is generated illegally through thefts with some even involving killings which further disorders the society.

Another way in which social disorganization encourages organized crimes is the availability of opportunities which encourages these behaviors. For instance, social disorganization leads to a high rate of school drop outs which in turn leads to a high level of unemployment which causes a high rate of depression making this portion of the society to turn to misuses of drags. These willing consumers of hard drug create a willing market which leads to formation of criminal groups for the illegal distribution of these drugs. This furthers the evolution of the organized crime as the consumers of these drugs become desperate for the money to purchase the product and thus leading to formation of other crime groups which get resources from the society illegally for example through stealing.

Individualism- The habit of being independent and self-reliance in the society creates good criteria for the development and evolution of organized crimes. Individualism creates an attitude of selfishness where one abandoned the concerns of the well-being of the society and everybody tries to benefit themselves. (Ha & Andresen, 2017). This make individuals involve themselves in organized crime as everybody in the society tries to find the fastest way possible to enrich themselves without considering how that will affect others in the society.

Corruption- A disorganized society is filled with ill behaviors such as corruption. Corrupt individuals in the society tends to illegally benefit themselves using the resources of the society without being concerned about any other member of that community. When the other member of the society realizes these, frustrations replete the society and everybody starts trying to gain on the expense of the society. This make some people in the society to form gangs which operate illegal business in attempt to benefit themselves without caring what the harm that will mean to the other members of the society.

Lack of self-policing- In a social disorganized society, the members of the community are not willing to keep order and maintain control but they leave that solely on the hands of an external authority. Self-poling is essential in a community as the authorities cannot account for what everyone in the community is doing. The lack of self-policing crates a conducive environment for the organized crimes to thrive in.

Correlation between corrupt political machines and social disorganization.

Corrupt political machines leads to the disorganization of the society in various ways. First, organized criminals use corruption of political machines as a technique to thrive in the community. The organized criminals take advantage of the compromised corrupt political personnel such that the political machines cannot shield the society from the exploitation by these criminals. In a situation where the political machines are controlled by the criminals, the society lose the person who is in charge of protecting them and representing the n and therefore the criminals exploit the society as they wish. (Ha & Andresen, 2017).

Secondly, corrupt political machines vandalize the resources meant for the provision of essential needs to the society. For instance, in a situation where the corrupt politicians misuses the resources meant for subsiding education and provision of the necessary infrastructure for education, a large number of people in the society are denied the chance to access education. This leads to the society having a large number of illiterate individuals who are more vulnerable for the eradication by these criminal gangs. This furthers disorganization of the society aiding to increased organized crimes.

References

Ha, O. K., & Andresen, M. A. (2017). Unemployment and the specialization of criminal activity:

A neighborhood analysis.

Wickers, R. (2017). Social disorganization theory: Its history and relevance to crime prevention.