Social disorganization theory and urban crime

Social Disorganization

Capitalism, in its original sense, is an economic term, that refers to an economic system where government has no control and interference in the economic activity and the allocation of resources, and all the decision making is done by the private sector. In contrast to a capitalistic system, there exists a socialist system where the entire decision making is done by the government sector and private individuals have no ownership and/or control. While the existing economic system in the contemporary world today is more of a hybrid system, that is it has characteristics of both a capitalist and socialist system, however, in most countries including the United States of America, the system is more tilted towards the capitalistic characteristics.

While the term Capitalist system was first introduced to refer to an economic system, as the science of economics developed, the world progressed, and as the interrelationship and interdependence of society and economics got more eminent, Capitalism and socialism also took a socio cultural meaning. It must however be noticed, that these socio cultural changes and developments are believed to be triggered because of the prevailing economic conditions and trends.

The United States of America has always been a highly capitalistic economy from day one. Over a period of time, the liberties to decision making and ownership and control triggered a massive social evolution in USA, that resulted in disappearance of conservative boundaries and as a result, the American society become more liberal, tolerant, acceptable and welcoming towards any new change that came their way (Shelden, Tracy and Brown, 2004). As believed by most sociologists and socio economic theorists, the primary reason behind such a strong socio cultural change was the strong power of commercialism that a capitalistic system allowed. While this capitalistic system might have played an important role in the world's economic and technological progress, many theorists are of the view that capitalism incurs huge social costs.

Youth Gangs in American Society

Since capitalism is all about private owner's rule and decision making, it paved way to aggressive media exposures with weaker censorships, aggressive advertising campaigns from corporate houses, and a booming entertainment and film industry that enjoyed unlimited freedom to express itself through performing arts. This new wave of liberties and media exposure gave rise to 'unsupervised' popular culture, also known as 'pop culture'. Be it media houses, entertainment industry or corporate houses, youth remained the primary target audience of all major capitalistic stakeholders, as this was one generation which grew up to witness the economic and social evolution towards freedom. Under this popular culture, celebrities such as rock stars, film actors, sports persons, and super models became the icons for the youth, who they follow almost religiously (Rodrigues, 1993). Moreover, this generation acquired a major part of their lifestyle including their clothing, eating habits and general way of carrying themselves from what they saw on screen.

The uncensored and unsupervised media exposure developed a violence streak among the American you that followed the 'pop culture.' Today, in America, it is common for a young teenager to want to try a certain drug, only because his favourite actor did so in a certain movie or he was inspired by a certain character. It is common today for youth to want to keep and use arms and weapons and indulge into criminal activities. This impulsive aspect youth has also been frequently exploited by corporate houses in order to sell their product, by designing advertising campaigns that sells an inspirational brand image for the youth. This unsupervised, uncensored and unregulated exposure to cultural change inspired American youth to form 'gangs'. Many teenagers today find it more appealing to be a part of a 'gang' that can scare anyone away, rather than to be a part of a sophisticated social circle (Campbell, 2000).

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