Crime And the American Dream

by Messner, Steven F.; Rosenfeld, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780534619589
• ISBN10: 0534619584
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-28
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

PREFACE. 1. A Society Organized for Crime. 2. By Any Means Necessary: Serious Crime in America. 3. Ships in the Night: Theoretical Perspectives in Contemporary Criminology. 4. Culture, Institutional Structure, and Social Control: A Sociological Explanation of Crime. 5. Strengthening Social Institutions and Rethinking the American Dream. REFERENCES. INDEX.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xiv
A Society Organized for Crime	01	(16)
Crime and Responses to Crime in America	03	(3)
The Nature and Level of Criminal Violence	03	(1)
Fear of Crime	04	(1)
Crime Control	05	(1)
The Virtues and Vices of the American Dream	06	(5)
Evolution of the Concept of the American Dream	06	(61)
The Dark Side of the American Dream	67
Monetary Success and Noneconomic Roles	08	(1)
Universalism and Economic Inequality	09	(2)
The Rise, Fall, and Revival of the Anomie Perspective	11	(6)
Core Ideas, Assumptions, and Propositions	11	(1)
The ``Golden Age'' of Anomie Theory	12	(1)
Decline and Revival	13	(1)
Unfinished Business	14	(3)
By Any Means Necessary: Serious Crime in America	17	(25)
Cross-National Comparisons of Crime	20	(8)
Homicide and Robbery Rates in International Context	20	(1)
The Form of Criminal Behavior	21	(1)
The Social Response to Crime	22	(1)
Gun-Related Crime	23	(2)
Has It Always Been This Way?	25	(1)
Race and Criminal Violence	26	(2)
White-Collar Crimes	28	(4)
Prevalence and Costs of White-Collar Crime	28	(1)
Violent White-Collar Crime	29	(1)
Social Response	30	(2)
Serious Crime and the Quality of Life	32	(10)
Taking Precautions by Any Means Necessary	32	(2)
Life in a War Zone	34	(1)
The Struggle for Institutional Control	35	(7)
Ships in the Night: Theoretical Perspectives in Contemporary Criminology	42	(24)
The Scope Conditions of Contemporary Criminological Theories	43	(6)
Levels of Explanation	43	(4)
Serious Crimes	47	(2)
The Unfulfilled Promise of the Sociological Paradigm	49	(17)
Cultural-Social Learning Explanations of Crime	51	(2)
Disorganization-Control Explanations of Crime	53	(2)
The Common Origins of Cultural Deviance Theory and Social Disorganization Theory	55	(2)
Anomie-Strain Explanations of Crime	57	(2)
Criticisms of Anomie Theory	59	(7)
Culture, Institutional Structure, and Crime	66	(35)
The Value Foundations of the American Dream	68	(3)
Achievement	69	(1)
Individualism	69	(1)
Universalism	69	(1)
The ``Fetishism'' of Money	70	(1)
The Institutional Structure of American Society	71	(13)
The Nature and Functioning of Social Institutions	71	(3)
The American Dream and the Institutional Balance of Power	74	(2)
Devaluation	76	(3)
Accommodation	79	(3)
Penetration	82	(2)
Social Organization and Crime	84	(17)
Anomie and Weak Social Institutions	84	(3)
The Social Distribution of Crime: Gender and Race	87	(3)
Kids, Drugs, Guns, and Violence	90	(3)
The Social Response to Crime	93	(8)
Strengthening Social Institutions and Rethinking the American Dream	101	(26)
Conventional Strategies for Crime Control	103	(9)
The Conservative Camp: The War on Crime	104	(1)
Mandatory-Minimum Sentencing and the Drug War	104	(1)
The Expansion of Punitive Social Control	105	(1)
Unintended Consequences of Expanded Punitive Control	106	(1)
The Liberal Camp: The War on Poverty and on Inequality of Opportunity	107	(1)
Effects of Liberal Policies on Crime Rates	108	(1)
Unintended Consequences of Liberal Reform	109	(1)
Beyond Liberalism and Conservatism	110	(2)
Crime Reduction Through Social Reorganization	112	(9)
Institutional Reform	112	(1)
The Family and Schools	112	(3)
The Polity	115	(4)
Social Stratification and the Economy	119	(2)
The Task of Cultural Regeneration	121	(1)
An Intellectual Foundation for Change	122	(1)
Toward a Mature Society	123	(4)
References	127	(17)
Index	144