Social Structure

Social Structure theory
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Introduction
Tent City Arizona is not a conventional prison, and mainly sentenced inmates, and it is an extension of the Maricopa County jail system. The jail can accommodate more than 2000 residents, and the conditions are harsh. The jail has very few permanent houses, and this has led to calls for better housing for the inmates given that extreme weather conditions in Arizona can be overwhelming for the prison’s residents. The social structural theory presupposes that structures determine deviant and criminal behavior in the society. This paper delves into social structure theory, and specifically highlights on the strain theory, culture conflict theory and social disorganization theory. These theories will be discussed in the context of the video Tent City, Arizona.
Tent City
The Tent City primarily came into being to offer services to the Maricopa county jail, in Phoenix Arizona in 1993 (MCSO, 2013). Joe Arpaio, the Sheriff of the county jail came up with idea, in order for the jail to compliment service provision of the county jail. The suspects held in the jail tend to be accused of serious offences. However, they are merely suspects, and it remains to be seen whether the conditions of the jail have had a negative impact on the behavior of the inmates. The video gives the impression that social interactions and social learning also determine criminal behavior. Researchers have long theorized on the possible reasons as to why people commit crime, and the social structure theory offers explanation through social and environmental factors. This is in contrast to theorists who propose that criminal behavior may at times exist because of genetic predisposition.
The various theories that make up the social structure theory suppose that they are underlying reasons that perpetuate crime. At the center of this theory’s premise is that people from disadvantaged social classes are at a higher risk of engaging in crime (Siegel, 2007). Equally, criminal behavior typically begins at the early stages of life. Poverty is one of the leading causes of crime according to the social structure theory. In a world where financial stability is necessary, lack of employment in impoverished communities often leads to drug abuse and crime as there is typically no reliable source of employment. Deviant people are seen as being outside the mainstream, and this probably increases the risk of engagement in criminal activities. Even though, criminal behavior is also present in higher social classes, the prevalence rates are considerably lower than in lower social classes.
Social disorganization theory
The social disorganization theory offers plausible explanations for the existence of crime in certain communities. Essentially, this theory stipulates that the decline in social rules and moral authorities has a negative impact on individuals and the society at large. In other words this theory supposes that communities that have little control over their members have little shared values and hence encounter problems more often than other societies (Barnett & Mencken, 2002). Similarly, proponents of this theory surmise that delinquency does not occur at the individual level, but rather a reaction by people to inadequacies of their social conditions. Thus, the theory further states that individuals feel no obligation to act as expected in the community, they can act according to their freedoms and desires. Eventually, this leads to delinquent behavior from such individuals as they cannot act communally.
This theory emanated in Chicago, with the researchers mainly interested in finding out how social disorganization determined delinquency. Using data from different demographics, the researchers were able to piece together evidence that delinquency was most prevalent among the poor urban youth. In the Tent City, most inmates appear to have suffered some form of social disorganization in their lives. Thus, the prison statistics overwhelmingly have inmates from impoverished communities, broken and dysfunctional families. With both alcohol and drug abuse being a risk factor in committing crime, the inmates seem to represent the social disorganization theory. The poorer a community was, the more likely that it would have more cases of delinquency, as the residents responded to social and cultural characteristics in their communities.
Strain theory
Another set of theory under the social structure theory are the strain theories. These theories emphasize that there are particular stressors or strains that make people susceptible to committing crime (Krohn et al., 2009). Equally, these stressors are typically accompanied with negative emotions; these emotions in turn put pressure that establishes counteractive actions, with crime being one of these possible actions. In essence, engagement in crime is either an attempt to minimize the impact of the strain, and limiting the emergence of negative emotions (Krohn et al., 2009). According to this theory, people who are not in employment for long may be tempted to engage in various forms of crimes to obtain money. Another way they may try to limit the impact of the strains is to use drugs, which may then induce them to commit crimes.
The strain theories are applicable for the inmates’ population, as most tend to be in some kind of strain before being placed in Tent City. Even though, numerous people experience strains in their lives, only a minority engages in crime, and this minority tends to be in the lower social classes as they have weaker social support. The earliest versions of strain theory delved into the inability to improve social status and how this affected the way people were into criminal acts. However, the monetary goal has fallen into disfavor among contemporary proponents of strain theories like Robert Agnew (Baron, 2004), who state that numerous goals may be at play besides monetary success. Thus, failing to achieve various goals, mistreatment by other people or material loss in possession may influence crime levels and delinquency.
Even though, the Tent City, holds inmates with more serious crimes, it is possible to use the strains theory in interpreting occurrence of crime and delinquency beyond the lower social classes. It is essential to point out that not every inmate grew up in the lower social classes, and the strains theory surmises that social class does not play a big role in delinquency. This is rather caused failure to achieve goals in relation to the social environment. Thus, a person’s failure to achieve their actual or anticipated goals cause strains through negative stimuli. In any case, some of the inmates may have little history in crime, which makes it plausible to say that strains in their lives are a possible cause of irrational behavior and criminal behavior when the stressors are present.
Culture conflict theory
The culture conflict theory is unique as it incorporates aspects of the learning theory (Brown et al.,2012). In essence, this theory focu...