Blog #5- Collective Efficacy

      As described in our text collective efficacy as Sampson and his colleagues describe it are broken down into two key factors, social cohesion and expectations for control (p. 152) to me this means that as a whole, the community strives to achieve a certain level of safety and understanding. Further down in the text Sampson describes that the framework of collective efficacy does not necessarily mean that all in the community need to be friends or even know each other but they all have similar needs and expectations of their community. The article I read outside the text was an article written by Browning, Feinberg and Dietz challenging the typical idea of collective efficacy, in their paper the paradox of social organization they discuss how they used a census to test the theory that social networks (our relationships within the community) mixed with collective efficacy have basically cancelled each other out and those neighborhoods have become a "social capital" for offenders. Answering to Sampson's questions below...

1- Children skipping school and hanging out on a street corner - If I know them, call their parents. I would want to know if my kids were hanging out on a street corner, not necessarily because I think they would get into trouble themselves but it seems like there is a constant stream of stories of young girls and boys being abducted. your child could be taken early in the morning and you would never know until they didn't come home from school. I hope that my children will always keep me in the loop and I don't think that is to much to ask. I always told my parents what I was doing, even if it was skipping class (and I did A LOT). At least they knew where I was, with that came freedom for myself and comfort for my parents always knowing where I was. I'm sure it would have been different if I was a bad kid with bad grades.

2- Children were spray painting on a local building - I know there a those out there who think that graffiti is a form of art, great, spray paint a wall in your own back yard. I like that my neighborhood and town look clean. I would definitely call the cops on this one. I would not stop to say anything, here come the stereotype....  I'm not sure what kind of kids I would be dealing with, usually those that paint graffiti are gang members or troublemakers. I don't like thinking that but I  have children that I need to take care of and would much rather call the police then try to intervene myself and possibly put my children at risk.  

3- Children were showing disrespect to an adult - On a situation such as this I would need a little more detail. I was raised to respect my elders and treat everyone with kindness, now a days I feel like parenting is seriously lacking. If this was a child disrespecting their parent, I would let the parent deal with it, again it depends on the extent, it is not my business on how their children are raised, but on the other side, my children will have to deal with children like this.... so I guess it depends on what is going down. If it seemed to be a group of children disrespecting an adult that they don't seem to know then I would definitely say something. 

4- A fight breaks out in front of my house - I would call the police, especially since I have children to look after, I don't need anyone fighting in front of my house. Some times people just need to be put in their place and it seems that only an authoritative source such as the police can do something like that, unless I know the people, If I knew them well I would probably send my husband outside to see if he can break it up (staying safe of course though)  

5 Fire station closest to my home was threatened by budget cuts - I would be pretty upset, the further away the station the longer it would take for them to come help us if a situation were to arise. I would probably go to the city to see what we as a community/neighborhood could do to prevent it. (volunteers, donations etc.)

Looking at my responses, I realized two things. One, I really rely on the police. God forbid a world where we don't have such a luxury. Two, I tend to stereotype the type of people who do these things (even though I didn't type most my thoughts I sure was thinking them! ) I feel like I live in an unpredictable world and I will do whatever it takes to protect myself and my children even if that means that I must think about the worst that can happen. I promise I don't always look at the negative, I am one who always tries to see the good in things however, people can't live with their head in the sand :) I would like to consider myself positively cautious :) 

Browning C, Feinberg S, Dietz R. The Paradox of Social Organization: Networks, Collective Efficacy, and Violent Crime in Urban Neighborhoods. Social Forces [serial online]. December 2004;83(2):503-534. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed September 23, 2013.

Blog #3

Blog #3

While I was reading the article "the death and life of Chicago" I couldn't help but feel a little frustrated. I kept thinking, "Ok, when are we going to get to the part where he actually helps the society for the long term". I know that's only my personal opinion and may seem a little rude however, what is JR doing for the people of these communities? I see it as sweeping the homeless under the rug, lets get them off the streets so no one has to see them. Even after reflecting on the reading I'm not sure exactly how to feel, on one hand I think that helping the homeless, using our available resources and helping the homeless is great. On the other hand, why doesn't the campaign focus some of their monetary contributions to teaching these homeless vocations?  At the end of chapter five in Sampsons boon it discusses the thought that poverty is not solved only redistributed to another location. There's so much money going into creating these livable homes but very little effort going into helping the people create lives for themselves, making them a better more responsible member of society.

When I think of blighted communities I think of some outskirts of Vegas. I once watched  a documentary on the homeless of Vegas where they showed the "underground city" of Vegas. Miles and miles of underground tunnels that the homeless wander through and make their permanent residence. I think the big problem with Vegas is that it seems to be solely revolved around the casino industry, most lose their money there or travel there thinking that they can make it better. How many of those casinos are giving back? Larger cities such as Las Vegas should have community programs set up that help the homeless get back on their feet, not necessarily with money but teach them the skills that it requires to make themselves a valuable piece of society. Help them find jobs and regularly check up on them. I understand that there are some homeless out there that prefer to be homeless. However...

Estimated homeless figures in the United States range from 600,000 to 2.5 million
Source:  http://www.fas.org, 2009

1.37 million of the total homeless population in USA are children under the age of 18. 40% are families with children, 41% are single males, 14% are single females
Source: International Journal of Psychosocial Research

http://www.homelessworldcup.org/content/homelessness-statistics

This research shows that most of the homeless are children. It is not to late to start helping them. 

Blog #2

While I was reading Sampson's book I began to see similarities (not necessarily so drastic) in my own community as that Sampson saw in these Chicago neighborhoods. Living in St.George through High school I learned where to live and where not to live if I decided to stay here in town, Mind you, high school students can be very judgmental, back then my teen self was more concerned  with how close it was to town amenities, beautiful views, and of course the status of the community. How did I come to conclusions then? LOOKS, strictly looks. So while my husband and I were looking for our first home a few years ago, I of course started looking in those neighborhoods that I felt had all the things I could ever want. After several tours our Realtor showed us a home in a neighborhood that I had never considered a good neighborhood. instantly it  seemed different. Our Realtor proceeded to tell us about the neighborhood and how the neighbors had taken care of this house for 2 years while it sat vacant. (The previous owners had moved for work but didn't rush the selling process in hopes that they may move back. We got lucky with their price drop when they realized they would not be moving back and needed to sell the home). The lawn was beautifully taken care of, the neighbors had rotated taking turns watering the lawn with their water since the water was no longer on, The porch had been regularly swept, it seemed like there had been residents all along. Of course the neighbors were not doing it for us (potential buyers) but for the neighborhood. It showed us that as a neighborhood this group of people wanted to make sure that everything was nice and tidy. The best part? Our home built in 1987 was the last home built on our street. This showed us that the people that lived in this neighborhood took great pride in it. The neighbor to our right was born and raised in her home, bought it from her parents and now her and her husband are raising their family in it. Most of our neighbors seem to have similar stories of a lifetime in this neighborhood. I've never really thought about the differences in communities until I lived in ours, someone visiting would never guess how old our homes were strictly for the fact that not only do we take care of our homes but most of us have added on or upgraded parts of our homes. So this makes me think... Do we take great pride in our community because we actually care what the outside looks like? our do we care because the rest of the neighborhood cares and as a whole we want to keep a clean neighborhood? The city has never put a lot of effort into our community, we have no new parks, no sidewalks, and no street lights like all the other communities seem to have but for some reason I would rather walk alone down our dark streets then walk on the brightest lit street of some other communities in town. The more I think about it, I feel like looks do play  a part in a community but I think that the people of that community play an even greater part. If you move to a neighborhood that has bars on the windows then naturally your going to feel unsafe, less likely to communicate with your neighbors. People play a great role in how you feel about your surroundings.