Aubrey L. Jackson

Ecological Networks and Neighborhood Social Organization1

Drawing on the social disorganization tradition and the social ecological perspective of Jane Jacobs, the authors hypothesize that neighborhoods composed of residents who intersect in space more frequently as a result of routine activities will exhibit higher levels of collective efficacy, intergenerational closure, and social network interaction and exchange. They develop this approach employing the concept of ecological networks—two-mode networks that indirectly link residents through spatial overlap in routine activities. Using data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey, they find evidence that econetwork extensity (the average proportion of households in the neighborhood to which a given household is tied through any location) and intensity (the degree to which household dyads are characterized by ties through multiple locations) are positively related to changes in social organization between 2000–2001 and 2006–2008. These findings demonstrate the relevance of econetwork characteristics—heretofore neglected in research on urban neighborhoods—for consequential dimensions of neighborhood social organization.

LEGAL CYNICISM AND PARENTAL APPRAISALS OF ADOLESCENT VIOLENCE

Research suggests that legal cynicism—a cultural frame in which the law is viewed as illegitimate and ineffective—encourages violence to maintain personal safety when legal recourse is unreliable. But no study has tested the impact of legal cynicism on appraisals of violence. Drawing from symbolic interaction theory and cultural sociology, we tested whether neighbourhood legal cynicism alters the extent to which parents appraise their children’s violence as indicative of aggressive or impulsive temperaments using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. We find that legal cynicism attenuates the positive association between adolescent violence and parental assessments of aggression and impulsivity. Our study advances the understanding of micro-level processes through which prevailing cultural frames in the neighbourhood shape violence appraisals.

Violent Peers and Street Efficacy in Legally Cynical Neighborhoods

Neighborhood scholars increasingly focus on legal cynicism—a frame through which the law and its enforcement agents are viewed as illegitimate and ineffective. We investigate how legal cynicism within the residential neighborhood and violent peers jointly inform youths’ perceived ability to safely navigate their neighborhoods—that is, their street efficacy. We propose that youth in neighborhoods with pervasive legal cynicism exhibit diminished street efficacy because they lack confidence that legal social control will benefit them. But youth in legally cynical neighborhoods who rely on an alternative social control—peer violence—may exhibit relatively more street efficacy despite lacking legal recourse. Results from multilevel analyses of data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) indicate that in neighborhoods with high levels of legal cynicism, youth who associate with more violent peers exhibit greater street efficacy. But in neighborhoods with low levels of legal cynicism—that is, where legal recourse is a viable social control option and violence likely entails unnecessary risks—youth with more violent peers exhibit less street efficacy. The results suggest that the consequences of peer violence are complex and depend on the extent of legal cynicism within youths’ neighborhoods. The theoretical, empirical, and policy implications of these findings are discussed.

The Influence of Women's Neighborhood Resources on Perceptions of Social Disorder

Research links neighborhood social disorder with poorer health. But factors beyond observed disorder may influence perceptions that social disorder is problematic. This study investigates whether womens aggregate socioeconomic resources relative to mens in the broader neighborhood context attenuate the extent to which more prevalent observed social disorder within the immediate residential neighborhood contributes to perceptions of more problematic social disorder. This attenuation likely is pronounced among women, for whom sexual harassment in public spaces is a more salient concern compared to men. Using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, multilevel models analyze individual perceptions of problematic social disorder (N = 3,107) regressed on the interactive effect of observed social disorder within the census block group (N = 525) and womens relative resources within the neighborhood cluster (N = 80). The results show that womens relative resources within the broader neighborhood context protect against womens perceptions that typically undesirable neighborhood conditions are problematic.