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theses

Institutional anomie theory (IAT) contends that crime is the result of interplay between culture that values material success (American Dream), and an institutional imbalance, where the economy is overvalued in relation to the polity, family, and education (Messner & Rosenfeld, 2012). Scholars have measured this imbalance at the level of countries or states via the relative strength of the formal economy (e.g., Gross Domestic Product and Gini index of inequality). However, by focusing solely on formal, aggregate measures it neglects the true nature and size of the broader economy that encompasses the informal (e.g., garage sales, day labor, lemonade stands) and illegal economy (e.g., drug sales, sex work, gambling). This lack of specification may underestimate the extent of the institutional imbalance, whose processes are more easily observed and varied at the neighborhood level.

This dissertation sought to advance Messner and Rosenfeld’s (1994) institutional anomie theory by broadening the economy to include, the formal, informal and illegal economy. It also examined this reconfiguration at the neighborhood level using a representative sample of block groups in New York City (n=107). Preliminary examination of this theoretical expansion was tested combining administrative data (census, police, and city records) with primary data collection (e.g., systematic observations and the collection of littered artifacts collected from street segments that were aggregated to the block group level). Between late August and October 2016, trained raters made systematic social observations (SSO) and collected litter artifacts in all of the streets nested within the block groups. Walking on opposite sides of the street and in pairs, raters counted the number of street behaviors, postings and litter artifacts that pointed to the presence and strength of the informal, illegal economy and the American Dream: including: (1) advertisements for “off-the-books” jobs; (2) illegal transactions in public spaces (e.g., drug sales, gambling, prostitution); (3) litter drug artifacts (e.g. small zip lock bags, synthetic marijuana wrappers, ‘blunt’ wrappers, syringes, crack pipes, glassine envelopes); and (4) public advertisements for free and paid services that are visual cues for the American Dream.

Overall, I find partial support for the theory. The formal economy was related to robbery incidents at the neighborhood level. However, there were no significant association between the informal and the illegal economy and robbery counts. Some of the reasons why this study yielded non-significant findings include the difficulties associated with measuring concepts. I provide additional considerations for a theory retest at a larger unit of analysis (county or borough).

ETD_9373

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Marin K. Kurti

doi:10.7282/t3-8y7a-s814

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.