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Sweet Mothers and Gangbangers

Managing Crime in a Black Middle-Class Neighborhood

Bibliographic Data

ID2577826
AuthorsM Pattillo (0000-0003-0717-169X, University of Michigan, corresponding author), Mary E Pattillo
Year1998
Volume76
Issue3
Pages747
Publication date1998-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Forces (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-7732 • E-ISSN: 1534-7605
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/3005693
OpenAlexW4253735956
LanguageEN
Citations received88

Black middle-class neighborhoods have higher internal poverty rates and are closer to high-poverty and high-crime areas than white middle-class neighborhoods, which presents particular challenges to neighborhood social organization. This study uses ethnographic data from a black middle-class neighborhood in Chicago to explore how residents manage this ecological context. I find that dense social networks fostered by residential stability facilitate the informal supervision of neighborhood youth and enhance the activities of formal organizations and institutions. Nevertheless, the incorporation of gang members and drug dealers into the networks of law-abiding kin and neighbors thwarts efforts to completely rid the neighborhood of its criminal element. The conflicting effects of dense networks challenge traditional social organization theory

Class (philosophy) · Context (archaeology) · Criminology · Element (criminal law) · Ethnography · Geography · Informal social control · Middle class · Organised crime · Political science · Poverty · Social class · Social control · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Law

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Unique citing works88
Citations per year3,26
Citation span1999 - 2026 (28)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 87
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