Crime and the american dream 5th edition summary

Crime and the American Dream by Steven F. Messner ,. Richard Rosenfeld. How has America's over-emphasis on the pursuit of materialistic gain contributed to the it's high rate of violent crime? Get A Copy. Paperback , pages. Published March 1st by Wadsworth Publishing Company first published More Details Original Title. Other Editions 7. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Crime and the American Dream , please sign up.

See 1 question about Crime and the American Dream…. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list ». Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of Crime and the American Dream. Nov 10, David rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: anyone who wants to understand crime in america. Shelves: american-history-and-conjecture , philosphy , sociology-psychology , the-best.

Crime and the American dream changed the way that I view crime entirely. Crime was not one of my interests and I mostly ignored the subject. This book put crime into a framework that could be easily understood. It also made it easy to relate the subject to many other social and political conditions we face in America as Americans. Sep 24, Colleen rated it liked it Shelves: sociology , current-events-politics.

A criminological theory classic, Messner and Rosenfeld's work repetitively argues that the materialism undergirding the American Dream, the subsumption of all other social institutions to the economic imperative, leads to anomie the loosening of normative controls and thus produces the high levels of violent crime seen in the US.

Their work extends particularly on the work of sociologist Robert Merton, who posited that universalistic goals but blocked legitimate opportunities to achieved those A criminological theory classic, Messner and Rosenfeld's work repetitively argues that the materialism undergirding the American Dream, the subsumption of all other social institutions to the economic imperative, leads to anomie the loosening of normative controls and thus produces the high levels of violent crime seen in the US.

Their work extends particularly on the work of sociologist Robert Merton, who posited that universalistic goals but blocked legitimate opportunities to achieved those goals results in crime. Their "twist," though, is that even if everyone had more opportunity, the disproportionate emphasis on economic success in the United States will still lead to crime because value is not given to things like family, civic participation, and the social welfare of others.

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Thirdly, universalism entails that all Americans should attempt to realize this type of success, and that everyone has an equal opportunity to do so Schoepfer, , p. Essentially, due to the excessive emphasis on the economy in America, the many complimentary non-economic social institutions, such as education, politics, and family cannot operate as intended, individually and holistically, to balance societal needs, growth, and advancement. Thus, because the core institutions of society are so economically-focused, the materialistic ideal of the American Dream is only more emphasized and the paths which people take to arrive at such success become even more questionable and deviant.

Education, politics, and family all act as pillars of society, and without genuine adherence to their inherent value, which entails instilling social controls, society will continue to be geared primarily towards economic imperatives, resulting in a structural breakdown of American society. Thus, by measuring the strength of non-economic social institutions in regards to the level of crime as an effect, this relationship can be properly evaluated.

Although challenges are present in conducting research on this theory, particularly due to a lack of systematic data collection in regards to some of the main assumptions of the theory, numerous researchers have empirically evaluated the relationship in regards to crime and the American Dream Bjerregaard et al.

For instance, Chamlin and Cochran were two of the first to examine the propositions of IAT, assessing state rates of profit-oriented crime, utilizing the percentage of families below the poverty level as a measure of economic conditions, divorce rates as a measure of the ineffectiveness of family, church membership rates as measure of strength of religion, and percentage of voting-age persons who actually voted as measure of strength of polity Bjerregaard et al.

Piquero and Piquero utilized cross-sectional data from the U. Consequently, their findings include that the population below poverty level and single-family homes i. Stuckey tested the relationship between the strength of political structures and their effect on economic deprivation on crime; once again, in agreement with IAT, the results showed that in metropolitan areas with strongly responsive political structures, the effects of economic deprivation on crime rates were weakest Bjerregaard et al.

However, not all findings that have been tested are consistent with IAT, for some studies regarding theft have uncovered that high levels of family disruption are associated with high levels of theft, but a devalued education system is associated with lower theft rates Bjerregaard et al.

Furthermore, since the studies regarding IAT are primarily indirect and partial, their likely consistent support will differ, depending on the measures of crime, the non-economic social institutions, the economy, and the other factors regarding the relationships in IAT Bjerregaard et al.

This lends credence to the fact that these tests are not the most potent, especially since not all tests utilized cross-national data and some studies are limited to only one type of crime in its assessment Bjerregaard et al. The American Dream is an ideal that is deeply engrained in American culture, so how would one go about pacifying this fixation on monetary success? Additionally, the revision of certain employment opportunities for parents, such as provision of family leave, flexible work schedules, and employer-provided childcare, would ameliorate family economic pressures and create more time for parents to spend time with their children, to eventually cultivate a society with a strong values and family-centered foundation Messner et al.

However, when a family is restrained by the economic pressures of the American Dream, working excessive hours and multiple jobs for mediocre pay, or even working long hours and spending much time away from home for an affluent salary, the family as a unit and as an institution suffers, contributing to the breakdown of the effectiveness of the other non-economic social institutions of society.