Sampson talks about the concept of broken windows in Chapter
6. The concept is not just about windows, but it is about the disorder and
dilapidation of neighborhoods as a whole. It is important to understand how
these “broken windows” come about and what they lead to. In the book Sampson
talks about the ideal of Collective Efficacy and how there is a lack of such in
these neighborhoods with high social disorder. Collective efficacy would be a
complete want and hope to make the neighborhood better and for it to thrive. This effort would have to come
from a majority of the community for their lives and their neighborhood to
improve. With disorder comes higher rates of crime, which creates a vicious
cycle of bad reputation in these communities.
In
class we talked about whether social traps or broken window effect comes first.
This is something we may not ever be able to find out, but the cycle will
always continue if there is disorder. We do know that just fixing some broken
windows will not fix a neighborhood, but when there is pride in where you live
there would be responsibility in keeping it that way. I do think that the
increase in broken window policing did not help. I am a big advocate for the
police since I am looking to go into law enforcement, but I do know there is
not always a possibility to be trained for every situation. Just like approaching
a person with mental illness there should be a way to approach someone with any
situation even homelessness. I think there would need to be a way to keep the
police safe as well as keeping the citizens safe at the same time.
Unfortunately, I do not think this form of training could be possible at least
on the large scale. It is good to know that police presence without enforcement
can be helpful. I live in a small town and even see the police making their
positive presence known. I went boating over the summer and the water police
pulled us over just to make sure the children all had life vests and even gave
them ice cream. Also, the police stopped when my cousins were outside playing basketball and played with them
for a little. I think it is important to teach our children that police can be
good and that they are there for our safety, so that when they do have a run in
with the police good or bad it can go a positive way. The article I shared
gives an insight into the initial purpose of broken window policing and how it
got to where it was.
I
posted a short video that seems a little silly and the voices are terrible, but
the idea is actually pretty good. So some people will claim that a kid breaking
a window is a good thing , because it creates jobs and pumps money back into
the economy. Sure giving people job opportunities sounds good, but the owner of
the business ultimately still lost money they would of spent on something else which
would of also put money back into the economy. We would not want someone to
damage a whole town or all the buildings just to create jobs would we? Again it
is a cycle of when just one person displays criminal behavior and now the whole
neighborhood is judged for it. Should one kids actions determine the whole vibe
of the neighborhood? Probably not, but we do judge the neighborhood and not the
person who broke the window in the first place.
In
class again we talked about how different forms of art are viewed in different
places. Graffiti or street art is looked down upon in cities or run down
neighborhoods, but it is viewed as art in European cities. How could there be
such a discrepancy? Well it turns out it is not about the graffiti at all, it
is about the things we hear, see, and sense in the neighborhood the graffiti is
in. Seeing a mural of spray paint on a brick wall next to a view of the ocean
or view of a church would send a different message than the view of a broken
down car or bullet holes in a window. It is the exact same thing, just in a
different context. People do not always know how to perceive things for what
they are and not where they are. This is an example of the untrained mind. We
as sociologist would take the time to try and understand how a neighborhood
become run down or to see a picture for what it is. Others would look at a
situation and judge it for just what they see rather than how it came about. We
still have our own biases that will never go away, but being able to analyze a
situation and unearth the stigma and disorder gives better understanding of how
things came about rather than just the fact that they are there. Stigmas of these
“broken windows” to most represent lack of pride, care, and determination but
to sociologist they would represent lack of opportunity, self expression, or collective
efficacy. The people in these neighborhoods do not want to live this way, they
just have yet to find effective ways of improving these conditions in a
positive and influential way. Improvement will probably never happen to all
neighborhoods and even if it does that will not guarantee all problems related
will be fixed, but it could bring hope to the neighborhood and to let it thrive
again.
I think your post explains the concept of Broken Windows really well. Your explanation of how a neighborhood wont ever get fixed because either the people of that neighborhood know that one fixed window isnt going to change their neighborhood but some people like where they live. They have lived in this atmosphere their whole life and are used to it. Trying to fix something like this would have to come from the entire community and like you said,it is very difficult to do so. I also like your comparison of our standpoint as sociology students and how we look at these situations different than a citizen of the community would like at it. We ask why, how, what can we do to fix it?
ReplyDeleteGreat post, you hit alot of the important key points of the chapter!