Sociology & Criminology for a Changing World
Space and Surveillance theories examine how crime is shaped by physical environments, urban structures, neighborhood conditions, and practices of surveillance and social control. Rather than locating the causes of crime solely in individual motivation or pathology, these approaches analyze how spatial organization, environmental design, community structures, and visible disorder influence where and under what conditions
Theory of Differential Opportunities combines insights from learning, subcultural, anomie, and social disorganization theories to explain why not everyone exposed to strain or blocked opportunities turns to crime. It emphasizes that access to illegitimate means varies and shapes the pathways into criminal behavior. Key Points Differential Opportunity Theory Main Proponents: Richard A. Cloward and Lloyd
Social disorganization theory assumes that crime rates are constant in areas with certain environmental conditions, such as high unemployment, population fluctuation or material decay. Such conditions prevent social organization and cohesion in the neighbourhood and thus informal social control of delinquency. Once crime is widespread, criminal norms and values that compete with normative values are