Cited by 1,500Crime Patterns and InterventionsUrban, Neighborhood, and Segregation StudiesCriminal Justice and Corrections Analysis

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The Cost of Inequality: Metropolitan Structure and Violent Crime

Blau, Judith R., Blau, Peter M.·1982·American Sociological Review

DOI 10.2307/2095046

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Abstract

The hypothesis tested is that variations in rates of urban criminal violence largely result from differences in racial inequality in socioeconomic conditions. Data on the 125 largest American metropolitan areas (SMSAs) are used to ascertain whether this hypothesis can account for three correlates of violent crime differently interpreted in the literature. Criminal violence is positively related to location in the South, which has been interpreted as the result of the Southern tradition of violence. It is positively related to the proportion of blacks in an SMSA, which has been interpreted as reflecting a subculture of violence in ghettos. And it is positively related to poverty, which has been interpreted as the emphasis on toughness and excitement in the culture of poverty. The analysis reveals that socioeconomic inequality between races, as well as economic inequality generally, increases rates of criminal violence, but once economic inequalities are controlled poverty no longer influences these rates, neither does Southern location, and the proportion of blacks in the population hardly does. These results imply that if there is a culture of violence, its roots are pronounced economic inequalities, especially if associated with ascribed position.

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“…and hopelessness, develops when children living in social and economic adversity experience inequalities in quality of life and perceive contradictions between opportunities in the larger society and the conditions and lack of opportunity in their own lives (Blau and Blau 1982; Burr et al. 1999).”
Background
DECLINING VIOLENT CRIME RATES IN THE 1990S: Predicting Crime Booms and Busts
Lafree, G. D. (1999) · Annual Review of Sociology · doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.25.1.145 · Cited by 158
It's all relative: Concentrated disadvantage within and across neighborhoods and communities, and the consequences for neighborhood crime
Chamberlain, A. W., & Hipp, J. R. (2015) · Journal of Criminal Justice · doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2015.08.004 · Cited by 155
SOCIAL ALTRUISM AND CRIME*
Chamlin, M. B., & Cochran, J. K. (1997) · Criminology · doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.1997.tb00875.x · Cited by 158
Distance to the scaling law: a useful approach for unveiling relationships between crime and urban metrics
Alves, L. G. A., Ribeiro, H. V., Lenzi, E. K., & Mendes, R. S. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069580 · Cited by 154
“Most of these papers employ regression analysis, where the dependent variable is the crime indicator (usually the number of a particular crime act) and the independent variables are urban indicators [24–33].”
Background
Income inequality, poverty and crime across nations
Paré, P., & Felson, R. B. (2014) · British Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1111/1468-4446.12083 · Cited by 165
Testing the Economic Production and Conflict Models of Crime Control
Liska, A. E., Chamlin, M. B., & Reed, M. D. (1985) · Social Forces · doi:10.1093/sf/64.1.119 · Cited by 152
Structural Determinants of Intergroup Association: Interracial Marriage and Crime
South, S. J., & Messner, S. F. (1986) · American Journal of Sociology · doi:10.1086/228427 · Cited by 151
RACE AND CRIME IN POSTWAR AMERICA: DETERMINANTS OF AFRICAN‐AMERICAN AND WHITE RATES, 1957–1988*
Lafree, G. D., Drass, K. A., & O'DAY, P. (1992) · Criminology · doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.1992.tb01101.x · Cited by 149
Disentangling community-level changes in crime trends during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chicago
Campedelli, G. M., Favarin, S., Aziani, A., & Piquero, A. R. (2020) · Crime Science · doi:10.1186/s40163-020-00131-8 · Cited by 159
“Events are rather clustered and follow specific patterns based on social, economic, demographic and ecological characteristics of the environment (Merton 1938; Shaw and McKay 1942; Gibbs and Erickson 1976; Blau and Blau 1982; Sampson and Lauritsen 1994; Papachristos et al.”
Background

Authors: Blau, J. R., & Blau, P. M.
Venue: American Sociological Review
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 1982-02
Volume: 47
Issue: 1
Pages: 114
ISSN: 0003-1224 (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.2307/2095046
OpenAlex: W1998194071
Cited by: 1,500
References: 38
Citations by year: 2026: 54 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 45 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 40 · 2020: 35 · 2019: 46 · 2018: 40 · 2017: 57 · 2016: 38 · 2015: 55 · 2014: 55 · 2013: 45 · 2012: 41
FWCI: 99.17
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: American Sociological Review (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
Keywords: violent crime, racial inequality, socioeconomic disparities, metropolitan structure, Southern United States, Black population, poverty, culture of poverty, subculture of violence, ascribed status

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The Cost of Inequality: Metropolitan Structure and Violent Crime

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