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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“…is based on social disorganization theory and the relative deprivation view in criminology and sociology that economic deprivation and inequality leads to stress, anger, frustration, and eventually to violent crime, including homicide (Blau and Blau 1982; Messner 1989; Pratt and Godsey 2003).”
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Safer Cities: A Macro-Level Analysis of Recent Immigration, Hispanic-Owned Businesses, and Crime Rates in the United States
Stansfield, R. (2013) · Journal of Urban Affairs · doi:10.1111/juaf.12051 · Cited by 21
“Inside city boundaries, many have argued that urban disadvantage contributes to structural social disorganization and crime directly (Anderson, 1990; Blau & Blau, 1982; Stansfield & Parker, 2013; Wilson, 1987, 1996).”
Background
Age Structure, Income Distribution and Economic Growth
Gómez, R., & Foot, D. K. (2003) · Canadian Public Policy · doi:10.2307/3552280 · Cited by 21
“In an early study, Blau and Blau (1982) discovered that in the US, income inequality in a standard metropolitan area (SMA) substantially raised its rate of criminal violence.”
Background
Permeability across a Metropolitan Area: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing a Macrolevel Crime Pattern Theory
Groff, E. R., Taylor, R. B., Elesh, D., McGovern, J., & Johnson, L. T. (2014) · Environment and Planning A Economy and Space · doi:10.1068/a45702 · Cited by 22
“Investigations have examined how metropolitanlevel demographic features—for example, inequality, mobility, and racial patterning (Blau and Blau, 1982; Crutchfield et al, 1982; Peterson and Krivo, 2005)—drive metropolitanlevel crime rates; or how internal demographic differences within a…”
Background
Things Fall Apart
Hawkins, D. F. (2011) · Race and Justice · doi:10.1177/2153368710392791 · Cited by 21
“The work of Merton (1968) and later Blau and Blau (1982) come to mind in this regard.”
Background
Subculture, Gang Involvement, and Delinquency: A Study of Incarcerated Youth in China
Zhang, H., Zhao, J. “., Ren, L., & Zhao, R. (2016) · Justice Quarterly · doi:10.1080/07418825.2016.1243254 · Cited by 21
“Similarly, stratification theory highlights the role of the underclass, a social stratum wherein minority groups tend to reside (Blau & Blau, 1982).”
Background
Racial Income Inequality, Perceptions of Competition, and Negative Interracial Outcomes
Gordils, J., Sommet, N., Elliot, A. J., & Jamieson, J. P. (2019) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550619837003 · Cited by 21
“Although research from the sociology, economics, and psychology literatures suggest adverse macro-level, societal consequences of the RIGap (e.g., Blau & Blau, 1982; Parker & McCall, 1999), questions regarding the person-level, psychological effects of the RIGap have gone unexplored.”
Background
Racial differences in violence and self-esteem among prison inmates
Gillespie, W. (2005) · American Journal of Criminal Justice · doi:10.1007/bf02885734 · Cited by 21
“Much research involving race and violence is relegated to the macro-level of analysis (e.g., see Blau & Blau, 1982; LaFree, Drass, & O'Day, 1992; Ousey, 1999; Sampson, 1985, 1987).”
Background
Explaining Public Attitudes toward Fighting Inequality in Latin America
Morgan, J., & Kelly, N. J. (2010) · Poverty & Public Policy · doi:10.2202/1944-2858.1091 · Cited by 22
Reconsidering Culture and Homicide
Lee, M. R. (2011) · Homicide Studies · doi:10.1177/1088767911424542 · Cited by 21
“In addition to structural strains which may or may not provide motivation to commit more predatory violent crimes then (see Blau & Blau, 1982), there is a fundamental lack of contact with or socialization by the institutional mechanisms which diversify and strengthen the tools people have at their…”
Background
The Social–Structural Correlates of Homicide in Late-Tsarist Russia
Stickley, A., & Pridemore, W. A. (2006) · The British Journal of Criminology · doi:10.1093/bjc/azl033 · Cited by 21
Tendência temporal da mortalidade por homicídios na cidade de São Paulo, Brasil, 1979-1994
Barata, R. B., Ribeiro, M. C. S. D. A., & de Moraes, J. C. (1999) · Cadernos de Saúde Pública · doi:10.1590/s0102-311x1999000400005 · Cited by 21
Desigualdades sociais e homicídios em adolescentes e adultos jovens na cidade de São Paulo em 1995
Barata, R. B., Ribeiro, M. C. S. D. A., & de Moraes, J. C. (1999) · Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia · doi:10.1590/s1415-790x1999000100005 · Cited by 21
An Analysis of American Indian Homicide: A Test of Social Disorganization and Economic Deprivation at the Reservation County Level
Bachman, R. D. (1991) · Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency · doi:10.1177/0022427891028004006 · Cited by 21
Juvenile Violence in the Americas: Innovative Studies in Research, Diagnosis and Prevention
McAlister, A. L. (2000) · PsycEXTRA Dataset · doi:10.1037/e570312006-001 · Cited by 21
“…violence must confront basic problems of economic development Efforts to prevent violence must confront basic problems of economic development, particularly the uneven distribution of wealth and the degree of legitimate economic opportunity for disadvantaged groups (e.g., Blau and Blau, 1982).”
Background
How Does Actual Inequality Shape People’s Perceptions of Inequality? A Class Perspective
Haddon, E., & Wu, C. (2021) · Sociological Perspectives · doi:10.1177/07311214211062106 · Cited by 20
“…inequality such as health problems (Carpiano, Link, and Phelan 2008; Elgar 2010; Wilkinson and Pickett 2010), increasing rates of criminal violence (Blau and Blau 1982), civic disengagement (Lancee and Van de Werfhorst 2012; Uslaner 2002), and reduced social trust (Fairbrother and Martin 2013;…”
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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