NEIGHBORHOOD INEQUALITY, COLLECTIVE EFFICACY, AND THE SPATIAL DYNAMICS OF URBAN VIOLENCE*

TLDR

The study aims to predict homicide variations across 343 Chicago neighborhoods by integrating 1990 census structural data with a 1995 resident survey, emphasizing resource inequality, social processes, and spatial interdependence. The authors model homicide rates from 1996–1998 using census‑derived structural characteristics and survey responses to capture neighborhood‑level predictors. Spatial proximity to homicide, concentrated disadvantage, and low collective efficacy independently predict higher homicide rates, while local organizations affect violence only through enhancing collective efficacy, highlighting the importance of spatial dynamics and neighborhood inequalities.

Abstract

Highlighting resource inequality, social processes, and spatial interdependence, this study combines structural characteristics from the 1990 census with a survey of 8,872 Chicago residents in 1995 to predict homicide variations in 1996–1998 across 343 neighborhoods. Spatial proximity to homicide is strongly related to increased homicide rates, adjusting for internal neighborhood characteristics and prior homicide. Concentrated disadvantage and low collective efficacy—defined as the linkage of social control and cohesion—also independently predict increased homicide. Local organizations, voluntary associations, and friend/kinship networks appear to be important only insofar as they promote the collective efficacy of residents in achieving social control and cohesion. Spatial dynamics coupled with neighborhood inequalities in social and economic capacity are therefore consequential for explaining urban violence.