Crime as a Source of Solidarity: A Research Note Testing Durkheim's Assertion

Abstract

Abstract A basic premise of a functional theory of crime is that heinous crimes can be a source of solidarity. While anecdotal evidence exists to support this crime–solidarity relationship, no systematic studies have tested this assertion. We compare data from a sample of Virginia Tech students collected in 2006 to data from a sample of students collected five months, nine months, and one year after the mass shootings that occurred on campus in April 2007. The results indicate that solidarity significantly increased after the crime and remained elevated for six months. After six months, solidarity began to decrease. This research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation, grant number 0735471. Notes 1An analysis of the missing data revealed that the missing data were missing at random; that is, the missing data mechanism is independent of all variables (missing and observed) in the data set (see Little and Rubin Citation1987). Thus, the missing data would not bias the estimates. Therefore, the analyses were conducted on data for which all data were observed. 2Most of these students graduated from the university; however, some students leave for other reasons, including, but not limited to, medical, personal, or academic reasons. 3Response rates, while important, do not necessarily differentiate reliably between accurate and inaccurate data (see AAPOR Citation2008). 4We also performed a factor analysis to determine if the items reflect a single concept or multiple dimensions of a concept. The analyses in both the pre- and post-tragedy data resulted in a one-factor solution accounting for 58.8% of the total variance in the six items in the pre-tragedy and 57.2% of the total variance in the six items in the post-tragedy data. Therefore, the six items reflect a one-dimensional concept. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001. R 2 = .192. *p = .056; **p < .01; ***p < .001. Standard deviations in parentheses. Additional informationNotes on contributorsJames Hawdon JAMES HAWDON , Ph.D. is Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at Virginia Tech. His research interests include the relationship between community structure and crime, the sociology of drugs, policing, evaluation research, and deviant behavior. He has recently completed two National Science Foundation projects studying the relationship between mass tragedies and community solidarity. He has published over two dozen articles and three dozen technical reports in the areas of crime, deviance, the sociology of drugs, and policing. His book on the sociology of drug use, Drug and Alcohol Use as Functions of Social Structure, won the Adele Mellen Prize for Contributions to Scholarship. John Ryan JOHN RYAN , Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of Sociology and Interim Director of Africana Studies at Virginia Tech, where he teaches the Sociology of Law. His research interests include the study of culture production and consumption, as well as violence and crime control within communities. One line of research has been to examine the relative effectiveness of violence intervention programs that focus on structural issues (for example, enforcing housing codes) versus those that focus on cultural issues (for example, parenting or self-esteem classes). He has also researched dimensions of community solidarity, the effectiveness of community policing, and the relationship among grassroots neighborhood anti-crime organizations, community policing, social disorganization, and crime. He is former Chair of the Social Science Panel of the Ford Foundation Minority Fellowship Program. Laura Agnich LAURA AGNICH , M.S. is a Ph.D. student in Sociology at Virginia Tech where she has taught Criminology and Deviant Behavior. Her research interests include violence and crime control in schools and communities, the effects of mass tragedies on communities, and the relationship between social inequalities and crime and deviant behavior.