Social ties and crime: Is the relationship gendered?

A fundamental concept in the systemic model of social disorganization theor y has been the social ties among neighbors. Theoretically, social ties amon g neighbors provide the foundation from which the potential for informal so cial control can develop. Recent research, however, has shown that not all social ties are equally effective in producing informal social control and decreasing crime rates. Warner and Rountree (1997) hn ve shown that the nei ghborhood context in which ties occur is related to their crime-fighting ef fectiveness, and Bellair (1997) has shown that frequent ties are not necess arily the most effective ties. Further examination of the crime-control eff ectiveness of specific patterns and placements of social ties, therefore, s eems a fruitful path to pursue. For example, no research to date has examin ed potential demographic differences in the effectiveness of ties. This stu dy begins exploration in this area by examining the extent to which the eff ectiveness of ties in decreasing crime is related to the gendered nature an d context of those ties. Using data from 100 Seattle neighborhoods, we find that although women and men display similar levels of local social ties, t he effects of these gender-specific ties on crime are different. In particu lar, female social ties are more effective in controlling crime, particular ly in the community-level gendered context of few female-headed households.