Extending social disorganization theory: Modeling the relationships between cohesion, disorder, and fear

In this study, we build on recent social disorganization research, estimati ng models of the relationships between disorder, burglary, cohesion, and fe ar of crime using a sample of neighborhoods from three waves of the British Crime Survey. The results indicate that disorder has an indirect effect on burglary through fear and neighborhood cohesion. Although cohesion reduces disorder, nonrecursive models show that disorder also reduces cohesion. Pa rt of the effect of disorder on cohesion is mediated by fear. Similar resul ts are obtained in nonrecursive burglary models. Together, the results sugg est a feedback loop in which decreases in neighborhood cohesion increase cr ime and disorder, increasing fear, in turn, further decreasing cohesion.