collective efficacy

Chapter 7 of Sampson was interesting to read in more ways than one. Before reading it I honestly didn’t know what collective efficacy. I had an idea but it was a little off. I liked how he examined more things that are apart of neighborhoods effects. I always touch on the historical disadvantages that I feel no one really looks at but I think Sampson did a great job at explaining that. There are two parts of collective efficacy social cohesion which is the collectivity part, and shared expectations for control which is the efficacy part (this is the intentions to do something). The most important thing is he goes beyond looking at efficacy on an individual level, but rather understanding entire neighborhoods collectively. This is important because it explains a lot of things. Studies have shown that the more collectively efficacy that is in a neighborhood the less crime there is, and vice versa for those with less collective efficacy. He begins to talks about concentrated poverty; which is similar to what Wilson talked about in the truly disadvantaged. Wilson talked about concentration effects and how it is one of the biggest contributions to the crimes that are in these disadvantaged neighborhoods. I think its interesting when we look at the micro level of neighborhood effects and crime all the things that are related to it. He goes on to talk about racial segregation which is somewhat explanatory, this is the separation of particular racial groups from other privileged groups, like this Wilson talks about social isolation. I makes sense that a person that is isolated and forced into poverty would naturally deviate from what’s expected in society. We also looked at video clips that focused on the idea of what would you do if you saw your neighbor going through something; would you interfere? The clip we watched in class was about this father who was trying to buy his kid alcohol when he was underage. It was interesting to see all the people who got involved to speak up against it; this was a perfect example of collectively efficacy. People in that neighborhood felt it was their duty to jump in the middle because they were a part of that neighborhood, and it affects them indirectly. With this video it was clear to see why the neighborhoods with more collective efficacy have more crime; people actually care about the neighborhood, and in caring for it they keep criminals/crime out they are involved so there is no room for crime to fester.  I being to wonder if there is a possibility for race to play a part in whether a community will have collective efficacy. Is there a predominantly black neighborhood that isn't high in crime where the people in the community come together? I thought really hard about this and couldn't come up with one example of a neighborhood where there is collective efficacy in an all-black neighborhood. I've read articles and have heard African Americans from older generations talk about how blacks tear each other down, and don’t want to see each other succeeded. This is one of the reasons people blame the high crime rates in Chicago; of course there are lots of other things, but this really made me think. If blacks came together more collectively in their neighborhoods; according to Sampson and all the results that were found crime wouldn't be as present. In my presentation I showed a clip from the documentary made by two young men that faced tragedy when on of the guys friend was killed by the other guys friend. They got together to expose the issues in these cities, and explain how senseless this murder truly was. I encourage everyone to watch this video it is very interesting; and unveils the truth of how economics and politics are also contributors to these neighborhood effects. The pastor that was interviewed in this movie talked about economics, and said how can a person change their surroundings when they aren't given the resources to do so. How can people in the community come together when they are limited in resources, and are trying to survive by any means necessary even if that means killing one another to get to the top. We know that crimes that are done are typically done to people that know each other (interpersonal) (black on black, white on white etc.), but black men are killing each other at much higher rates than any other race. Why is this? because they are amount the most racially discriminated group even with all minorities included. This is the sad truth of being black in America. It seems as if through neighborhoods effects they are set up to fail, and then blamed for the actions they are forced to engage in and taught to live.