Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-s9k8s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-17T19:23:10.788Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social Capital, Racial Context, and Incarcerations in the American States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Daniel P. Hawes
Daniel P. Hawes*
Affiliation:
Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA
*
Daniel P. Hawes, Department of Political Science, Kent State University, Bowman Hall 302, Kent, OH 44242-0001, USA. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the differential effects of social capital on policy equity in state outcomes. Specifically, it explores the relationship between social capital and incarceration rates in the American states paying particular attention to racial disparities in incarceration rates. Building on work by Hero, I present a theoretical explanation and empirical support for how social capital operates differently under different racial contexts. I argue that social capital enhances social empathy in homogeneous contexts and social controls in diverse contexts. Using state-level longitudinal data on the contiguous states, I find that social capital is positively associated with incarcerations, but only for African Americans. Furthermore, the effects of social capital appear to be conditional on racial context where this relationship is stronger as minority group size increases.

Keywords

social capitalracial diversityinequalitycriminal justice
Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , December 2017 , pp. 393 - 417
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, Alistair R., and Jack, Sarah L.. 2010. “The Articulation of Social Capital in Entrepreneurial Networks: A Glue or a Lubricant?” Entrepreneurship & Regional Development 14 (3): 193–210..Google Scholar
Beck, Nathaniel, and Katz, Jonathan N.. 1995. “What to Do (and Not to Do) with Time-Series Cross-Section Data.” American Political Science Review 89 (3): 634–47..Google Scholar
Berry, William D., Fording, Richard C., Ringquist, Evan J., Hanson, Russell L., and Klarner, Carl. 2013. “A New Measure of State Government Ideology, and Evidence that Both the New Measure and an Old Measure Are Valid.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 13:164–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blau, Judith R., and Blau, Peter M.. 1982. “The Cost of Inequality: Metropolitan Structure and Violent Crime.” American Sociological Review 47:114–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brambor, Thomas, Clark, William Roberts, and Golder, Matt. 2006. “Understanding Interaction Models: Improving Empirical Analyses.” Political Analysis 14 (1): 63–82..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bursik, Robert J., and Grasmick, Harold G.. 1993. Neighborhoods and Crime: The Dimensions of Effective Community Control. New York: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Burton, Velmer S. Jr., and Gregory Dunaway, R.. 1994. “The Importance of Relative Deprivation Theory on Middle-Class Delinquency.” Pp. 79–97. In Varieties of Criminology: Readings from a Dynamic Discipline, ed. Barak, Gregg. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Coleman, James S. 1988. “Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital.” American Journal of Sociology. 94(S): S95–S120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Compton, Mallory, and Meier, Kenneth J.. 2016. “The Specter of Social Capital: Bringing New Evidence to the Debate about Equity.” Presented at the 2016 MPSA Annual Conference, Chicago, April.Google Scholar
Epp, Charles R., Maynard-Moody, Steven, and Haider-Markel, Donald. 2014. Pulled Over: How Police Stops Define Race and Citizenship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fossett, Mark, and Jill Kiecolt, K.. 1989. “The Relative Size of Minority Populations and White Racial Attitudes.” Social Science Quarterly 70 (4): 820–35..Google Scholar
Giles, Michael W., and Buckner, Melanie A.. 1993. “Beyond Racial Threat: Failure of an Old Hypothesis in the New South.” Journal of Politics 58 (4): 1171–80..Google Scholar
Glaeser, Edward L. 1994. “The Formation of Social Capital.” Working Paper. https://search.oecd.org/edu/innovation-education/1824983.pdfGoogle Scholar
Grootaert, Christiaan. 1998. “Social Capital: The Missing Link?” Social Capital Initiative. Working Paper No. 3. The World Bank, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Hagan, John. 1994. Crime and Disrepute. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.Google Scholar
Harris-Perry, Melissa. 2004. Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawes, Daniel P., and Rocha, Rene R.. 2011. “Social Capital, Racial Diversity, and Equity: Evaluating the Determinants of Equity in the United States.” Political Research Quarterly 64:924–37.Google Scholar
Hawes, Daniel P., Rocha, Rene R., and Meier, Kenneth J.. 2013. “Social Capital in the 50 States: Measuring State-Level Social Capital, 1986–2004.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 13:121–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hero, Rodney E. 1998. Faces of Inequality: Social Diversity in American Politics. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hero, Rodney E. 2003. “Multiple Theoretical Traditions in American Politics and Racial Policy Inequality.” Political Research Quarterly 56:401–408.Google Scholar
Hero, Rodney E. 2007. Racial Diversity and Social Capital. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hero, Rodney E., and Tolbert, Caroline J.. 1996. “A Racial/Ethnic Diversity Interpretation of Politics and Policy in the States of the U.S.” American Journal of Political Science 40:851–71.Google Scholar
Hirschi, Travis. 1969. Causes of Delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Janowitz, Morris. 1976. Social Control of the Welfare State. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Kawachi, Ichiro, Kennedy, Bruce P., and Wilkinson, Richard G.. 1999. “Crime: Social Disorganization and Relative Deprivation.” Social Science & Medicine 48:719–31.Google ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, Bruce P., Kawachi, Ichiro, Prothrow-Stith, Deborah, Lochne, Kimberly, and Gupta, Vanita. 1998. “Social Capital, Income Inequality, and Firearm Violent Crime.” Social Science & Medicine 1:7–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Land, Kenneth C., McCall, Patricia L., and Cohen, Lawrence E.. 1990. “Structural Covariates of Homicides Rates: Are There Any Invariances across Time and Social Space?” American Journal of Sociology 95:922–63.Google Scholar
Merton, Robert K. 1938. “Social Structure and Anomie.” American Sociological Review 3:672–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merton, Robert K. 1968. Social Theory and Social Structure. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Nguyen, Minh, and Nguyen, Hoa. 2010. “Stata Module: Estimates of System of Regression Equations with Unbalanced Panel Data and Random Effects.” Working Paper. http://fmwww.bc.edu/RePEc/bocode/x/xtsur.htmlGoogle Scholar
Oliver, J. Eric, and Wong, Janelle. 2003. “Intergroup Prejudice in Multiethnic Settings.” American Journal of Political Science 47 (4): 567–82..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pattillo, Mary, Weiman, David, and Western, Bruce. 2004. Imprisoning America: The Social Effects of Mass Incarceration. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Portes, Alejandro. 1998. “Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology.” Annual Review of Sociology 24:1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnam, Robert D. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert D. 2007. “E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-First Century.” Scandinavian Political Studies 30:137–74.Google Scholar
Rocha, Rene R., and Espino, Rodolfo. 2009. “Racial Threat, Residential Segregation, and the Policy Attitudes of Anglos.” Political Research Quarterly 62:415–26.Google Scholar
Rose, Dina R., and Clear, Todd R.. 1998. “Incarceration, Social Capital, and Crime: Implications for Disorganization Theory.” Criminology 36 (3): 441–80..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenfeld, Richard, Messner, Steven F., and Baumer, Eric P.. 2001. “Social Capital and Homicide.” Social Forces 80 (1): 283–310..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sampson, Robert J., and Byron Groves, W.. 1989. “Community Structure and Crime: Testing Social Disorganization Theory.” American Journal of Sociology 94:774–802.Google Scholar
Sampson, Robert J., and Wilson, William Julius. 1995. “Toward a Theory of Race, Crime, and Urban Inequality.” Pp. 37–54. In Crime and Inequality, eds. Hagan, John and Peterson, Ruth D.. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Scheve, Kenneth, and Stasavage, David. 2006. “Religion and Preferences for Social Insurance.” Quarterly Journal of Political Science 1:255–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaw, Clifford R., and McKay, Henry D.. 1942. Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Kevin B. 2004. “The Politics of Punishment: Evaluating Political Explanations of Incarceration Rates.” Journal of Politics 66 (3): 925–38..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sorens, Jason, Muedini, Fait, and Ruger, William. 2008. “State and Local Public Politices in 2006: A New Database.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 8(3): 309–26.Google Scholar
Useem, Bert, and Piehl, Anne Morrison. 2008. Prison State: The Challenges of Mass Incarceration. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Western, Bruce. 2006. Punishment and Inequality in America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Yates, Jeff, and Fording, Richard. 2005. “Politics and State Punitiveness in Black and White.” Journal of Politics 67 (4): 1099–121..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhu, Ling. 2013. “Panel Data Analysis in Public Administration: Substantive and Statistical Considerations.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 23 (2): 395–428..CrossRefGoogle Scholar