ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that intellectual ideas and their creators are instead embedded in complex historical and social contexts. It concerns the systematic social observation of public spaces and in particular the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) related studies of broken windows and crime. The chapter describes three sets of contributions that are firmly rooted in the communities and crime tradition and that continued the intellectual path. It also argues that these patterns were a substantial confirmation of key aspects of social disorganization theory. In short, collective efficacy elevates an actively generated view of social life over a perspective centered mainly on the accumulation of stocks of personal resources, such as found in local ties or some conceptions of social capital. The Chicago School sociologists asserted an important hypothesis—neighborhoods possess relatively enduring features that transcend the idiosyncratic characteristics of the ethnic groups that inhabit them. The chapter focuses on the connection between life events and intellectual trajectory.
