Abstract:
Studies using the social disorganisation theory as a framework to explain crime are commonplace globally. There are numerous
inconsistencies however in the operationalisation of the theory with researchers using a plethora of different variables to
represent the central tenets of the theory namely socio-economic deprivation, family disruption, residential mobility and
ethnic heterogeneity. These inconsistencies bring into question the validity and reliability of the results especially when the
selection of variables varies so considerably across local and international contexts. In this study we show how the use of
different variables to operationalise these tenets can produce vastly different results when examining the causes of crime in
the township of Khayelitsha in South Africa. We conclude by arguing for the potential standardisation of variable selection in
spatial crime research using the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) global indicators as a guiding framework.
We believe this is particularly pertinent if researchers are interested in undertaking cross-national comparative studies of
crime.
