The theory of broken window!
imagine an empty building on a very crowded street which has a broken window, researchers observations have shown that if the window does not get fixed in a short time, it would imply that nobody is concerned about the building or is using it.
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so people will start to make the best out of it and break other windows as well, gradually the building will change and represent another type of building that even can attract unwanted guests to the vacant building. later on all these changes will affect the building in its core and will get deep in its walls. something that we all have seen a lot.
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what you read is summary of a criminological theory called broken window. this theory helped New York's mayor in 1980s and 1990s to fix the most dangerous subway in NYC which was the playground of criminals and murderers.
in his first try he decided to repair and recolor subway's wagons that are broken, drew on , etc... at nights, in a way that the next day they were all cleaned up and ready to be used.
all of these had one simple message: 'We are watching and have zero tolerance about any kind of crimes!'. this was how the dangerous subway turned to one of the safest subways in the world.
Logic behind the theory
the main idea behind the theory of window is that small crimes can lead to big ones, if you give space and permission to petty criminals to do what they want, situation will easily get escalated to more and more serious crimes, the goal is to attack them before they even think about bigger offenses.
use of the theory
Now days the theory of broken window other is widely used in personal life, children education and different businesses, etc...
Real estate
by considering thre fact that bulidings with broken windows and an uncleaned form will change people's prespective towards that neibourhood and finally will deter the investors, by reducing the amount of broken windows in the city , it would be more attractive to investors and they will start doing bussineses and start investing on the city, and it will change the face of city's economic status to a higher rate whic will provide a better situation for current citizens and future inhabitants.
education
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the broken windows theory is used to promote order in schools and classrooms, there is a belief that some students tend to break the rules and this behavior will encourage others to do the same as well, and the solution is strict paternalism, it means you provide what they need but do not allow them to have freedom, in other word they will monitor students behavior and give them practices to enforce their discipline and prevent any harmful behavior from getting escalated and becoming a common thing among student. practices given to students included language codes(curse words, speaking out of term, slang), classroom etiquette , personal dress and behavioral codes such walking in the line. several schools have made significant progress by putting it in action.
Part of the original article
James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling first introduced the broken windows theory in an article titled Broken Windows, in the March 1982 The Atlantic Monthly.[1] The title comes from the following example:
Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it's unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside.
Or consider a pavement. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of refuse from take-out restaurants there or even break into cars.
although the theory has faced some criticism but it is one of the theories that becomes handy time to time in our civilized societies.
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this post is an introduction to the broken window theory, you can find more about the theory in great details on wikipedia
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