The broken window

Have you ever wondered why when we enter a neighborhood inhabited only by the rich, the neighborhood seems to us pure, elegant and flawless, and you feel safe while walking in it and if you park your car, you do not fear for it, while if you pass through a poor, marginalized neighborhood full of filth, you will feel insecure, a thief may come out to rob you, cleanliness is almost non-existent, everything is broken, and you cannot park your car safely , There is this strange and contradictory situation , you may think it is due to the upbringing of both the poor and the rich, but no. In 1969, a famous American psychologist and sociologist from Stanford University named Philip Zimbardo decided to do strange research on which an even stranger theory called the Broken Window Theory was built by sociologists James Wilson and George Keeling in 1982 and later turned into one of the most important studies in criminology and social and psychological sciences in the world . The theory says that regardless of whether this neighborhood is inhabited by rich or poor people. One broken window in this neighborhood will soon lead to the appearance of more broken windows. The theory literally says that one broken window that has not been repaired is a signal that no one cares and therefore breaking more windows will not cost anything, and the disorder leads to increased levels of fear in citizens, which leads them to withdraw from society and reduce participation in informal social control.

Philip brought two cars and put them in two different areas and put one in a poor, marginalized neighborhood and put the second in a rich neighborhood Those cars were similar, he removed their number plates and left the doors open, then he went and started observing people and their behavior with both cars People who lived in the poor neighborhood began to pass in front of the car and whoever could steal something from it stole it. Whoever could steal something from it stole what he could, vandalized it and broke its windows on the first day, after the passage of three days, there was nothing left of the car except a pile of scrap, but in the rich neighborhood, it took a long time to start stealing and destroying the car, and here is his research point that will change the behavior of the people Philip went to interfere in the experiment and broke one of the car windows. Strangely, people in the rich neighborhood began to break more windows and steal the devices and tires, and it did not take much time for the car to happen to the same thing that happened to it in the poor neighborhood and turned into a piece of junk in a few days

In 1982, sociologists James Wilson and George Keeling followed and George Keeling deepened the research and study of what Zimbardo had done and read his notes and decided to conduct experiments very close to the car experiment to confirm the validity of the research, but this time the experiment will not be on a car, but on public and private buildings and properties in different areas. The experiences of the researchers came out exactly the same as the conclusion of the Philip and called the theory "Broken Window Theory" This theory is summarized in several points, first, negligence and indifference to address any issue whatsoever in any environment will directly affect people's mentality, attitudes and decisions, and consequently their behavior. Their attitudes and decisions and thus their behaviors towards that environment in a negative way, which leads to the emergence of more and bigger issues in that environment, and vice versa, if all small issues are treated at the time of their occurrence and not neglected, it will lead to the formation of a healthy environment and the behavior of a healthy society that continues forever. In the first experiment developed by Philip and the studies that followed later, something surprising was found, the people in that rich neighborhood who broke the windows of the car and buildings were never criminals, outlaws, and had no criminal record, they were just normal people, on the contrary, they respected the law, but the transformation that made them bring out the savage living inside them is that one broken window that sent signals to them that no one cares , and therefore vandalizing the car or buildings will not result in any punishment

I will give you another example, imagine if a person has a relatively small garbage bag and passes a street full of garbage, even though the street has a sign that says no throwing garbage, will there be an impact or punishment if that person throws that garbage in that place? The answer is no, the presence of that garbage there basically indicates indifference from the environment and the local community and evidence of the lack of punishment, and therefore the garbage continues to exist and continues to stay, so he will never think and will throw. If you find a broken plate in the kitchen, will you feel guilt or fear of punishment if you break it, and if it falls on the floor more, will you feel any anxiety or fear, certainly not, because you will say in your mind why did I care and it is basically broken and so on until this idea turns into a way of life, so the idea of the theory that ignoring small issues today will lead to much bigger issues in the future The question is how many broken windows you have in your life? . and the truth is that if you look at the reality, you will find that many of the social, environmental and economic issues that we live with on a daily basis, why do they continue to persist in our society because they were not solved from the first time

This makes me wonder how many times you walked down the street and threw garbage just because you saw others doing it and did not receive any punishment or even a reprimand at the time, while when you travel to one of the developed countries you never dare to do it , Why because those countries and those peoples have fixed the broken window from the beginning, fixed the broken window from the first time , how many times you were driving crazy in your country and when you traveled to a developed country, you became afraid to drive fast or crazy and look at you with a look of contempt,you became driving as a respectful and decent person and when you return to your country, your accent returns Why because the windows in your country are broken and none care.