1. Functionalist, strain and subcultural theories Flashcards
Durkheim: the inevitability of crime
- too much crime destabilises society but crime is inevitable
- Durkheim says crime is a normal, integral part of all healthy societies
- crime and deviance is found in all societies because:
1. not everyone is socialised into the same norms and values
2. diversity means some subcultures have different norms and values - modern society tend towards anomie (normlessness) because the rules governing society weaken
- this is because the complex DOL increases individual differences and weakens the shared culture
Positive functions of crime: boundary maintenance
- crime produces a reaction from society which unites its members in condemnation of the criminal. This reinforces shared rules and social solidarity
- Cohen examined the role of the media in the ‘dramatisation of evil’ and found that media coverage of crime and deviance creates folk devils
Positive functions of crime: adaptation and change
- people with new ideas challenge existing norms and values which appears as deviance
- neither a very high nor a very low level of crime is desirable:
1. too much crime breaks the bonds of society
2. too little crime means society is controlling its members too much
evaluate Durkheim’s functionalist theory
- functionalists explain the existence of crime in terms of its function aka strengthening solidarity, however just because it does this doesn’t mean it is why it exists
- functionalism looks at the functions crime serves for society as a whole but ignores how it may affect different groups in society
- crime doesn’t always promote solidarity and may lead to isolation of individuals instead
what does merton say deviance is caused by
the result of a strain between the goals that a culture encourages people to achieve and what the institutional structure allows them to actually achieve legitimately.
what is the american dream
- it tells americans that society is meritocratic even though disadvantaged groups don’t have the opportunity to achieve legitimately
- the strain between money success and lack of opportunities creates frustration which leads to crime and deviance
- the pressure to deviate is increased by the american culture emphasising success at any price rather than through legitimate means
what are the deviant adaptations to strain
goals means
conformity ✅ ✅
innovation ✅ ❌
ritualism ❌ ✅
retreatism ❌ ❌ (dropouts)
rebellion ❌ ❌ (cause change)
evaluate merton’s strain theory
- Marxists say that merton ignores the power of the ruling class to make and enforce laws in ways which criminalise the poor but not the rich
- assumes there is value consensus and ignores the possibility that not everyone shares the same goal
- ignores the role of group deviance eg delinquent subcultures
Subcultural strain theorist Cohen’s critiques of Merton
- Merton sees deviance as an individual response to strain which ignores the fact that deviance is usually committed in/by groups
- Merton focuses on utilitarian crime but ignores crimes with no economic motive
Cohen: status frustration
w/c boys face anomie in the m/c dominated school system. They can’t achieve status legitimately so they face status frustration which they solve by rejecting m/c values and forming a delinquent subculture.
alternative status hierarchy
Cohen: The boys failed in the legitimate opportunity structure so they create an illegitimate opportunity structure where they invert the values of mainstream society and win status from their peers. The subculture offers the boys an alternative status hierarchy where they can achieve.
evaluate Cohen’s theory
Cohen assumes the w/c boys started off sharing the m/c goals but rejected them when they fail, which ignores the possibility that they never shared the goals in the first place and so didn’t see themselves as failures.
Cloward and Ohlin: three subcultures
- criminal subcultures
give youths an apprenticeship for a career in utilitarian crime. Arise in neighbourhoods with an established hierarchy of professional adult crime - conflict subcultures
arise in areas of high turnover which causes high social disorganisation and prevents a stable professional criminal network from developing - retreatist subcultures
not everyone who wants to be a pro criminal succeeds which makes them double failures. They turn to these subcultures based on illegal drug use.
evaluate cloward and ohlin’s ideas
- Matza says most delinquents aren’t committed to their subculture but just drift in and out of delinquency
- Miller says that the lower class has a subculture separate from mainstream culture which doesn’t value success so isn’t frustrated by failure
