1.1 FUNCTIONALIST, STRAIN AND SUBCULTURAL THEORIES

Question 1

What is deviance?

Answer 1

When people fail to abide by social norms or informal rules about how they should behave in particular situations

Question 2

What is crime?

Answer 2

Crime breaks laws that reflect these social norms.

Question 3

What does Durkheim suggest that every society shares?

Answer 3

A set of core values, which he called the collective conscience

Question 4

According to Durkheim, how is the basis for social order formed?

Answer 4

According to Durkheim, a strong collective conscience, backed by a fair legal system that compensated those harmed by deviant behaviour and punished offenders, formed the basis for social order.

Question 5

What were the two different sides of crime and deviance influencing the functioning of society that Durkheim identified?

Answer 5

• A positive side, which helped society change and remains dynamic; and
• a negative side, which saw too much crime leading to social disruption.

Question 6

What are crime and deviance a result of?

Answer 6

Inadequate socialisation

Question 7

According to Durkheim (1895), what does the collective conscience provide a framework for?

Answer 7

Boundaries, which distinguishes between actions that are acceptable and those that are not

Question 8

According to Durkheim (1895), what does the collective conscience provide a framework for?

Answer 8

The collective conscience provides a framework, with boundaries, which distinguishes between actions that are acceptable and those that are not. The problem for any society is that these boundaries are unclear, and also that they change over time. Crime can play a role in clarifying boundaries between what is seen as acceptable and unacceptable and, where necessary, can initiate change.

Question 9

According to Durkheim (1895), how can crime initiate change?

Answer 9

1 Reaffirming the boundaries
2 Changing values
3 Social cohesion

Question 10

According to Durkheim (1895), how can crime initiate change?

Answer 10

1 Reaffirming the boundaries

2 Changing values

3 Social cohesion

Question 11

What is meant by a ‘functional rebel’?

Answer 11

Individuals/groups defy laws that they believe are wrong. This helps change the collective conscience and laws based on it, for the better, helping to produce changes that will help society to function more effectively and fairly.

Question 12

What does the functionalist Kingsley Davis (1937) suggest about crime?

Answer 12

The functionalist Kingsley Davis (1937) suggested that crime could be useful as a safety valve which allowed minor criminality/deviance to avoid bigger problems.

Question 13

What does Albert Cohen (1993) suggest about crime?

Answer 13

Albert Cohen (1993) suggested that crime could boost employment and the economy by creating jobs for police officers and others who work in criminal justice, not to mention criminologists.

Question 14

What does Albert Cohen (1993) suggest about crime?

Answer 14

Albert Cohen (1993) suggested that crime could boost employment and the economy by creating jobs for police officers and others who work in criminal justice, not to mention criminologists. He also believes that crime can act as a type of early warning mechanism showing that society, or institutions within it are, going wrong.

Question 15

What do left realists such as Lea and Young (1993) suggest about crime?

Answer 15

Crime can cause real problems for victims, especially those who are already disadvantaged.

Question 16

What do right realists such as Wilson and Kelling (1982) suggest about the damage crime can cause?

Answer 16

If left unchecked, crime can lead to the breakdown of law and order, with disastrous consequences for those living in the affected areas.

Question 17

According to Durkheim, what could excessive crime be the result of?

Answer 17

Anomie and egoism

Question 18

When does anomie occur?

Answer 18

When there are periods of great social change or stress, and the collective conscience becomes unclear

Question 19

When is anomie most likely to occur?

Answer 19

During a revolution or rapid economic and social change

Question 20

What does anomie result in there being uncertainty over?

Answer 20

What behaviour should be seen as acceptable

Question 21

What are the consequences of anomie in situations during a revolution or rapid economic and social change?

Answer 21

People may be partially freed from the social control imposed by the collective conscience

Question 22

When is egoism most likely to occur?

Answer 22

When the collective conscience simply becomes too weak to restrain the selfish desires of individuals - industrial societies & if individuals are not successfully socialised to accept collective values

Question 23

According to Durkheim, how can egoism and anomie be countered?

Answer 23

By a strengthening of the collective conscience

Question 24

Explain what Merton (1938) thought of Durkheim’s concept of anomie.

Answer 24

Durkheim’s original idea was too vague

Question 25

Explain why Tim Newburn (2013) argues that Durkheim’s work has been central in the development of sociological thinking on crime.

Answer 25

1 Durkheim was the first to suggest that some level of crime is normal in society.

2 Durkheim had the sociological insight to see that crime was linked to the values of particular societies and these values (and therefore what was seen as crime) could change.

Question 26

What does Newburn think that Durkheim paid too little attention too?

Answer 26

How the powerful could have undue influence on what acts were seen as criminal

Question 27

Outline one criticism of Durkheim’s theory.

Answer 27

Exaggerated the extent to which there was a collective conscience (or value consensus) in society

Question 28

According to Robert Merton (1933), what was crime and deviance evidence of a poor fit (or a strain) between?

Answer 28

The socially accepted goals of society and the socially approved means of obtaining those desired goals

Question 29

Explain the difference between the works of Merton and Cohen.

Answer 29

Merton focused on individual rather than group responses to strain.

Question 30

According to Merton, what does a part of society that is dysfunctional have the potential to do?

Answer 30

Prevent society from running smoothly or making it harder for collective goals to be achieved

Question 31

What was Merton aware of in society?

Answer 31

That not everyone had the same opportunity to achieve goals

Question 32

What were the five different forms of behaviour/adaptions that Merton identified?

Answer 32

1. Conformity
2. Innovation
3. Ritualism
4. Retreatism
5. Rebellion

Question 33

Which form of behaviour/adaption that Merton identified was typical of most people?

Answer 33

Conformity - The individual continues to adhere to both goals and means, despite the limited likelihood of success.

Question 34

Why was innovation a more common form of behaviour in lower social classes?

Answer 34

Because they had less chance of succeeding than higher classes, partly because they did not have the same chances of success in education as middle- and upper-class children

Question 35

To Merton, why were opportunities not genuinely equal?

Answer 35

The better-off had advantages over those on lower incomes

Question 36

What is meant by a person who is a ritualist?

Answer 36

A ritualist is a person who immerses him- or herself in the daily routine and regulations of their job but has lost sight of the goal of material success.

Question 37

When does retreatism occur?

Answer 37

The individual fails to achieve success and rejects both goals and means. The person ‘drops out’ and may become dependent upon drugs or alcohol.

Question 38

Give an example of the type of person who would show rebellion toward both socially sanctioned goals and means.

Answer 38

The political activist or the religious fundamentalist, who has decided society no longer works well and needs to be radically changed

Question 39

Which of Merton’s five adaptions involved ‘dropping out’ of society?

Answer 39

Retreatism

Question 40

What has Merton been criticised by Valier (2001), among others, for?

Answer 40

Merton has been criticised by Valier (2001), among others, for his stress on the existence of common goals in society. Valier argues that there are, in fact, a variety of goals that people strive to attain at any one time.

Question 41

What has Merton been criticised for by the sociologists Taylor, Walton and Young?

Answer 41

Some sociologists, such as Taylor, Walton and Young, think that he underestimates the amount of middle- and upper-class crime while overestimating working-class crime.

Question 42

Outline two criticisms of Merton’s theory of anomie.

Answer 42

Merton has also been criticised for failing to explain crimes that do not produce a material reward, and for ignoring the role of subcultures and illegitimate opportunities in crime and deviance.

Question 43

Analyse two differences between the theories of Merton and of Cloward and Ohlin.

Answer 43

They agreed with Merton that lack of opportunity in the legitimate opportunity structure was a cause of crime. However, they argued that Merton had failed to appreciate that there was a parallel opportunity to the legal one, called the illegitimate opportunity structure.

Question 44

Explain the meaning of ‘illegitimate opportunity structure’.

Answer 44

For some subcultures in society, a regular illegal career was available, with recognised illegal means of obtaining society’s goals

Question 45

According to Cloward and Ohlin, what were the three possible adaptations/subcultures of the illegitimate opportunity structure?

Answer 45

1. Criminal
2. Conflict
3. Retreatist

Question 46

Identify three different types of subculture.

Answer 46

1. Criminal
2. Conflict
3. Retreatist

Question 47

Explain why younger people were often attracted to the criminal career.

Answer 47

They could see examples of people from the same background as them who had become successful career criminals enjoying all the trappings of success

Question 48

Why do gangs often engage in violence against one another?

Answer 48

Because violence is a means of achieving ‘respect’ or status for young people

Question 49

When is the chance of an individual being identified as a retreatist more likely?

Answer 49

This tends to occur where individuals have no opportunity/ability to engage in either of the other two subcultures or to achieve success in legitimate ways.

Question 50

Outline two criticisms of Cloward and Ohlin’s theory.

Answer 50

It is difficult to accept that such a neat distinction into three clear categories occurs in real life. For example, there may be an overlap between criminal subcultures and retreatist subcultures. There is no discussion about female deviancy or of crimes committed by higher social classes.

Question 51

What was Albert Cohen (1955) particularly interested by?

Answer 51

The fact that much offending behaviour was not economically motivated

Question 52

Name the type of crime that is committed without any obvious benefit to the offender.

Answer 52

Non-utilarian crime

Question 53

Name the type of crime that is committed without any obvious benefit to the offender.

Answer 53

Non-utilitarian crime (vandalism and violence that is not linked to theft or robbery)