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sociology > 3.1 perspectives on crime and deviance - functionalist > Flashcards

3.1 perspectives on crime and deviance - functionalist Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

What do functionalists argue about crime?

A
  • it is inevitable
  • it is a normal and integral part of healthy societies
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2
Q

What will too much crime do?

A
  • destabilise society
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3
Q

How do functionalists typically explain crime?

A
  • not everyone is effectively socialised into the shared norms and values, so some will deviate
  • different groups develop their own subcultures, what members of a subculture group see as normal, the rest of society may see as different
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4
Q

What is the effect of anomie?

A

weakens the shared culture/collective conscience and results in higher levels of deviance

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5
Q

What are the four purposes of crime?

A
  1. boundary maintenance
  2. adaptation and change
  3. warning device
  4. safety valve
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6
Q

What is meant by boundary maintenance?

A
  • crime produces a reaction from society as they condemn the wrongdoer - this can reinforce their commitment to the shared norms and values
  • the functions of punishment are to reaffirm society’s shared rules and reinforce social solidarity
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7
Q

What is meant by adaptation and change?

A
  • all change starts with deviance (and sometimes laws being broken)
  • slowly over a period of time, new norms and values are established
  • this is necessary so that society and culture doesn’t stagnate
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8
Q

What are some examples of deviance bringing about adaptation and change?

A
  • Suffragette movement
  • Civil Rights Movement
  • Stone Wall Riots
  • Just Stop Oil/Extinction Rebellion
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9
Q

What is meant by warning device?

A
  • crime and deviance is a warning that society isn’t working properly
  • highlights social problems that need solving before serious threats to social order develop
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10
Q

What is meant by safety valve?

A
  • releasing stresses in society
    i.e. prostitution, low level drug taking
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11
Q

How would realists criticise the functionalist argument?

A
  • both left and right realists criticise the idea that crime is both normal and functional
  • crime is a very real problem for victims and for society and that the sociology of crime and deviance should inform policy makers in terms of how to prevent crime
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12
Q

How would marxists criticise the functionalist argument?

A
  • Durkheim fails to consider where the consensus comes from and in whose interests it serves
  • laws are made by the state, usually working in the interests of the ruling class
  • instead of value consensus, there is ideology/hegemony in the interests of capitalism
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13
Q

How would postmodernists criticise the functionalist argument?

A
  • society is now fragmented and diverse, and so there are no shared values and goals
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14
Q

What is Merton’s strain theory?

A
  • developed in the 1940s to explain the rising crime rates experienced in the USA at that time
  • it suggests that social order is based on consensus around social goals and approved means of achieving them
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15
Q

What did Merton argue about the American Dream?

A
  • a set of meritocratic principles which assured the American public that equality of opportunity was available to all, regardless of class, gender and ethnicity
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16
Q

How were people expected to achieve the goal of the American Dream?

A

through legitimate means such as education and work - the dominant cultural message was if you are ambitious, then income and wealth should be your rewards

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17
Q

What are the main arguments of Merton’s strain theory?

A
  • society is unequal and not everyone has the means of achieving these goals legally, in reality there is not equality of opportunity
  • this causes strain and anomie
  • there are different modes of adaptation, people respond in different ways some try to achieve the shared goals through other means, and some reject the goals altogether
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18
Q

What are Merton’s modes of adaptation?

A
  • conformity
  • innovation
  • ritualism
  • retreatism
  • rebellion
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19
Q

What is meant by conformity?

A
  • accepts approved goals + pursues them through approved means
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20
Q

What is meant by innovation?

A
  • accepts approved goals + uses disapproved means
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21
Q

What is meant by ritualism?

A
  • abandon society’s goals + conforms to approved means
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22
Q

What is meant by retreatism?

A
  • abandons approved goals + approved means
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23
Q

What is meant by rebellion?

A
  • challenges approved goals + approved means
24
Q

What are some evaluations of Merton’s theory?

A
  • not everyone in society believes in the shared goals
  • doesn’t look at patterns/social class/ethnic groups/gender
  • doesn’t explain why people who do face strain don’t all turn to crime
  • doesn’t recognise that some who appear to be confirming are innovators i.e. white collar crime
25
Q

What does Travis Hirschi ask?

A
  • why most people DON’T commit crime
26
Q

Why does Hirschi argue that people don’t commit crimes?

A
  • there are social bonds with other people that encourage them to exercise self-control
  • if these social bonds are weakened/broken, their self-control is weakened, and they will turn to crime
27
Q

What are Hirschi’s (1969) four social bonds?

A
  1. Beliefs
  2. Commitment
  3. Involvement
  4. Attachment
28
Q

What is meant by beliefs?

A
  • people share moral beliefs
29
Q

What is meant by commitment?

A
  • committed to conventional activities e.g. jobs, family
30
Q

What is meant by involvement?

A
  • people kept busy, no time/opportunity for crime
31
Q

What is meant by attachment?

A
  • people are attached to those around them and sensitive to and interested in their needs and wishes
32
Q

What is a strength of Hirschi’s control theory?

A
  • it recognises the importance of socialisation and social control in maintaining a cohesive society, and the idea of social integration is well established in functionalist theory
33
Q

What are some weaknesses of Hirschi’s control theory?

A
  • it assumes those who commit crime have broken away from the bonds tying them to mainstream values, yet Merton’s theory suggests that criminals are committed to those values
  • it doesn’t explain why some have weaker bonds than others, and why not everyone with weak bonds turn to crime
  • doesn’t explain the variety in the forms of crime and deviance
  • it doesn’t recognise that it is possible to have tight bonds and still commit crime
34
Q

What do functionalist subcultural theories argue?

A
  • that deviants are socialised into a different set of behavioural norms from non-deviants
35
Q

What is Albert Cohen’s(1955) subcultural theory?

A
  1. accept the success goals of society
  2. experience cultural deprivation
  3. unable to achieve society’s goals
  4. status frustration
  5. reject the success goals of society
  6. formation of a subculture
  • this subculture is based on a reaction to and deliberate reversal of accepted forms of behaviour
36
Q

What are some strengths of Albert Cohen’s subcultural theory?

A
  • provides an explanation for delinquent acts which dont appear to be motivated by monetary reward
  • many would agree with Cohen that the search for status is an important aspect of delinquent behaviour
37
Q

What are some weaknesses of Cohen’s subcultural theory?

A
  • Box = Cohen’s theory is only plausible for a small minority of delinquents
  • Matza = proposes the idea of ‘drift’, most delinquents are strongly opposed to mainstream values and strongly committed to delinquent gangs
38
Q

What is Cloward and Ohlin’s subcultural theory?

A
  • put forward the idea that illegitimate opportunity structures run parallel to legitimate opportunity structures
  • the illegitimate opportunity structure is characterised by retreatist, conflict and criminal subcultures
39
Q

What is a retreatist subculture?

A
  • have failed to succeed in both the legitmate and illegitimate structures e.g. drugs, alcohol abuse
  • they are ‘double failures’
40
Q

What is a conflict subculture?

A
  • high rate of population turnover and a consequent lack of social cohesion
  • emerge in socially disorganised areas
41
Q

What is a criminal subculture?

A
  • develop in more stable WC areas where there is an established pattern of adult crime
  • provides a learning opportunity and career structure for aspiring young criminals
42
Q

Evaluation of Cloward and Ohlin:

A
  • recognises different types of youth subcultures
  • shows the importance of illegitimate opportunity structure
  • accused of exaggerating the differencces between the three types of subculture
43
Q

What did Taylor et al argue?

A
  • failed to account for all types of deviant subculture
44
Q

What are Hopkins Burke’s ideas about Cloward and Ohlin?

A
  • the idea of the criminal subculture in gangs in Chicago in the 1920s and 30s, debatable how far the analysis would be applicable today
  • based upon a false assumption that the WC is a homogenous group
  • offer a ‘grossly simplistic explanation of drug misuse’
45
Q

What is Matza’s theory of drift?

A
  • young people within a subculture can break the values of society without really recognising that they are doing so, and then later in life drift back into mainstream society as these subterranean values become less important to the individual
  • they aren’t committed to delinquency
46
Q

What is Miller’s theory on lower class delinquency?

A
  • the WC have a distinctive culture with norms and values that differ from those of the MC
  • this culture has been passed on from one generation to the another
  • he identified 6 focal concerns of WC culture
47
Q

What are the 6 focal concerns of WC culture according to Miller?

A
  1. trouble
  2. toughness
  3. smartness
  4. excitement
  5. fate
  6. autonomy
48
Q

How do the focal concerns lead to violence and crime?

A
  • these values become exaggerated in the lives of young people as the search for peer groups status e.g. being the toughest
49
Q

What are some positive aspects of Miller’s theory?

A
  • describes a truly independent subculture
  • shows the importance of socialisation of family and peers
50
Q

What are some negative aspects of Miller’s theory?

A
  • Box = argues that Miller’s observations could apply to all males, right across the class structure
  • it has been suggested that Miller generalises WC youth
51
Q

What are Matza”s techniques of neutralisation?

A
  • denial of responsibility
  • denial of injury
  • blaming the victim
  • condemn the condemners
  • appealing to a higher loyalty
52
Q

What is meant by denial of responsibility?

A
  • we acknowledge doing the behaviour is considered wrong, but we claim that we have no choice
53
Q

What is meant by denial of injury?

A
  • we acknowledge doing the wrong action, but we claim that no one was harmed by what we did
54
Q

What is meant by blaming the victim?

A
  • we acknowledge that people were hurt by our actions, but we claim that though we did the action, it was really the victims fault
55
Q

What is meant by condemn the condemners?

A
  • we abdicate all responsibility for our behaviour, instead we point to the people condemning us
56
Q

What is meant by appealing to a higher authority?

A
  • we claim that while we violated some social norms, we’re actually adhering to other norms and loyalties, and these higher principles justify our behaviour

sociology (36 decks)

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