C+D - Functionalism Flashcards
Functionalist view of crime
It is inevitable and positive
What can too much crime cause
Anomie - social breakdown
Why is crime inevitable for society (2)
- not everyone has been socialised into the same norms and values
- some groups have different subcultures which can be seen as deviant to mainstream culture
Durkheim’s functions of crime (2)
- boundary maintenance
- adaptation and change
Cohen’s function of crime
To show that an institution isn’t functioning correctly. For example if truancy is higher then it might mean the education system isn’t meeting the needs of pupils
Boundary maintenance
To bring social solidarity
Adaptation and change
To challenge the existing norms and values, for example the black power movement
Criticisms to the functions (3)
- they don’t explain why crime exists in the first place
- ignore how crime impacts the individual
- crime doesn’t always bring social solidarity, eg if there’s a rapist then women will stay inside out of fear
What is strain theory
when people commit crime as they can’t achieve goals through legitimate means
- he combines structural factors and cultural factors to explain it
What is the American dream
A goal that can be achieved through hard work and self discipline. Is based off of meritocracy and equal opportunity
What is the reality of the American dream
Many groups cannot achieve this due to inequality of opportunity. This can cause frustration so they use illegitimate means to achieve it
who talks about strain theory and the American dream
Merton
Merton - Adaptations to strain (5)
- conformity - accepting the goals and achieving them legitimately
- innovation - accepting the goals but using illegitimate means to achieve them
- ritualism - giving up on goals but following the rules
- retreatism - giving up on goals and legitimate means. Become dropouts, eg drug addicts and dropouts
- rebellion - rejecting the goals but aiming to replace them and bring revolutionary change
Strengths of Merton (4)
- shows how different behaviours can arise from the same goal
- both conformists and innovators want money just in different means
- explains how most crime is utilitarian due to the value of material wealth
- explains that lower class crimes are higher due to having the least opportunity
Criticisms of Merton (5)
- sees crime as mainly a wc phenomenon
- too deterministic as not all wc deviate even when they face the most strain
- Marxists say it ignores how the ruling class makes laws to criminalise the wc
- assumes there’s a value consensus that everyone wants money
- only accounts for utilitarian crime
What is a subcultural strain theory
Sees deviance as the result of being under a delinquent subculture
Who talks about status frustration
Cohen
How does cohen criticise mertons strain theory (2)
- ignores crime committed by groups
- he is too focused on utilitarian crime
What is status frustration and how does it cause crime
The feeling that you have failed in life, causes crime as they want to gain status through a different set of values
Who commits the most crime due to status frustration according to cohen and why
Working class boys from a deprived area in lower streams, as they have less chance of a job so suffer from cultural deprivation so cannot achieve. This puts them at the bottom of the status hierarchy
What do cloward and ohlin say about illegitimate opportunity subcultures
Deviance comes from how they respond to this
According to cloward and ohlin what are the 3 different types of deviant subculture
- criminal subculture - committing utilitarian crime and getting an ‘apprenticeship’ in crime
- conflict subculture - using violence to release frustration over instability. In unorganised gangs
- retreatist subculture - criminals who don’t really benefit from committing crime
Criticism on cloward and ohlin - MILLER
- they assume everybody has the same goals - MILLER says the wc have their own subcultures with its own goals
- crime is an extension of the wc values and has 6 focal concerns of wc males
What are the six focal concerns
The guidelines of wc makes:
- trouble - life involves violence
- toughness - manliness
- smartness - look good and act sharp
- excitement - make it fun
- fate - life can’t be changed so make it fun
- autonomy - don’t let them push you around
South and the drug trade
They say cloward and ohlin draw the boundaries to sharply. For example to drug trade is a mixture of disorganised crime AND professional crime
Matza and the concept of drift
- for a period of time youths might feel they have no control over their lives due to being in ‘no man’s land’
- this is called drift, and during this our bonds to society are loosened so means youths are more likely to engage in delinquent behaviour to take back control
- once a decent opportunity presents itself we will drift out of crime
Mesner and Rosenfeld - Institutional anomie theory
- uses American dream
- the ‘winner takes it all’ mentality pushes people into crime
- US - economic goals above all else
- encourages an ‘anomic cultural environment’
- higher crime rate in countries which are in like this. Countries that have adequate welfare have less crime (eg Iceland)
