Crime And Deviance: Functionalist, Strain And Subcultural Theories

Question 1

Durkheim ‘anomie’

Answer 1

Normlessness / a situation where values are unclear

More common in industrial/modern societies where social norms and values were conflicting and less common -> this makes crime more likely

Question 2

Durkheim: crime is inevitable because…

Answer 2

1. Not every member of society can be equally committed to the collective sentiments of society. People are socialised differently, impossible for all of us to be alike.
2. In complex modern societies, there is a diversity of lifestyle and values. Different groups develop their own subcultures with distinctive norms and values

Question 3

What does Durkheim say about crime?

Answer 3

Crime can be functional, becomes dysfunctional when its rate is too high or low

There needs to be a balance between social solidarity and freedom

Question 4

Durkheim’s 4 positive functions of crime

Answer 4

Boundary maintenance

Adaptation and change

Warning device

Safety valve

Question 5

Boundary maintenance AO1

Answer 5

Crime produces a reaction - it unifies society in condemning the wrongdoer => reinforces shared norms and values

Function of punishment resulting from crime isn’t to punish the wrongdoer, but to reaffirm society’s rules and reinforce social solidarity

Question 6

Boundary maintenance AO2

Answer 6

The courtroom - public shaming and dramatise wrongdoing = formal sanctions

Camera’s in trials - watch from home

2011 riots

Lucy Letby

Question 7

Boundary maintenance AO3

Answer 7

Postmodernist: there is no value consensus to begin with so crime doesn’t reaffirm norms and values

Question 8

Adaptation and change AO1

Answer 8

Without C+D, we’d be stuck with no change of ideas or values

Deviance facilitates social change

Deviance leads to alterations in the law (positive reaction from society towards deviance -> deviant behaviour becomes normal -> laws change)

Question 9

Adaptation and change AO2

Answer 9

Homosexuality in the 20th century

Suffragettes

MLK, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela

Civil rights movement

Question 10

Adaptation and change AO3

Answer 10

Not always true as deviance can be disruptive and doesn’t change anything

EG just stop oil

Question 11

Warning device AO1

Answer 11

Trinard - when C+D occurs it sends a message to us that social order is breaking down -> This prompts governments to do something act the problem

Question 12

Warning device AO2

Answer 12

public sector strikes

Question 13

Safety valve AO1

Answer 13

Deviance can release stresses in society

Question 14

Safety valve AO2

Answer 14

Violent protests can be seen as an outlet for expressions of discontent (BLM)

Cohen: prostitution can refresh a man to go back to his family (kind of like the warm bath theory)

Question 15

What do Durkheim’s 4 positive functions of crime reinforce?

Answer 15

Value consensus

Social solidarity

Social stability

Question 16

Criticisms of Durkheim’s 4 positive functions of crime

Answer 16

He says society requires a certain amount of deviance to function successfully - BUT he doesn’t say how much is needed

Crime is functional for whom? What about the victims?

Interactionists argue that Durkheim’s theory is too deterministic = it underplays people’s agency - their ability to choose to behave in certain ways, including criminal ways

Question 17

Merton’s Strain theory : AO1

Answer 17

Society puts pressure on people to achieve - society presents us CULTURAL GOALS and INSTITUTIONALISED MEANS (socially approved ways) of achieving them

If we are able to use institutionalised means and achieve our cultural goals, we conform to society’s value consensus and get along functionally.

When people cannot access the institutionalised means + cultural goals of society, they experience ANOMIE which leads to STRAIN.

Question 18

Adaptations to Strain: CONFORMIST

Answer 18

Members of society conform both to SUCCESS GOALS and the the INSTITUTIONALISED MEANS of reaching them

Question 19

Adaptations to Strain: INNOVATOR

Answer 19

(More common amongst lower social classes)

Rejecting the INSTITUTIONALISED MEANS of achieving SUCCESS GOALS and turn to C+D

Lower educational qualifications -> less opportunity in their jobs -> less likely to succeed through conventional channels (more pressure to deviate)

Pressure to innovate is forced on lower classes in societies where all people share the same SUCCESS GOALS.

Question 20

Adaptations to Strain: RITUALIST

Answer 20

(Lower middle class)

Largely abandon society’s SUCCESS GOALS but are too strongly socialised to turn to crime

Less opportunity in jobs - w/o opportunity, their only solution is to lower/abandon their SUCCESS GOALS

Question 21

Adaptations to Strain: RETREATIST

Answer 21

(Not class specific)

UNABLE to achieve SUCCESS GOALS AND INSTITUTIONALISED MEANS

‘Drop out’ of society

Question 22

Adaptations to Strain: REBEL

Answer 22

(Rising class)

REJECT both SUCCESS GOALS AND INSTITUTIONAL MEANS of achieving them

Replaces them with different goals and means

Those who adapt to this alternative, wish to create a new society

Question 23

Evidence to support Merton’s theory (AO2)

Answer 23

Hannon and Defronzo:
- study of 406 counties in the USA
- those with higher levels of welfare provision had lower levels of crime
- WELFARE provision REDUCED the level of STRAIN felt to achieve material success through legitimate means
- therefore, reduced anomie and any crime that could result from it

Savelsberg (Post-Communist Poland):
- culture of communist societies emphasised collective responsibility rather than individual financial success
- when communism was replaced by free market capitalism, people’s material expectations were raised
- this resulted in ANOMIE and STRAIN towards criminal innovation

Cost of Living Crisis (contemporary)

Question 24

Strengths of Merton’s Strain Theory (AO3)

Answer 24

Merton recognises that the American Dream is such a central feature of American culture and that class structure militates against equal opportunities to be financially successful

Question 25

Weaknesses of Merton’s Strain Theory (AO3)

Answer 25

• deterministic: W/C people experience most strain yet they don’t all deviate
• Marxists argues it ignores the power of the ruling class to enforce laws that criminalise the poor but not the rich
• PM: it assumes there is a value consensus that everyone strives for ‘money success’
• ignores white-collar crime
• ignores non-utilitarian crime (violence, vandalism etc.)

Question 26

Cohen : Status Frustration + case study

Answer 26

• Cohen suggested that blocked opportunities to succeed led young W/C males to form DELINQUENT SUBCULTURES
• Unable to achieve status in education (due to the M/C habitus) - W/C boys suffer from STATUS FRUSTRATION
• Look to obtain status by forming sub cultural groups and construct an ALTERNATE STATUS HIERARCHY - this involves inventing the N+V of society to give status to deviant activities - NON-UTILITARIAN crime
• Frustration is resolved by rejecting success goals and replacing them with N+V which they can achieve success
• Delinquent subculture represents an inversion of mainstream culture

CASE STUDY : PAUL WILLIS - LEARNING TO LABOUR

Question 27

AO3 of Cohen

Answer 27

Strength:
His theory helps make sense of acts that would otherwise appear senseless - explains how they emerge out of a process that leads to the inversion of mainstream values

Weaknesses:
- PM: do the boys REALLY THINK about their decisions? Lyn and Katz - more likely the individual is influenced by boredom or that they are seeking a “buzz”
- Miller - delinquency is not a product of status frustration, but instead due to the attachment to the 6 FOCAL CONCERNS they’ve been socialised into : trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate and autonomy. They never held mainstream values in the first place
- Matza - those seen as delinquents “drifted” in and out of delinquency without any COMMITMENT to that way of life

Question 28

Cloward and Ohlin: Three subcultures

Answer 28

C+O drew upon Merton’s ideas of strain. Not only were the W/C not able to succeed the legitimate ways, but also the illegitimate ways

Denied status through legitimate means - W/C males would deviate into 1 of 3 forms of subculture

Question 29

What did the deviation into the 3 subcultures depend on?

Answer 29

Locality - the geographical area that young W/C boys found themselves in meant they couldn’t become the type of criminal they wanted to be

Ability - their ability to be a good criminal

Question 30

C+O - Criminal subcultures

Answer 30

• Based in areas where there’s an established criminal network
• boys would be exposed to criminal skills and deviant values = apprenticed into crime as an alternative legitimate career

Question 31

C+O - Conflict subcultures

Answer 31

In the absence of an existing criminal network, frustrations would be channelled into clashes with other groups based upon ‘turf’, or other factors such as ethnicity

Question 32

C+O - Retreatist subcultures

Answer 32

Product of double failure

W/C boys fail to be successful legitimately and illegitimately

Rejected by other subcultures, boys would opt out of society and turn to deviant behaviours such as drugs and petty crime to alleviate frustrations

Question 33

Cloward and Ohlin AO2

Answer 33

Winlow - Industrial Sunderland -> few opportunities to make a living out of crime. Therefore, a CONFLICT subculture developed, characterised by petty crime + violence to gain status

South - CRIMINAL, CONFLICT AND RETREATIST subcultures evident in UK society. Due to drug trades (some trades are disorganised and some professional)

Venkatesh - Chicago CRIMINAL subculture = hierarchical and organised crime

Question 34

Cloward and Ohlin AO3

Answer 34

Strengths:
Their application of strain theory offers a plausible way of understanding how strain can lead to a variety of delinquent responses

Their concept of illegitimate opportunity structures broadens our understanding of the pathways into crime and delinquency

Weaknesses:
They, alongside Merton and Cohen, ignore the wider power structure, including who makes and enforces the law. E.g. Marxists blame capitalism for forcing the W/C to commit crime.

They draw the boundaries too sharply between the subcultures. In their theory, you can’t be a member of more than one

Miller = delinquency not a product of status frustration, but due to an attachment to the 6 focal concerns they’ve been socialised into: trouble, toughness, smartness, excitement, fate and autonomy. They never held mainstream values in the first place.

Matza claims that most delinquents are not strongly committed to their subculture (as strain theories suggest), but merely drift in and out of delinquency