Crime - Y13 - Durkheim functionalist Flashcards
what is social control?
mechanisms include rewards or positive sanctions for conformity, and punishments for deviance. these help to ensure that individuals behave in the way that society expects.
what is socialisation?
intis the shared culture into its members. this helps to ensure that individuals internalise the same norms and values, and that they feel that its right to act in the same ways that society requires.
what are societies two key mechanisms?
social control and socialisation.
what does durkheim suggest about crime being inevitable and universal?
“crime is normal… an integral part of all healthy societies”
what are the two reasons that crime and deviance is not found in all societies?
not everyone is equally socialised into the shared norms and values so some individuals will be prone to deviate and that there is a diversity between lifestyles and values.
why does durkheim see modern society heading towards anomie or normlessness?
the rules governing behaviour are becoming weaker and less clear-cut. this is because modern societies have a complex, specialised division of labour, which leads to individuals becoming increasingly different from one another. therefore weakening the collective conscience and results in higher levels of deviance.
what are the two positive functions of crime according to durkheim?
boundary maintenance, adaption and change.
what is boundary maintainence?
in durkheims view, the purpose of punishment is to reaffirm society’s shared values, and reinforce social solidarity which is done by dramatising wrongdoing and publicly shame and stigmatise the offender, discouraging others from rule-breaking.
stanley cohen (1972)
examined the important role played by the media in this ‘dramatisation of evil.’ In his view, media coverage of crime and deviance often creates ‘folk devils’
what is adaption and change?
for durkheim, all change starts with an act of deviance. individuals with new ways of living must not be completely stifled by the weight of social control. there must be some scope for them to challenge and change existing norms and values.
what does durkheim suggest if there is too much crime?
neither high or low crime is desirable. too much crime threatens to tear the bonds of society apart, whereas too little means that society repressing and controlling its members too much, stifling individual freedom and preventing change.
Kingsley davis (1937:61) - other functions of crime
argues that prostitution acts as safety valve for the release of mens sexual frustrations without threatening the monogamous nuclear family.
Ned Polsky (1967) - other functions of crime
argues that pornography safely ‘channels’ a variety of sexual desires away from alternatives such as adultery, which would pose a more greater threat to the family.
Albert Cohens identification of another function of deviance?
a warning that an institution is not functioning properly.
Erikson (1966)
argues that if deviance performs positive social functions, then perhaps it means society is actually organised so as to promote deviance. he suggest that the true function of agencies of social control such as the police may actually be to sustain a certain level of crime than to rid society of it.
