Durkheims Theory On Crime Flashcards
What does Durkheim argue?
Due to industrialisation has led to urbanisation and secularisation its become more prone to what Durkheim calls anomie which is the disappearance of norms and values
What does Durkheim identify?
He identified that crime in inevitable as people are now socialised differently and that it helps perform important social functions
What are Durkheim’s positive functions of crime?
- boundary maintenance
- adaption and change
- Warning device
- safety valve
What is boundary maintenance? AO2
Crime produces a reaction from society in which unifies society in punishing the wrongdoer
Which allows to reinforce/reaffirm shared Norms + values
A02: 2011 riots
2024 riots
What is adaption and change? A02
Durkheim argued that without crime we would be stuck with no change, suggesting that crime helps facilitates social change
In the sense that if people never deviated from society’s norms or values then society never changes
A02: - suffragettes - used violence to campaign
- Nelson mandala - got arrested as a terrorist, then became the president of South Africa
What is warning device?
When crime occurs it sends a message to us that society’s social order is breaking down
What is a safety valve?
Deviance acts as a ‘safety valve’ releasing stress in society
Strengths for durkheims view?
His claim that both crime and punishment can be functional is plausible
Weaknesses to Durkheim’s theory?
PM: argue that Durkheim assumes we live in a value consensus and that we do not so boundary maintenance wouldn’t work
Some would say that Durkheim justifies crime, by making out it to be a positive thing
