EXPLANATIONS OF CRIME-Functionalist Flashcards
What do functionalists believe about society?
Functionalists see society as based on a value consensus, sharing a common culture that produces social solidarity.
What mechanisms do functionalists believe are necessary for achieving social solidarity?
Functionalists believe that socialisation and social control mechanisms are necessary for achieving social solidarity.
What is Durkheim’s view on crime?
Durkheim sees crime as a normal, integral part of all healthy societies, arguing that too much crime is destabilising but that crime is also inevitable and universal.
What is anomie according to Durkheim?
Anomie is a state of normlessness and lack of collective conscience that occurs in modern societies due to a complex, specialised division of labour.
What are the four positive functions of crime according to Durkheim?
- Boundary maintenance 2. Adaptation and change 3. Social cohesion 4. Safety valve
What is boundary maintenance in Durkheim’s theory?
Boundary maintenance refers to crime producing a reaction from society that unites its members in condemnation of the wrongdoer, reinforcing shared norms and values.
How does Durkheim view adaptation and change in relation to crime?
Durkheim argues that all change starts with an act of deviance, which can lead to a change in law to reflect changing values.
What does Durkheim mean by social cohesion?
Social cohesion is strengthened when communities unite in shared outrage over particularly horrific crimes.
What is the safety valve function of deviant acts?
Deviant acts may serve as a pressure release, allowing individuals to express frustrations without threatening societal norms.
What are some criticisms of Durkheim’s theory?
Criticisms include ignoring the effects of crime on different groups, the potential for crime to isolate individuals, and the lack of clarity on how much deviance is necessary.
What is Merton’s Strain Theory?
Merton’s Strain Theory argues that deviance occurs when individuals cannot achieve socially approved goals through legitimate means.
What does Merton mean by the strain to anomie?
The strain to anomie refers to the pressure to deviate that arises from the gap between cultural goals and the lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve them.
What are the five types of adaptation in Merton’s Strain Theory?
- Conformity 2. Innovation 3. Ritualism 4. Retreatism 5. Rebellion
What is the evaluation of Merton’s theory?
Merton shows how normal and deviant behavior can arise from the same goals, but his theory is criticized for being deterministic and ignoring non-utilitarian crimes.
What do subcultural strain theories focus on?
Subcultural strain theories focus on deviance as a product of delinquent subcultures that provide alternative opportunity structures for those denied legitimate means.
What is Cohen’s view on working-class boys and deviance?
Cohen argues that working-class boys face anomie in middle-class dominated schools, leading to status frustration and the formation of delinquent subcultures.
What is the function of the delinquent subculture according to Cohen?
The delinquent subculture offers an alternative status hierarchy where boys can achieve success through norms and values different from mainstream society.
What are Cloward and Ohlin’s three types of deviant subcultures?
- Criminal subcultures 2. Conflict subcultures 3. Retreatist subcultures
What is the criticism of Cloward and Ohlin’s theory?
Cloward and Ohlin’s theory has been criticized for assuming everyone shares mainstream success goals and for not accounting for independent lower-class values.
What does Matza’s theory of delinquency drift suggest?
Matza suggests that most delinquents are not strongly committed to their subculture and drift in and out of delinquency, influenced by mainstream societal values.
What are ‘subterranean values’ according to Matza?
Subterranean values are those within mainstream societies that promote acting on the spur of the moment for excitement and thrills.
These values can encourage behavior that breaks the law, seen as criminal or deviant by mainstream society.
What is the theory of delinquency drift?
Matza’s theory of delinquency drift explains how young people in a subculture can break societal values without recognizing it and later drift back into mainstream society as these values become less important.
What does institutional anomie theory focus on?
Institutional anomie theory, proposed by Messner and Rosenfeld, focuses on the American dream and its obsession with money success and a ‘winner-takes-all’ mentality.
How does the American dream contribute to crime according to Messner and Rosenfeld?
The American dream creates an anomic cultural environment that encourages an ‘anything goes’ mentality in pursuit of wealth, leading to pressures towards crime.
What do Messner and Rosenfeld conclude about high crime rates?
They conclude that in societies based on free-market capitalism and lacking adequate welfare provision, such as the USA, high crime rates are inevitable.
What evidence do Downes and Hansen provide for institutional anomie theory?
Downes and Hansen found that societies spending more on welfare had lower rates of imprisonment, supporting the claim that protecting the poor leads to less crime.
What does Savelsberg’s application of strain theory to post-communist societies suggest?
Savelsberg attributes the rise in crime in post-communist Eastern Europe to the replacement of communism’s collective values with new western capitalist goals of individual ‘money success’.
