Functionalism

Question 1

Durkheim

Answer 1

Crime occurs when there is anomie- a lack of value consensus

Question 2

Durkheim- Enables social change (2)

Answer 2

Without crime there would be no social change or progress e.g. suffragette crimes led to the vote

Question 3

Durkheim- Boundary maintenance (2)

Answer 3

When crime is punished this reinforces value consensus regarding right and wrong and prevents further crime by deterring criminals e.g. life sentence

Question 4

Durkheim- Social cohesion (2)

Answer 4

Horrific crimes create public outrage and draw a diverse community together e.g. 9/11

Question 5

Durkheim- Early warning device (2)

Answer 5

The presence of crime can act as a warning that social problems are occurring so society can take action e.g. knife crime

Question 6

Davis- Safety valve

Answer 6

Can have positive functions- low level crime helps relieve stress without causing social harm e.g. prostitution allows men to release sexual frustrations

Question 7

Durkheim evaluation (2)

Answer 7

Useful in showing the ways deviance is integral to society :)

Marxists argue that crime is caused by capitalist values of greed and inequality as opposed to weakening consensus of values in society :(

Question 8

Merton- strain theory

Answer 8

Started from the idea that everyone has shared goals in society however not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of achieving them

Question 9

Conformists (2)

Answer 9

People who accept the shared goals of financial success and use the accepted means to achieve them e.g. doctors

Question 10

Innovators (2)

Answer 10

People who accept the shared goals of financial success, but cannot access the legitimate means so turn to illegitimate means instead e.g. drug dealers, those who commit fraud

Question 11

Ritualists (2)

Answer 11

People who do not believe they can achieve the shared goals, but continue to work anyway- just ‘going through the motions’ e.g. in dead-end jobs, lower m/c workers with no opportunities for progression

Question 12

Rebels (2)

Answer 12

People who reject the financial goal of wealth and create new goals instead. They also create new means of achieving them e.g. mini communes, hippies, Amish

Question 13

Retreatists (2)

Answer 13

People who reject the goals and the means of achieving them and completely isolate themselves from mainstream society e.g. drug users, homeless

Question 14

Merton evaluation (2)

Answer 14

Shows the capitalist social structure as the cause of crime as a result of the cultural emphasis on material success :)

Box (Marxist) claims that Merton fails to acknowledge that the powerful benefit from the capitalist system :(