Functionalism Flashcards
Why is crime good for society according to Functionalists
Boundary maintenance
Adaptation and change
Safety valve
Warning light
Boundary maintenance
Crime produces a reaction from society
Uniting members in condemnation of wrongdoer
Reinforcing commitment to shared norms and values
Reaffirms societys shared rules
Reinforces social solidarity
Rituals of courtroom dramatise wrongdoing and publicly shame offender
Discourages others from rule breaking
Boundary maintenance AO2
2011 UK riots
Boundary maintenance AO3
Ignores how it may affect the individual
Isn’t functional for the victim
Adaptation and change
Durkheim - all change starts with an act of deviance
Individuals with new ideas, values and ways of living must both be completely stifled
Should be scope for them to challenge existing norms and values to bring about change
Society needs to adapt with new ideas and change
Adaptation and change AO2
Natashas Law
Clares Law
Suffragettes
Adaptation and change AO3
Durkheim offers no way of knowing how much is the right amount of deviance for society to function
Safety valve
Davis- crime can release mens sexual frustrations without threatening the monogamous nuclear family
Can be positive and prevent more serious disruptions
Polsky- pornography safely channels sexual desires away from adultery
AO2 safety valve
Prostitution
Safety valve AO3
Radical feminism
Women dont get safety valve
Keeps women below men
Warning light
Cohen- deviance indicates when an institution is malfunctioning
Informs society that a change needs to be made
Warning light AO2
Truancy
Warning light AO3
Marxism
Assumes norms and laws reflect wishes of population
Does not consider possibility that a powerful group is imposing its values on the rest of society
Strain theory
People engage in deviant behaviour when they are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means
Crime is result of strain between cultural goals and structural factors
Structural factors
Societys unequal opportunity structure
Cultural factors
Strong emphasis on success and weaker emphasis on achieving these through legitimate means
AO3 strain theory
Ignores crimes of the suites
Focuses on utilitarian crine
Doesnt take into account state crimes
American dream
American society is meritocratic and anyone who makes the effort can get ahead
Expected to achieve through legitimate means - a good job, qualifications etc
Disadvantaged may not achieve this legitimately
Strain to anomie
American dream AO3
Ignores collective deviance
Explains why WC crime rates are higher
Merton- 5 adaptations to strain
•Conformity
•Innovation
•Ritualism
•Retreatism
•Rebellion
Conformity
Accepting the goal and striving to achieve it by legitimate means
Innovation
Accepting the goal but using illegitimate means to achieve it
Ritualism
Giving up on the goal but internalised the legitimate means
Retreatism
Rejecting both the goals and the means become dropouts
Rebellion
Individuals reject the existing society’s goals and means but they replace them with new ones and desire to create a new kind of society
Subcultural theories
Deviance is the product of delinquent subcultures
Cohen
WC boys face anomie in the MC education system
They are culturally deprived and lack the skills to achieve
Leaves them at the bottom of the official status hierarchy
As a result suffer status frustration
Resolve it by rejecting MC values and turn to others in the same situation to form a subculture
Offers an illegitimate opportunity structure
Provides and alternative status hierarchy
Cohen AO3
Cohen offers an explanation for non utilitarian deviance
Assumes WC boys start off sharing MC goals only to reject them when they fail
Ignoring the possibility that they never shared them in the first place so weren’t reacting to failure
Cloward and Ohlin
Agree with merton that WC youths are denied legitimate opportunities and that their deviance stems from their response to this
not everyone adapts to a lack of legitimate opportunities by turning to ‘innovation’ Some resort to violence, others to drug use.
· The key reason for these differences is access to legitimate opportunities and access to illegitimate opportunity structures. They identify three different subcultures:: 1. Professional Criminal Subcultures
2. Conflict Subcultures consisting of Gangs
3. Retreatist Subcultures consisting of dropouts
Criminal subcultures
Offer an apprenticeship in utilitarian crime
· Longstanding, stable criminal culture
· Hierarchy of professional adult crime
· Provides opportunities on the criminal career ladder
Conflict subcultures
· Arise in areas of high population turnover
· No stable criminal network
· Offer few illegitimate opportunities in loosely organised gangs
· Violence provides a release for blocked opportunities
· Alternative status is earned through winning ‘turf’
Retreatist subcultures
· In any neighbourhood, not everyone who aspires to be a professional criminal or gang leader actually succeeds
· Double failures - fail in both legitimate and illegitimate opportunity structures
· Turn into a retreatist subculture based on illegal drug use
