Functionalism Flashcards
Define the functionalist theory of crime and deviance
Functionalism is a macro, structural (people are forced into crime by society) and consensus (crime and deviance enable agreement in society) theory.
Durkheim - Collective conscience
Durkheim illustrates that society shares a set of core values (collective conscience) that outline what is right and wrong.
Arguing that society has established a strong collective conscience because it is reinforced by a fair legal system that forms the foundations of social order.
Durkheim - Collective conscience (evaluate)
Durkheim’s ideas only reflect the bigger picture (society) and not the fine details (individual) such that his theory is criticised because it does not explain who and why commits crime and how it actually maintains societal order.
Outline 3 positive functions of crime
- When laws are broken by an individual and the court files their case to the public, it reaffirms shared values of society as it acts as an apt reminder to where the line between right and wrong lies therefore crime maintains this boundary.
- Crime can promote adaptation (changes in laws) such that if the public expresses dissatisfaction with a certain legislation then it will be altered (e.g Dunblane primary school shooting in 1996) therefore crime is necessary for progress and change.
- After a horrific crime is committed, society can pull together in order to condemn the action e.g Manchester arena attack where strangers mourned together on the streets (social solidarity)
What are the negative impacts of crime and deviance?
Martin’s strain theory
Merton argues that people’s desire to achieve the “American dream” (wealth and success) has caused a tension/strain within those people that acts as a motive for crime.
Having studied the American society, Merton deduced that it places significant importance on achieving the AD; however, not everyone has the same opportunities such that the working class have to endure poverty and a lack of qualifications.
Consequently the w/c experience a “strain to anomie” (a between the goal and the means of legally achieving it) and thus they are like to resort to illegal ways to fill that gap.
Evaluate Merton’s strain theory
- Merton’s theory fails to explain why the class commit crime (fraud, tax evasion, money laundering) despite achieving the American dream.
- The theory is too deterministic such that it assumes everybody shares the same goal; some people aim to achieve stable health and/or have kids.
- Merton’s ideas also fail to explain why some criminals commit non-utilitarian crime
Cohen - Status frustration
Cohen argues that young w/c boys males experience status frustration, they feel vexed because they are unable to achieve the goals of society as they lack the means to do so (qualifications, job opportunities, connections)
Thus they resort to the formation of their own deviant subcultures with it’s own deviant goals that they are fit for; Cohen argues that it all begins at school, w/c boys are unable to achieve so they form anti-school subculture that allow them to gain status from their peers by being disruptive.
Coward and Ohlin - deviant subcultures
1- Criminal subcultures: found in areas with established (organised) criminal networks. Thus there are criminal role models for the youth, crimes committed in these areas are mainly utilitarian.
2- Conflict subcultures: typically found in inner city with high turnover, commonly known as “hoods”. Non-utilitarian crimes.
3- Retreatist subcultures: areas with no organised criminal networks whatsoever, young people in these areas are prescribed as “junkies”
Evaluate Cloward and Ohlin - Deviant subcultures
- This theory assumes that these subcultures discrete from one another; in reality a lot of subcultures are a mixture of the 3.
