Functionalism

Question 1

Hirschi: why don’t people commit crime?

Answer 1

Attachment: the extent to which one cares about others’ opinions

Commitment: the one with the the least to lose is the most likely to turn to crime

Involvement: preoccupied people have less time to commit crime

Belief: the extent of one’s conviction to obey the rules

Eval: Involvement does not necessarily explain white collar crime. If one is working in a particular environment at their job, it may be BECAUSE of their involvement that they commit crime, not in spite of it.

Question 2

Durkheim

Answer 2

Crime is functional.

Reaffirming values.
Changing values.
Social cohesion.
Safety valve.

Eval:

• why do individuals commit crime? Why some more than others?
• assumes laws are norms and values of public, yet law makers are homogenous
• Tautology - if society is designed to maintain a collective conscience, how can it also drive change?

Question 3

Merton (consensus theorist, not a functionalist)

Answer 3

Supports Durkheim’s belief that there are shared values in society (so often put with Functionalism)

Conformist, ritualist, retreatist, innovator, rebel

Believes there are differences between goals and means

Question 4

Kingsley Davis (1961)

Answer 4

Useful functions of prostitution: economic support for unskilled women and a safety valve for men needing sexual variety, without wanting to wreck their marriages

Eval: supports Durkheim’s theory of safety valve