functionalism and crime

Question 1

according to Durkheim what is a crime?

Answer 1

functional
inevitable
normal

Question 2

why is crime inevitable?

Answer 2

• not everyone equally socialised into shared norms and values
• diversity leads to variations of norms and values decreasing value consensus
• as society becomes more law-abiding norms and values adapt and tighten things that weren’t a crime may become one (ex segregation)

-anomie therefore more likely in modern societies, where smaller more specialised groups exist

Question 3

when do abnormal levels of crime occur?

Answer 3

when there is social upheaval and the power of collective conscience is weakened and a state of anomie develops as people look after their own interests

Question 4

why is crime normal?

Answer 4

• communities with no crome could suggest oppression and people fearing the police or government. crime is needed for boundary maintenance and progressing society further

Question 5

what is boundary maintenance? (Durkheim)

Answer 5

when crime unites members. condemning the wrongdoer and reinforcing their commitments to the shared norms and values

Question 6

what is an example of boundary maintenance?

Answer 6

2011 London riots lead to communities coming together to clean up

Question 7

how do courtrooms help in boundary maintenance?

Answer 7

by reaffirming the values of the law-abiding majority discouraging often from breaking rules

Question 8

criticism of boundary maintenance

Answer 8

cohen- media plays the role of ‘dramatisation of evil’ in his view the media coverage of crime creates ‘folk devils’

Question 9

what is adaptation and change? (Durkheim)

Answer 9

all change starts with a deviant act. individuals with new ideas cant are completely shifted by the weight of social control they need to be able to challenge existing norms and values to promote change where needed

Question 10

why is too much crime a problem? (Durkheim)

Answer 10

too much crime threatened to tear apart society with chaos and anomie

Question 11

why is too little crime a problem

Answer 11

signifies a repressive regime (north Korea)

Question 12

example of adaptation and change

Answer 12

martin Luther king was arrested over 30 times for leading demonstrations over segregation. this lead to the 1964 civil rights act. and the 1965 voting rights act

Question 13

criticism of adaption and change

Answer 13

doesnt consider negative impacts (ie on victims and families)

Question 14

what is the safety valve? (davis)

Answer 14

deviance can act as a safety valve releasing stress in society, preventing greater disruption.

Davis uses the example of prostitution as it prevents the nuclear family breakdown as a prostitute affair is better than an emotional one

Question 15

safety valve criticism

Answer 15

no justification for believing that it will prevent further disruption

Question 16

what is the warning?

Answer 16

if a crime happens it may warn people that a specific institution is corrupt or a problem in society

Question 17

example of the warning

Answer 17

after the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the McPherson report found that the police, in general, acted in an institutionalised racist way
lead to the removal of the double jeopardy law

Question 18

criticism of the warming

Answer 18

it may not be an institution failing but another influence on them all

Question 19

what is Merton’s strain theory?

Answer 19

deviance is seen as a reaction to the strain between society’s goals and the person’s ability to achieve them
the type of crime depends entirely on how a person reacts to strain and anomie

Question 20

types of reaction to strain?

Answer 20

• conformity (when an individual accepts goals and achieves them by legitimate means)
• innovation (accepts the goals but create new illegitimate means of getting there ie- drug dealing)
• rebellion (rejecting existing goals and means but replacing them with new ones)

Question 21

example of strain theory (American dream)

Answer 21

Camden new jersey - poorest city in the US. used to have manufacturing industry and shipyard but aren’t there anymore (loss of means) it has the highest crime rate per capita and has lots of drug dealing (innovation)

Question 22

evaluation of strain theory

Answer 22

only explains utilitarian crimes and ignores crimes such as adultery where no material gain is made

miller- instead of people being socilaised into value consensus people who commit crimes are socialised into deviant subcultures therefore they have already achieved their goals buy committing crimes and fitting into such subcultures

Question 23

what did cohen say about status frustration?

Answer 23

• agrees with Merton that deviance is largely a lower-class phenomenon
• as a result of lower-class boys not being able to achieve a higher status by legitimate means (education) they suffer from status frustration they resolve their frustration by rejecting mainstream middle-class values and they turn instead to other boys in the same situation forming or joining a delinquent subculture where there is a new alternative status hierarchy that they can get to the top of by committing crimes to impress peers

Question 24

criticism of status frustration

Answer 24

start off believing that everyone has the same value consensus and want to achieve the same goals by the same means (assumes they are already socialised into deviant norms)

Question 25

what do Cloward and Ohlin think of subcultures and crime

Answer 25

• agree with Merton that working-class youths are denied legitimate opportunities
• believe that as well as this working-class youth have to deal with illegitimate opportunity structures (fraudster needs to learn the skills)
  different neighborhoods provide different illegitimate opportunities to learn criminal skills

Question 26

what are the three types of subcultures identifies

Answer 26

criminal- neighborhoods with an established crime hierarchy that recruits young to join in things like murder
conflict- neighborhoods with. a high population turnover so only loosely organized criminal gangs that make money (robbery)
retreatist- neighborhoods where not everyone aspires to be criminal. therefore those who fail to gain status gain in these neighbourhoods become ‘double failures and results in drugs alcoholism

Question 27

evaluation of Cloward and Ohlin

Answer 27

matza- people drift in and out of delinquency rather than being strongly committed to a subculture

Question 28

what does miller say about focal concerns

Answer 28

strain theory is too reactive 
argues lower class rime is an attempt to achieve their own goals that he calls 'focal concerns that gives meaning to the lives outside work

rather than the explaination that due to different socialisation criminals are achieving their goals by commiting crimes dont want to have the goals of mainstream society

Question 29

examples of focal concerns

Answer 29

• excitement
• outsmarting others
• fatalism
• getting into trouble