Functionalism And Crime Flashcards
Why do people commit crime?
Anomie, don’t agree with norms and values of society, poor socialisation, unjustly rewarded
Nature of society
Consensual
- based on a mutual agreement and unity
Durkheim’s collective consciousness
The core values shared by society that help to maintain order
What does Durkheim highlight within a class-based society?
Some can achieve more than others - useful because all roles in society are filled
The ‘normative’ approach
Provides a normative definition of crime and deviance
- an action which involves a violation of social norms
- the further away behaviour is from our core values, more likely to be it is to be considered deviant
Sociological implications for the ‘normative’ approach
Explains why only some people act in a deviant manner
- focuses on how dysfunctional behaviour within social institutions make some people criminals/ deviants - people who conform have been ‘properly socialised’
What does Durkheim say about crime?!
‘Crime is normal…an integral part of all healthy societies’
How is crime and deviance actually good for individuals?
Shows us what not to do
- will be punished if we act in this way
- creates job opportunities for police
- draws a distinction between things that are good and bad
- punishments - boundary maintenance
Functions of crime
- reinforce value consensus and social solidarity
- behaviour is governed by positive and negative sanctions - if you commit a crime you are punished
- draw communities together
Safety Valve
Albert Cohen (1961) deviance allows people to ‘let off steam’ in a relatively harmless way - de-stress and stay functional
Reinforces boundaries
Boundaries of acceptable behaviours are made known by the arrest of those who transgress
- public opinion on crime acts like a gauge and can cause change in the law
What was the reason for disclosure and barring system and safeguarding?
Murder of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman - abducted and murderer by caretaker
PC Andrew Harper
Killed in the line of duty by teenagers
- petition for Harper’s law, giving sentence to anyone who kills an emergency worker
Warning device
Clinard: when crime and deviance occurs it sends a message that society’s social order is breaking down
- prompts governments to do something about an issue
Crime is a particular
Problem of modernity (transformation into an industrialised society)
Social change can cause crime as individuals
May become unsure of norms and rules and are more at risk of breaking them
What does social change mean?
Weaker collective conscience of shared values to guide actions - anomie develops people to look after their own interest
Why does crime happen (reason one beginning with A)
Anomie
- people experience inequality and barriers to life chances
- turn to crime and deviance to get things they have been prevented from achieving
- anomie, and the resulting deviant behaviour breaks down social solidarity and weakens value consensus
Why does crime happen?( reason two beginning with E)
Egoism
- collective conscience becomes too weak to make people ignore selfish desires
- happens if there are too many specialist roles in society, or if people have not been successfully socialised to accept collective values
Why is crime inevitable?
Not everyone is effective socialised
- in complex modern societies, lifestyles and values are diverse- subcultures develop
What does deviance help society to do in the eyes of Durkheim?
Evolve and review the way it does things ‘yesterday’s deviance must become today’s normality’
- leads the way to progress - if the collective sentiments are too strong they crush revolutionary spirits
What does Durkheim say about crime rates?
Too little crime= society with stagnate
Too much crime= leads to social disorganisation and chaos, threatens to tear the bonds of society apart
Strengths of the functionalist view
Newburn: Durkheim was the first to suggest crime was positive or even useful in society
- links time to values of society and explains how they can change
a explains reason for unhealthy levels of crime which could be altered by social engineering
Negatives of functionalist views
Is crime really beneficial?
‘Ideal level of crime’ is vague, what is it supposed to be?
- doesn’t give individual motivations for committing
What does the functionalist perspective on crime not explain?
Individual motivations and how only some people commit crime
What does the functionalism perspective on crime ignore?
Whether the interests of particular groups are served by the creation of legal norms and definitions of crime
What does the functionalist perspective exaggerate?
The degree of consensus within society
What might the functionalist perspective on crime result in?
A pessimistic approach regarding the control of crime eg. Harsher sentences
How is functionalism structurally deterministic?
It ignores the amount of free will that people have in choosing to commit a crime
Taylor, Walter and Young
Crime is not functional for society - the publicising of crime and public punishment is
