functionalism and crime and deviance Flashcards
what Durkheim says about crime and deviance
he says it is inevitable because even in a society of saints, people will break norms and values
Durkheim’s view, the purpose of crime is to reinforce peoples shared values reaffirming social solidarity
Durkheim believes it benefits society for 3 reasons
-boundary maintainence
-adaption and change
-safety value/ warning sign
1st part
boundary maintainence
boundary maintainence is whereby society is taught ,via socialisation, the expected norms and values. Formally we follow this via the law. If we break a law we are punished. Informal sanctions are usually given via family in primary socialistion, we have trangressed a boundary
This reminds everyone about ‘rights & wrongs’ and how people should behave for the greater good of society.
2nd part
boundary maintainence
the 2nd part is that it unites society by seeing that people who dont follow societeis N+V are punished, something is done about them it also teaches people in society that if you break a law there will be a consequence. Thus reinforcing N+V and creating a more cohesive society who reinforce the n+v ever in more informal means like social disgust
adapation and change
although functionalists dont like change they acknowlwdege that society shouldnt stagnate. so laws may change to reinforce the change in N+V e.g gay marraige, smoking, rights of women. therefore this continues to benefit society by moving with the time
durkheim argues crime happens for several reasons
1) POOR SOCIALISATION
2) In complex modern societies, where there is lots of diversity, subcultures emerge with their own values and culture that can be considered as deviant by the rest of society .
safety value
Cohen (1961) suggested that deviance allows people to ‘Let off Steam’ in a relatively harmless way. This allows people to de-stress (and remain functional). Cohen used the example of prostitution as a release that allowed for sexual expression.
warning sign
Clinard (1974) proposed that when crime/ deviance occurs it sends a message to us that society’s social order is breaking down. This then prompts governments/ councils to do something about the problem. Cohen links this to high truancy in schools.
why does it occur in the first place
ANOMIE & ATROPHY: When people experience inequality and barriers to their life-chances they begin to experience ANOMIE (Normlessness). As a result of this anomie they turn to crime/ deviance in order to gain the things that they have been prevented from achieving
evaluations of Durkheim
Durkheim is not specific in how much crime is needed for society to be functional. Equally he does not state how much crime is detrimental to society.
Crime has not necessarily been created to create solidarity.
Crime does not always create solidarity. For example, what about the woman that stays at home through fear of being attacked?
double evaluations
however (promoting solidarity)
Some crimes do promote solidarity amongst communities. For example, communities that come together to condemn a brutal attack.
Functionalism does provide a valuable way of showing us that not everything that is bad, is bad for society.
merton
Merton sees Anomie as a permanent feature of ‘The American Dream’ society.
This was due to the fact that society (within it’s value consensus) puts pressure on people to achieve – society presents us CULTURAL GOALS.
Society also presents us with INSTITUTIONALISED MEANS (Socially approved/ acceptable ways) of achieving these cultural goals
5 responses to strain
conformity
innovation
ritualism
retreatists
rebellion
conformity
People accept the cultural goals and work hard to achieve them. Merton argues that this is a typical response of most Americans but is arguably the most likely to be seen in the M/C.
innovation
People use new illegitimate means to achieve the goal of money and success (fraud and theft). The lower a persons’ social class the more pressure it is argued they have to innovate
ritualism
People accept the cultural goals but have given up on trying to achieve them. However, they have internalised the legitimate means and so they follow the rules for their own sake. Typical lower M/C behaviour in dead end office jobs.
retreatists
People who reject both the goals and the legitimate means to achieve them. Merton called these people vagrants and drop outs!
rebellion
People who reject the goals of society and create their own with the hope of instigating revolutionary change, e.g. Political rebels and hippies.
evaluations of merton
do we have a consensus around means and goals?
too much focus on individual responses to anomie
merton places too much strength behind statistics
doesnt consider crime amongst successful people
Albert Cohen- status frustration
Certain groups in society experience more ‘frustration’ over their lack of status than others. He focuses on how the working-class youth are denied status in society.
They develop their own set of values in opposition to the mainstream value consensus (which has denied them status). This is largely due to revenging on society.
Status is gained in peer-groups through deviant behaviour such as joy riding, vandalising, fighting and substance abuse. Thus creating an alternative status hierarchy.
Evaluations of cohen
Youths actually see failure as successful- Paul Willis- the working class youths in Cohens study do not share the same achievement goals as the middle classes and in fact see failure as successful
What about conformity- most working class individuals actually conform to school
Cohen ignores female delinquency
He neglects the role of agencies of social control- people like the police have a role in the social construction of delinquency
CLOWARD & OHLIN: WORKING CLASS DELINQUENCY
This argument suggests that Cohen is over-generalising.
Cloward & Ohlin argue that although the W/C are likely to form deviant sub-cultures, different W/C groups will react differently according to their particular social circumstances.
In their view, the key reason for different subcultural responses is not only unequal access to the legitimate opportunity structure, but unequal access to illegitimate opportunity structures also!
There are three main types of deviant subculture
Criminal subculture
Conflict subculture
Retreatist subculture
Criminal subculture
Provide youths with an apprenticeship in utilitarian crime (crime involving money). They arise only in neighbourhoods with a longstanding, stable criminal culture with an established hierarchy of professional adult crime.
Conflict subculture
Arise in areas of high population turnover. This results in high levels of social disorganisation and prevents a stable professional criminal network developing. The only illegitimate opportunities available are within loosely organised gangs. Violence here provides a release for young men’s frustrations and a sense of status from winning ‘turf’ from rival gangs.
Retreatist subcultures
These subcultures consist of those who are considered ‘double-failures’- those who fail in BOTH the legitimate and illegitimate opportunity structures. The major activities are drug use, burglary and shoplifting (usually to fund the drugs).
Criticisms of CLOWARD and OHLIN
They focus too much on W/C crime and ignore crimes of the wealthy!
MILLER (1962): WORKING CLASS CONCERNS…
Other subcultural strain theories claim that subcultures form and engage in deviance as a response to their failure to achieve mainstream goals.
BUT, Miller claimed that the W/C have their own independent subculture separate from mainstream culture.
This subculture does not value success in the first place, so its members are not frustrated by failure.
What are their concerns (miller)
Toughness –Miller said that people within the lower-class subculture value toughness as an important trait; however this can manifest itself in assault and violence.
Smartness –This culture also value the ability to ‘outfox’ each other. This will often lead to people trying to con, pickpocket or steal from each other in ‘clever’ ways.
Excitement –This culture constantly searches for excitement and thrills. This often means gambling, alcohol and sexual adventures.
Living out these concerns compensates for their boring lives at school or in the factory!
MATZA (1964): DELINQUENCY & ‘DRIFT’
Although Matza adopts a functional approach to crime he suggests that unlike other functionalist thinking, deviants are no different to ‘normal’ people who respect value consensus within society.
Matza simply suggests that sometimes people will ‘drift’ out of society’s value consensus but will ultimately drift back in (suggesting they agree with value consensus deep down).
Messner & Rosenfeld (2001):
Institutional anomie theory- also focus on the American Dream. They argue that societies obsession with financial success and ‘winner takes all’ mentality exert pressure towards crime by encouraging an ‘anomic’ environment.
For them, people are encouraged to adopt an ‘anything goes’ mentality in pursuit of wealth.
In societies based on free-market capitalism and lack of adequate welfare provision such as the USA, crime is inevitable!
DOWNES & HANSEN (2006)
Surveyed crime rates and welfare spending and found that in societies where there were higher levels of welfare spending, there were lower levels of imprisonment.
Merton strain theory
Merton suggested that people would react in different ways to the American Dream
Some people would continue to accept socially approved goal and strive to achieve those through either legitimate or illegitimate means
Others would reject socially approved goals and either deviate or conform to socially approved behaviours
