Functionalist

Question 1

functionalist - durkheim

Answer 1

crime and deviance is a necessary, beneficial, inevitable feature of society

Question 2

functionalist - functions of crime and deviance

Answer 2

strengthens collective values (right/wrong)
enables social change and progress
safety valve - way to express discontent
warning device that society isn’t working properly before social order disrupted

Question 3

functionalist - strain theory

Answer 3

merton
deviance arises when individuals don’t have opportunities to approve their goals
feel sense of strain and anomie (normalessness)

Question 4

functionalist - types of strain

Answer 4

conformity - non-deviant, non-criminal citizen
innovation - uses crime as alternative to meet goals
ritualism - give up on achieving goals but stick to means
retreatism - drop-outs
rebellion - reject existing social goals, substitute new ones

Question 5

functionalist - limitations of strain theory

Answer 5

• not all people accept/have consensus on goals

- many people who face strain don’t turn to crime

Question 6

functionalist - cohen

Answer 6

working-class youth experience status frustration so develop delinquent subculture to achieve status in peer-group
deals with working-class juvenile delinquency

Question 7

functionalist - limitation of cohen

Answer 7

not all young working-class delinquents hold the mainstream goals
have independent subcultures

Question 8

functionalist - cloward and ohlin; criminal subcultures

Answer 8

adult criminals control aspiring young criminals to commit utilitarian crimes in stable working-class areas

Question 9

functionalist - cloward and ohlin; conflict subcultures

Answer 9

socially disorganised areas have a lack of social cohesion

young people express their frustration through violence & street crime

Question 10

functionalist - cloward and ohlin; retreatist subcultures

Answer 10

young people that have failed in mainstream society and gang culture
retreat into addiction/alcoholism paid by theft/prostitution

Question 11

functionalist - limitation of cloward and ohlin

Answer 11

differences are exaggerates as many features overlap

Question 12

functionalist - miller (focal concerns)

Answer 12

central characteristics that target males in a deviant working-class subcultures 
toughness, masculinity, freedom, trouble, search for excitement/thrills 
dominated in young people
conformity -> delinquency

Question 13

functionalist - criticisms

Answer 13

• not everyone has value consensus & committed to mainstream goals
• only emphasises working-class delinquency & ignores white-collar/corporate
• based on official statistics (inadequate & unrepresentative)
• many working-class youth don’t commit crime