functionalist and neo-functionalist theories of crime

Question 1

Durkheim - 4 functions of crime (functionalism)

Answer 1

• boundary maintenance
• adaptation/enables social change
• acts as a safety valve
• acts as a warning device

Question 2

boundary maintenance (Durkheim)

Answer 2

reinforces collective consciousness giving us boundaries to determine right and wrong and the consequences of crossing the boundaries in terms of punishment

Question 3

adaptation (Durkheim)

Answer 3

some deviance is necessary to allow new ideas to develop and evolve (eg people participating in homosexuality and abortion led to their decriminalisation)

Question 4

safety valve (Durkheim)

Answer 4

allows society to release stress without the social order collapsing (Polsky and Davis - prostitution and porn allows men to fulfil sexual needs without threatening stability of the family)

Question 5

warning device (Durkheim)

Answer 5

crime tells us when an institution has become dysfunctional and something is going wrong (Cohen), showing us something needs doing before social order collapses (eg riots, too much suicide, drug addiction)

Question 6

strengths of Durkheim 4 functions theory

Answer 6

• he has been highly influential in the field of sociology
• does not make crime and deviance out to be abnormal but instead functional

Question 7

weaknesses of Durkheim 4 functions theory

Answer 7

• doesn’t explain why we have crime in the first place
• doesn’t explain why some people engage in more deviant acts than others
• Marxists say he ignores that powerful groups largely dictate what is and isn’t deviant
• crime can be very damaging to social solidarity

Question 8

Merton - strain theory (neo-functionalism)

Answer 8

believes that deviance occurs when members are unable to meet society’s debt goals or values, using the example of the ‘American Dream’ (working hard for material success) saying that people adopt one of 5 ways of achieving success:
- conformists
- innovators
- ritualists
- retreatists
- rebels

Question 9

conformists (Merton)

Answer 9

conform to the acceptable means of achieving the goal of the ‘American Dream’

Question 10

innovators (Merton)

Answer 10

have the goal of the ‘American Dream’ but reject the legitimate ways of achieving it and so they innovate (eg becoming a pimp or drug dealer)

Question 11

ritualists (Merton)

Answer 11

give up on trying so are deviant because they no longer accept the goal of the ‘American Dream’ (eg they don’t try for a promotion at work’

Question 12

retreatists (Merton)

Answer 12

give up on the goal of the ‘American Dream’ and drop out of society entirely (eg becoming a tramp or drug addict)

Question 13

rebels (Merton)

Answer 13

want to replace the means and goals of the ‘American Dream’ entirely (eg becoming a terrorist)

Question 14

advantages of Merton strain theory (neo-functionalism)

Answer 14

• provides a theoretical reason to explain why why people conform/deviate
• explains why different individuals engage in different types of deviant behaviour

Question 15

disadvantages of Merton strain theory (neo-functionalism)

Answer 15

• Hirschi says we should instead look at why the majority of people don’t commit crime and deviance rather than why they do
• ignores power struggles in society and doesn’t question who makes the laws, assuming we just follow them
• fails to explain how people in similar circumstances adopt different forms of deviance