functionalist and subcultural theories of crime and deviance Flashcards
What is functionalism?
Functionalists think society is based on consensus, which means agreement. They believe that socialisation is used to pass on shared norms and values to members of society, to create a sense of social solidarity. Society functions like the body in that all the institutions work together, like organs, for the health of the whole (the organic analogy).
What are the two key mechanisms used to achieve social solidarity according to functionalists?
1) Socialisation = lifelong process of teaching shared norms and values (family and education are especially important for this).
2) Social control = rewards for conformity and punishment for deviance.
Why is crime inevitable according to Durkheim?
crime is normal…an integral part of all healthy societies. Every known society has some level of crime; even in a ‘society of saints’ some crime will occur.
What are the causes of crime and deviance according to Durkheim?
. Not everyone is effectively socialised into shared norms and values
. Different subcultures hold different values, and what they regard as normal may be deviant in mainstream culture.
. In modern societies, increased anomie leads to a decline in the collective conscience, and a rise in crime and deviance.
What does anomie mean?
Anomie = normlessness.
In modern society people are more individualistic and have less in common. This leads to social norms becoming weaker and less clear.
How can crime and deviance be functional according to Durkheim?
Durkheim believed that a certain amount of crime and deviance can be positive for society.
He said that there were 4 functions:
1) Boundary maintenance
2) Adaptation and change
3) Safety valve
4) Warning
How is boundary maintenance a positive function of crime according to Durkheim?
Crime unites members of society against the wrongdoer and reinforces their commitment to shared norms and values (it maintains the boundaries of morality.
When crimes are punished and often publicised in the media, it can reinforce the rest of society’s norms as people unite to agree that the crime was wrong.
How is adaption and change a positive function of crime according to Durkheim?
All social change starts with an act of deviance. In order for change to happen, people must challenge existing norms and values, and this initially appears as deviant behaviour.
How is a safety valve a positive function of crime according to Durkheim?
Davis argued that prostitution acted as a safe release for men’s sexual frustration without undermining the nuclear family.
Polsky made similar arguments about pornography.
How is a warning a positive function of crime according to Durkheim?
Cohen argues crime acts as a warning that part of society is not functioning properly.
For example, high rates of truancy tells us there is a problem with the education system.
How is too much crime and deviance dysfunctional according to Durkheim?
Durkheim believed that too much crime and deviance is dysfunctional. This is because it acts as a threat to society as the norms and values that unite society are being challenged. This threatens consensus, social order and stability.
How does social control create a stable society according to Durkheim?
Durkheim believed that in modern societies there is agreement or consensus over society’s norms and values. This results in social order and creates stable societies.
He believed this occurred because society’s institutions successfully implemented social control. For Durkheim this social control is positive and is achieved by various institutions.
Evaluation of Durkheim.
-strengths
- Durkheim’s ideas have generated a great deal of further research and influenced other sociological theories, for example strain theories of crime and deviance.
This suggests that Durkheim’s ideas have made a major contribution to the study of crime and deviance.
Evaluation of Durkheim.
-weaknesses
- It is not clear at what point the ‘right’ amount of crime becomes ‘too’ much. Positivists criticise this for being too subjective.
- The idea that crime is functional is insensitive to victims.
- Crime can be caused by very dysfunctional aspects of society such as racism.
- This approach is not useful for explaining patterns of crime as it does not explain why some groups of people commit more crimes that others, or why they commit particular offences.
- Functionalism assumes that norms and laws reflect agreement in the whole society.
What is Merton’s strain theory?
The first strain theory was developed by the functionalist Merton who adapted Durkheim’s concept of anomie.
Merton states that deviance occurs when individuals want to achieve the success goals of society, but cannot achieve them in the legitimate way.
There is a strain between the goals and people’s abilities to achieve them.
Why does pressure to achieve the American dream lead to strain?
Merton argues the pressure to achieve the American dream is stronger than the social controls preventing people from committing crime, so people turn to illegitimate means to achieve their goals.
This creates the strain to anomie or pressure to deviate.
How does Merton use strain theory to explain patterns of deviance found in society?
Merton uses strain theory to explain some of the patterns of deviance found in society.
He argues that an individual’s position in the social structure affect the way they adapt or respond to the strain to anomie.
Logically, there are five different types of adaptation, depending on whether an individual accepts, rejects or replaces approved cultural goals and the legitimate means off achieving them.
How is conformity a deviant adaptation to strain?
Individuals accept the culturally approved goals and strive to achieve them legitimately.
For example, a low paid worker believes that through hard work they can still be promoted and achieve success.
How is INNOVATION a deviant adaptation to strain?
Individuals accept the goal of money success but use ‘new’ illegitimate means such as theft or fraud to achieve it.
For example, someone who is unemployed or in a low paid job turns to drug dealing.
How is ritualism a deviant adaptation to strain?
Individuals give up on trying to achieve goals, but have internalised the legitimate means so they follow the rules for their own sake.
For example, an office worker in a dead end job has given up on prospect of promotion, but still shows up and gets on with their work.
How is retreatism a deviant adaptation to strain?
Individuals reject both the goals and legitimate means and become dropouts.
For example, an individual has given up on prospects of a job, success or money, but commits crime to fund their heroin addiction.
How is rebellion a deviant adaptation to strain?
Individuals reject the existing society’s goals and means, but they replace them with new ones in a desire to bring out revolutionary change and create a new kind of society.
For example, an eco warrior does not care about money and success, but goes to protests to campaign for peace and environmental issues.
What are the similarities between Durkheim and Merton’s theory?
- Both use anomie as a key concept.
- Both assume there is a degree of social consensus (people share similar goals)
What are the differences between Durkheim and Merton’s theory?
- Durkheim doesn’t explain patterns of crime, but we can use Merton to explain why the working class seem to commit more crime.
- For Merton, too much crime is seen as a sign that society is too unequal and materialistic so there is too much strain to be wealthy.
Evaluation of Merton.
- strengths
- Merton shows how both normal and deviant behaviour can arise from the same goals. Both conformists and innovators are pursuing money success (one legitimately the other illegitimately)
- He explains the patterns shown in official crime statistics:
Most crime is property crime because American society values material wealth so highly.
Lower class crime rates are higher, because they have the least opportunity to obtain wealth legitimately.
Evaluation of Merton.
- weaknesses
- It takes official crime rates at face value. These over-represent working class crime, so merton overlooks white collar crime.
- It only accounts for utilitarian crime for money gain, and not for crimes of violence, vandalism, terrorism or state crime.
- It assumes that most people strive for ‘money success’ and it ignores the possibility that many may not share this goal.
Marxist critique of functionalism.
For marxists, consensus is an illusion; shared values actually only benefit one section of society, the ruling class, rather than the whole. They argue the ruling class manipulates values and laws for their own benefit, and it is the ruling class which decides which acts should be criminalised and how the laws should be enforced.
Other criticisms of functionalism.
- Subcultural approaches have highlighted the group nature of some criminal and deviant behaviour. Functionalist analysis tends to see crime/deviance as an individual-society relationship.
- Labelling theorists argue that this approach ignores the subjective way in which crime and deviance are defined based on stereotypes and assumptions rather than objective facts.
What do more recent strain theories say?
- shows relevance of Merton’s ideas in the 21st century.
More recent strain theories agree that failure to achieve goals may result in delinquency, but expands the list of goals that young people may want to achieve. Such goals may include popularity, independence from adults or the desire to be treated like a ‘real man’. Middle class juveniles may have problems achieving these goals too.
What is the institutional anomie theory by Messner and Rosenfeld?
Like Merton, they focus on anomie and the American Dream. They argue the excessive individualism and obsession with money creates a normless society in which people are encouraged to adopt an ‘anything goes’ mentality to achieve success.
In America economic goals are valued above all others, and this undermines other institutions. For example, schools spend more time preparing young people for a job rather than instilling values like respect.
As social control declines, high rates of crime are said to be inevitable in these societies.
What is the supporting evidence for this?
Downes and Hansen (2006) = In a survey of crime rates and welfare spending in 18 countries they found that societies that spent more on welfare has lower rates of imprisonment. This backs up the claim that societies that protect the poor have less crime.
What is a subcultural strain theory?
Subcultural strain theories see deviance as the product of a delinquent subculture with different values from those of mainstream society. They see subcultures as providing an alternative opportunity structure for those who are denied the chance to achieve by legitimate means - mainly the working class.
What did Albert K. Cohen focus on?
Albert Cohen studied why working class boys appear to commit a disproportainate amount of crime. Cohen came up with the idea of status of frustration.
Which elements of Merton does Cohen agree with?
He agrees that crime is largely a lower class phenomenon and that it results from the inability of those in lower classes to achieve mainstream goals legitimately.
Which elements of Merton does he criticise?
Cohen argues most crime is committed in groups, not individually. he criticises Merton for focusing on utilitarian crime and ignoring crimes with no economic motive, like vandalism.
What is status frustration?
Status frustration is where boys in lower classes struggle to adjust to the low status they are given in mainstream society, especially schooling (where they are the lowest achieving group).
How does Cohen argue that subcultures ‘invert’ the values in mainstream society?
The delinquent subcultures turns the values of mainstream society outside down and what most people condemn. for example, rather than good behaviour and attendance, they value vandalism and truanting.
What is the ‘alternative status hierarchy’?
This alternative hierarchy gives boys a different way to ‘succeed’ and win status from their peers; through delinquent actions rather than by grades or praise from teachers.
For example, winning a fight.
What is a strength of Cohen’s theory?
The main strength of Cohen’s theory is that, unlike Merton, his ideas explain non-utilitarian crimes such as vandalism and truancy.
What is a weakness of Cohen’s theory?
A weakness is he assumes there is a consensus where boys accept mainstream success goals to begin with, and then go against them when they fail. He ignores the fact that perhaps members of criminal subculture never held the same values to begin with.
How does subcultures link to Cohen?
Cohen talks about how working class boys struggle to succeed in middle class education. This links in with research into labelling, setting and streaming - working class students are less likely to be seen as ‘ideal’ pupils and underachievement is normalised, and more likely to be placed in lower sets, this could lead to status frustration. This can lead to anti-school subcultures which may develop into a criminal subculture.
Who are Cloward and Ohlin?
Cloward and Ohlin accept Merton’s views that much crime and deviance stems from lack of opportunities working class youths have to gain ‘money success’, and much of Cohen’s ideas about subcultures.
BUT, they argue Cohen’s theory fails to examine the way in which different subcultures respond in different ways to a lack of opportunities.
For example, some subcultures centre on violent crime, others theft, others drug use.
What is Cloward and Ohiln’s idea of ‘illegitimate opportunity structures’?
Refers to the different levels of opportunities that exist in the crime world. Not everyone will have the skills or opportunity to become a safe cracker, counterfeiter or computer hacker, for example.
What are criminal subcultures?
- three types of deviant subcultures
Provides youth with an apprenticeship for a career in utilitarian crime. They arise in neighbourhoods with a longstanding criminal culture and an established hierarchy of professional adult crime. (for example, Mafia) This allows adults to act as role models and pass on their criminal skills to young people. (for example, counterfeiting goods, producing and distributing drugs and human trafficking)
What are conflict subcultures?
- three types of deviant subcultures.
Arise in areas of high population turnover (people moving in and out frequently). This results in high levels of social disorganisation which prevents an organised crime network emerging. Instead the only criminal opportunities are in loosely organised gangs where young men can release their frustration and gain status from peers.
What are retreatist subcultures?
-three types of deviant subcultures.
Not everyone can ‘succeed’ in becoming professional or violent criminal. Those without the skills or inclination to succeed in either of the previous subcultures may turn to illegal drug use.
What is a strength of Cloward and Ohlin’s research?
Provides an explanation for different types of group deviance not just utilitarian crime.
What are the weaknesses of Cloward and Ohlin’s study?
It ignores crime of the wealthy and powerful.
Assumes there is a clear distinction between the three subcultures, when in reality they overlap - the drug trade includes all there subcultures.
Assumes deviant subcultures shared mainstream values to begin with - Miller argues they have different values.
What are focal concerns?
- other subcultures.
Working class youths don’t aim for mainstream values of money success but other values like toughness, excitement etc. They join delinquent subcultures to satisfy these needs. (used to criticise or contrast with other subcultural theorists)
What is institutional anomie?
Very similar to Merton. Argue that crime occurs at an institutional level society because it places more value on money success than it does on the social controls that prevent crime.
For example, schools put more emphasis on the job market rather than teaching respect. (used to support Merton)
