functionalist explanation for crime Flashcards
crime is inevitable, necessary and functional
- crime is positive
- socialisation acts to instil cultural values in individuals to act in the right way and social control acts to punish deviance and reward conformity
- balance of crime is important - too much and society is destabilised - anomie
crime is inevitable and universal - not everyone can commit equally to the value consensus
in complex modern societies - more subcultures containing own values
traditional pre-industrial society - mechanical solidarity
Durkheim - modern society is complex- tendency towards anomie - rise of individualism
why should crime and deviance would be present in all societies - Durkheim
1. not everyone is effectively socialised into cultural norms and values
2. in modern society - diversity of lifestyles and values - subcultures whereby distinctively different values are followed
crime is inevitable evaluation
durkheim doesnt explain why certain groups more criminal - no real explanation to why certain people are more likely to commit crime than others
all crimes dont have positive functions eg terrorism
Taylor, Walton and Young - new criminologists - crime itself is not functional - no crime is functional
interactionists - deviancy depends upon the social context of the act
boundary maintenance
values can atrophy unless people are reminded of the boundaries between right and wrong behaviour
crime produces reaction from society that can unite members
Durkheim - punishment has positive role - function reaffirm society’s shared rules and reinforce social solidarity
Erikson - degradation ceremonies eg court cases publicised
without punishment, the collective sentiments would lose their power to control behaviour
Durkheim - both crime and punishment necessary
boundary maintenance eval
marxists - durkheim exaggerates the degree of consensus in modern society and underestimates the level of conflict and inequality which they believe is most likely cause of crime
newburn - durkheim neglects the powerful in shaping the consensus about what is criminal and what is normal practice
marxist - pearce - crime doesnt have positive functions for all of society - crime actually is structured only to benefit the ruling class as laws serve the ruling class
criminal behaviour can lead to adaptation and social change
durkheim - all social change starts with deviance - in order for society to change yesterday’s deviance must become today’s normality
challenge initially seen as deviance but then accepted
durkheim - we need the correct balance of crime and deviance to maintain a healthy society
too little crime is bad - controls too strong, society is repressing and controlling its members too much
too much crime is bad - threatens fabric of society
adaption and change eval
durkheim doesnt quantify what level of crime is necessary to perform the positive functions for society
not all deviance can lead to positive social change - actually create conflict which is not functional
crime can act as a warning function
cohen - function of deviance is to signal that there is a breakdown in norms and values within society or the malfunctioning of an institution
in institutions - increase in deviance eg high rates of truancy in school is a warning sign
crime can act as a warning function eval
the warning function that crime may perform is not an intentional function of the criminal or the act iself
merely a latent function that occurs as a consequence of the act
crime acts as a social function
Erikson - develops Durkheim’s idea of normality
- crime positive function - so maintain a level of crime
- agents of social crime can produce crime rather than ridding it from society
- eg festivals, carnivals
- youth given leeway as learning to deal with strains from transition from childhood and adulthood
Durkheim - society generates deviance for its own well-being = excessive amount of crime reflects breakdown
crime acts as a social function eval
Downes and Rock - it is one thing to assert that crime can be made to serve some social end, it is another step altogether to explain crime as promoted in advance by society to bring about that end
eg heighten social solidarity by uniting against the offender,
other functions
Parsons and Davis - safety valve of deviant behaviour - some crimes dont have negative impact so can be seen in a functional manner
Polsky - safety channelling - some deviant acts also channel criminal behaviour
other functions eval
it fails to account for the role of the possible victim
positive function is not intentional or supposed function but rather a by-product, consequence or latent function
control theory
Hirschi - why dont people commit crime
- assumes law-abiding behaviour is abnormal and majority of people are potential deviants
causes of delinquency - individual’s attachment to society is weakened
attachment - how much people care about other’s opinions and wished eg psychopaths
commitment - personal investments eg jobs and mortgages
involvement - level of activity eg too preoccupied
belief - person’s conviction that they obey rules, conformists have high moral commitment
control theory eval
marxist - steven box - 5 key factors instead - secrecy, skills, supply, social support and symbolic support
secrecy - ability to get away with crime
skills - knowledge to commit a crime
supply - availability of tools and equipment
social support - peers can hinder or encourage deviant behaviour
symbolic support - if symbolic support for rule breaking, it will occur
left realistic - lea and young - not an individual with a lack of socialisation but actually high crime rates occur when a well-socialised group realise the contradiction between meritocracy and inequalities in material capital world and no political channel for these to be expressed
functionalist perspective is useful for
influential and inspired other theories of crime and delinquency eg Merton’s strain theory and Cohen’s status frustration theory
Newburn
- durkheim was the first to suggest that some level of crime is normal in society
- durkheim has the sociological insight to see that crime is linked to the values of particular societies and these values could change
