Functionalist Perspective Flashcards
Crime: Functionalist View on society - COVE
Organic change (e.g. urbanisation)
Experiences of modern society has impacted social cohesion
Crime reinforces value consensus
Society unites to condemn wrongdoers
Crime creates a healthy and functional society
Too little crime = Stagnate
Too much crime = Astrophe
Durkheim 4 Functions of Crime
Boundary Maintenance
Adaption & Change
Warning Light
Safety Valve
Boundary Maintenance
When crime creates a united reaction from society
-Shared dissaproval of deviant behaviour reinforces value consensus and social solidarity
Commitment to shared norms & values
Boundary Maintenance A02
Mx: Stan Cohen: folk devils fulfil this purpose ‘not one of us’
Mx: Distraction from capitalistic oppression (blaming lower-class, not upper-class
E.g. single parents / unemployed / immigrants
Adaption & Change
Cirme can be used to show societal changes and adaptions of norms and values
All social change is initiated through deviance (e.g. gay marriage legalisation)
Warning Light
Crime can act as a warning light to a bigger issue in society / institutions
E.g. Deviance in schools suggest a problem in the education system
Safety Valve
Social release - relieves tension which would otherwise be released through crime
E.g. Polsky -> pornography & prostitution acts as a safety valve for the nuclear family (male frustrations)
Hirschi
Why people don’t commit crime; attachment to and integration into society acts as a deterrent for committing crime.
4 BONDS TO SOCIETY
Anomie
4 Bonds to society - BACI
Hirschi:
Attachment
Commitment
Involvement
Belief
Attachment bond
People have goals & activities which allow them to achieve legitimately
E.g. Education system = legitimate means of success
Youth = requried attendance -> access to legitimate means of achievement
Committment bond
People committed to the opinions of their family, peers, work collegues
People don’t commit crime out of fear of dissaproval from these people (shame & social stigma)
Involvement bond
The extent to which people are involved in their community
People are preoccupied with the involvement of their community; don’t have time to commit crime
E.g. PTA meetings = means of involvement for a community
Belief bond
People share moral beliefs that we shouldn’t commit crime
Strength in value consensus
Anomie
Hirschi
People do not commit crime because they are not in a state of anomity
People feel apart of society
Hirschi Bonds :) + :(
:( - Not a sufficient standalone explanation for crime
Merton Strain theory
Fracture / Strain between the American dream & achieving it
Blames individuals not the system; system = meritocratic
5 Classifications (Mertion Strain Theory)
CIRRR
Conformity
Innovation
Retreatism
Ritualism
Rebellion
Conformity (Merton)
Accepts the goals & means of accievement
Follows the rules in hopes of success
E.g. Enrolment into University
Innovation (Merton)
Accepts goals of society, does not accept means of achievement
Looks at illegitimate ways of achieval
E.g. theft / drug dealing
Retreatism (Merton)
Rejects the goals of society and the means of achievement
Turns to alternative lifestyles or substance abuse
E.g. drug addicts
Ritualism (Merton)
Rejects the goals of society, accpets the means of achievement
Value doesn’t stem from traditional success
Frames success differently
Rebellion (Merton)
Accepts alternative means and goals
May use violence for achievement
E.g. political activists
Strengths of Merton’s Strain theory
Explains statistical patterns
Most crime is property crime
w/c crime rate is higher
Weaknesses of Merton’s Strain theory
Does not explain white collar crime
Overlooks criminal subcultures with values at variance to wider society
Blames individuals; not societal structures (Mx + Fem)
Deterministic (w/c behaviour is determined by their clas alone)
Support of Merton’s Strain theory
Mx Box: Already successful people committed crime to maximise success
Feminism Criticsm to Merton’s Strain theory
Women are put under more strain and have fewer means to achieve goals yet statistics show they commit less crime
Marxist Criticsm to Merton’s Strain theory
Ignores the fact that the rich are not criminalised as much
Albert Cohen Criticsm to Merton’s Strain theory
Ignores group deviance (why some w/c boys face anomity)
Focusses only on utilitarian crime
A. Cohen Status Frustration
w/c boys cannot achieve status through legitimate means
w/c boys formed subcultures and gained status in these groups (through criminal / deviant behaviour - ASH)
Alternative Status Hierarchy (Status Frustration)
Subcultures offer illegitimate opportunity structure
ASH can be done through delinquent actions
Values spite, malice & hostility towards outsiders
Inverts mainstream values (vandalising>respecting property)
Following social norms & values = lowers status
Why w/c boys cannot achieve status (Status Frustration)
W/c boys face anomie in the m/c education system
Culturally deprived = lacking skills to achieve consequently suffer from status frustration
Resolved through gaining status in illegitimate ways (rejecting mainstream values)
Deviance = response to being marginalised (anomie)
Pull of the peer group (Status Frustration)
W/c boys go through the same experiences, find each other, form groups with deviant values (those which oppose society’s values)
Cloward and Ohlin: 3 Subcultures
Criminal Subculture, Conflict subculture, Retreatist subculture
Criminal Subculture
Provides youth with an ‘apprenticeship’ in utilitarian crime
Exists in neighbourhoods with longstanding and stable crime culture
Conflict Subculture
Crime is focussed on violence
Exists in areas with high population turnover; high levels of social disorganisation
Loosely organised gangs (criminal network is constantly changing)
Retreatist Subculture
‘Double Failures’
Fail to achieve in a mainstream and illegitimate sense
Subcultures are based on illegal drug use
Cloward & Ohlin: Weaknesses
- Ignores white collar crime
- Subcultures can overlap in type
- Reactive theory (subcultures form as a result of mainstream failure; assumes everyone shares the same goals - value consensus)
Miller: Focal Concerns [concept]
Why w/c boys are encouraged to commit crime
W/c boys = socialised into distinct values (focal concerns)
More likely than others to commit crime (due to socialisation)
Focal concerns led w/c boys to deviate from socially acceptable norms & values
Miller: Focal concerns [types]
FATEST
Excitement
Toughness
Smartness
Trouble
Autonomy
Fate
Excitement Focal Concern
W/c boys seek out excitement (particularly when not at work)
Toughness Focal Concern
W/c boys wish to prove their toughness (find themselves in trouble due to these factors)
Smartness Focal Concern
W/c boys use with through ‘smart’ remarks
Trouble Focal Concern
Linked to excitement and toughness
W/c boys find themselves in trouble due to these factors
Autonomy Focal Concern
W/c boys wish to be independent and not reliant on others
Fate Focal concerns
W/c boys believe that their future is already decided; what they do won’t influence it
- Leads them to deviate from socially acceptable norms & values
Focal Concerns: Strengths
- Explains socialisation process of w/c boys into crime
- Other researchers found evidence of focal crime
Focal Concerns: Weaknesses
- Unclear definition of ‘lower class’
- FEM: male focusses; unrepresentative to 51% of the population
