functionalist perspective of crime

Question 1

DURKHEIMs perspective on crime

Answer 1

Durkheim : The benefits of crime and deviance

Durkheim argued that crime is an inevitable feature of social life because individuals are exposed to different situations and not everyone is equally committed to the norms and values of society .
Despite the threat to social order he saw some benefits to deviancy and crime .

Question 2

4 ways Durkheim believed Crim benefitted society

Answer 2

Collective conscience:
Values waste away unless we are reminded e.g. George Floyd

Enables social change:
Deviance is necessary to allow progress e.g. Sarah’s law

Acts as a safety valve:
Deviance allows to release catharsis in society e.g. graffiti

Acts as a safety device:
Shows society is not working e.g. knife crime

Question 3

How would Marxists criticise durkheim

Answer 3

Changes in laws do not fulfil an important function for society. The law reflects ruling class ideology and protects the interest of the ruling class.

Question 4

Robert merton

Answer 4

Robert Merton ( 1938 ) -STRAIN THEORY
Merton explains how deviance can result from the culture and structure of society . He looks at the value consensus in American society and the feeling of anomie that individuals often face when
they are unable to achieve material wealth .
He argued crime and deviance took place

Question 5

What happened if people did not achieve the goal of material success

Answer 5

They face a sense of anomie if goals cannot be achieved which means…

Anomie is a breakdown of socially acceptable behaviour in order to achieve goals

Things that can stop people from their goals are, class, race, gender

Question 6

What were all of mertons modes of adaptation

Answer 6

Conformity:the individual adheres to goals and means with little chance of success

Innovation:the person accepts the goals of society and uses different means to achieve them e.g. criminal activity

Ritualism:the means are used but individuals give up on goals e.g. a teacher turns up for salary but is not interested in pupil achievement

Retreatism:the individuals reject goals and means e.g. alchaholics and drug addicts

Rebellion:both goals and means are rejected and substituted by new ones. E.g. political activists - extinction rebellion

Question 7

Which of mertons modes of adaptations accept means

Answer 7

Conformity

Ritualism

Retreatism

Question 8

Which of mertons modes of adaptations accept goals

Answer 8

Conformity

Innovation

Question 9

What are criticisms of merton

Answer 9

1 ) It takes crime stats at face value - does not consider they may not show the full picture .

2 ) It presents crime as a working class issues , he is right they mostly feel strain but they are not
all committing crime and they are not the only class committing crime

3 ) It assumes that everyone shares the goal of material success .

4 ) It only accounts for utilitarian crime - crimes with a financial gain .

5 ) Marxists argue it ignores repressive laws brought in by the ruling class to criminalise the poor and not the rich .

Question 10

Cohen

Answer 10

Cohen ( 1971 ) : Status frustration and the reactive delinquent subculture

Cohen argues that working class youth believe in the success goals of or mainstream culture but their experiences of education and living in poor do not give them legitimate means to obtain these goals .
They experience status frustration as they react to this situation by developing their own values and form a delinquent subculture . This is based on a reaction to and is a reversal of accepted forms of behaviour .

Question 11

Hirschi

Answer 11

Hirschi ( 1969 ) - Bonds of attachment ( Control Theory )

Hirschi agrees with Durkheim that social order is based on shared values and socialization through institutions integrating individuals into society . However , rather than focusing on what forces people to turn to crime , Hirschi asks why most people DO NOT commit crime even when the temptation is there . He believed that people with strong SOCIAL BONDS were less likely to turn to crime and where these bonds were absent , criminality was more likely .

Question 12

What were hirschis four bonds of attachment

Answer 12

Attachment -family

Commitments-too much to lose

Involvment- too busy

Belief- religion

Question 13

Who agrees with hirschi

Answer 13

New right, agree with hirschi and argue that single parent families are unable to socialise children properly leading to deviant family structures

Question 14

What would he a criticism of hirschi

Answer 14

It doesn’t recognise the fact that’s one criminals have tight social binds e.g. Italian mafia are heavily family based

Question 15

Criticisms of functionalist based explanations of deviance

Answer 15

Criticisms of functionalist-based explanations of deviance

1. They assume that there is initial value consensus That we deviate from in some way. Taylor
   et al. (1973) argue that this is wrong and not everyone buys into mainstream goals. For
   example, some sects reject the struggle for material success.
2. They do not explain why the white middle class may commit crime.

3.
They rely on the patterns shown in stats and many crimes are not reported or may not be classified in a way that shows the reality.

4. They claim that youths are committed to values of delinquency and this cannot be true oas
   most stop committing crime by adulthood.
5. Matza criticises them for implying that delinquents have different norms and values to the
   rest of society, they still reject crime as do most people but justify their own actions through
   fechniques of neutralisation (we will look at this in more detail next lesson.

Question 16

Conclusion for functionalist explanation for crime

Answer 16

Conclusion

Functionalists explain crime is linked to how society operates. Without crime. people would forget
the norms and values of society and this would lead to a lack of social order. Crime allows societal
values to be reinstalled to the majority through the actions of the minority.

Question 17

Why is merton useful, and not useful

Answer 17

Useful: strain theory suggests deviance can result from the structure of society. If goals cannot be achieved individuals adapt to reach them

Not useful: this theory only accounts for utilitarian crime, what about non-utilitarian?

Question 18

why is durkheim useful, and not useful

Answer 18

useful: argues crime is inevitable but can fit society through changes in law e.g. Sarah’s law

not useful: crime is not beneficial to the victim, also marxists would argue changes in law apply to ruling class interests, e.g. tresspassing and property laws and little amount of laws regarding white collar crime

Question 19

how is cohen useful, and not useful

Answer 19

useful: status frustration explains why working class youths maybe more likely to commit crimes. They experience status frustration and develop their own values that lead to subcultures

not useful: does not take into account that a majoruty of working class youths are conformist, this theory only applies to a minority of delinquents

Question 20

how is hirschi both useful and not useful

Answer 20

useful: bonds of attachment. Only theory that looks at why people do not commit crime

not useful: some criminals have strong social bonds but operate major criminal networks e.g. the Italian mafia have close family networks.

Question 21

all the key names for functionalism in crime and deviance

Answer 21

durkheim

cohen

merton

hirschi

Question 22

all key terms of functionalism in crime and deviance

Answer 22

collective conscience, boundary maintenance, social change, safety valve, status frustration, value consensus, anomie, strain theory, bonds of attachment

Question 23

Basis of functionalist belief in crime and deviance

Answer 23

Introduction

Functionalism is a consensus Structuralist theory, which sees the source of crime and deviance
located in the structure of society. Social order and cohesion are based on value consensus, and
the agencies of social control seek to protect this by controling the threat posed by crime and
deviance.
They focus on how the nature of society can cause deviance, in paticular how deviance is
socially constructed.

Question 24

What are two examples of law being put in place due to crims

Answer 24

Sarah’s law and the Soham murders