Functionalist, Strain And Subcultural Theories

Question 1

Durkheim, functionalism, crime and deviance

Answer 1

• the idea that deviance is just behaviour that breaks social norms, whilst crime breaks the laws that reflect these norms, is based on the belief that society is essentially consensual - that is, the idea that the vast majority of people share similar values. Indeed, it was this approach regarding was used by Durkheim in his functionalist explanation of deviance and its relationship to crime. Durkheim suggests that every society shares a set of care values, which he called the collective conscience. The more behaviour differed from these core values, the more likely it was to be viewed as deviant. According to Durkheim a strong collective conscience, backed up by a fair legal system that compensated those harmed by deviant behaviour and punished offenders, formed biases for social order
• however, Durkheim, perhaps surprisingly identified two sides of crime and deviance influencing the functioning of society:
• a positive side, which helped society change and remain dynamic
• a negative side, which saw too much crime leading to a social disruption

Question 2

Positive aspects of crime: social cohesion

Answer 2

• according to Durkheim crime - or at least a certain amount of crime - was necessary for any society. He argued that the basis of society was a set of shared values or collective conscience. The collective conscience provide as a framework, with boundaries which distinguishes between actions that are acceptable and those that are not. The problem for any society is that these boundaries are unclear, and also that they change over time. Crime can play a role in clarifying boundaries between what is seen as acceptable and unacceptable and, where necessary, can initiate change. Specially, Durkheim discussed three elements of this aspect of
  1. Reaffirming the boundaries
  2. Changing values
  3. Social cohesion

Question 3

1. Reaffirming the boundaries

Answer 3

• every time a person breaks a law and is taken to court, the resulting court ceremony, and the publicity in the newspapers, publicly reaffirms the existing values. This is particularly clear in societies in which public punishment take place - e.g, where a murderer is taken out to be executed in public or adulterer is stone death

Question 4

2. Changing values

Answer 4

• on occasion some individuals or groups deliberately set out to defy laws that they believe are wrong. Sometimes, these people are ahead of their time and defy laws that will eventually be seen as outdated. Such groups are known as functional rebels because they help to change the collective conscience, and laws based on it, for the better, anticipating and helping to produce changes that will help society to function more effectively and fairly. E.g, the former ANC leader, the late Nelson Mandela, who opposed and helped to overturn the racist apartheid system in South Africa

Question 5

3. Social cohesion

Answer 5

• Durkheim points out that when particularly horrific crimes have been committed, the entire community draws together in shared outrage, and the sense of belonging to a community is thereby strengthened. This was noticeable, e.g, in the uk following the July 2005 London Underground bombings

Question 6

What have other writers suggested about positive factors of crime

Answer 6

• the functionalist Davis suggested that crime could be useful as safety valve which allowed minor criminality or deviance to avoid bigger problems. E.g, the institution of marriage could be stabilised by some married men buying the services of sex workers.
• cohen suggested that Cronin could boost employment and the economy by creating jobs for police officers and others who work in criminal justice, not to mention criminologists. He also believes that crime can act as a type of early warning mechanism showing that society, or institutions within it are, going wrong. These can then be corrected before too much damage is done and, in the process, crime is brought back under control

Question 7

Left realists - lea and young

Answer 7

• stress that crime can cause real problems for victims, especially those who are already disadvantaged.

Question 8

Right realists - Wilson and kelling

Answer 8

• stress the harm that crime can do to community cohesion and informal social control. If left unchecked, crime can lead to the breakdown of law and order, with disastrous consequences for those living in the affected area

Question 9

Right realists - Wilson and kelling

Answer 9

• stress the harm that crime can do to community cohesion and informal social control. If left unchecked, crime can lead to the breakdown of law and order, with disastrous consequences for those living in the affected area

Question 10

The negative aspects of crime: anomie and egoism

Answer 10

• while certain limited amount of crime may perform postive functions for society, according to Durkheim, too much crime has negative consequences. Excessive crime could be the result of two problems with the collective conscience - anomie and egoism

Question 11

What is anomie

Answer 11

• anomie occurs when there are periods of great social change or stress, and the collective conscience becomes uncleared. During a revolution or rapid economic and social change, and old values and norms may come under challenge without new values and norms becoming established. In this situation, there is uncertainty over what behaviour should be seen as acceptable, and people may be partially freed from the social control imposed by the collective conscience

Question 12

What is egosim

Answer 12

• egosim occurs when the collective conscience simply becomes too weak to restrain the selfish desires of individuals. It occurs in industrial societies where there are many specialists jobs so that people have very different roles in society. Soldiers and nurses, e.g, have to have very different values to carry out their jobs successfully. If individuals are not successfully socialised to accept collective values, e,g, through the education system, they can end up putting their own selfish interests before those of society as a whole and committing crime

Question 13

Egoism and anomie

Answer 13

• egoism and anomie can be countered, according to Durkheim, by a strengthening of the collective conscience; but when this is not done effectively, crime rates can become excessive, preventing the healthy functioning of society
• durkhiems concept of anomie was later developed and adapted by Merton, which suggested that durkhiems orginal idea was too vague. Merton, provided the foundation for the development of later subculture theory

Question 14

Evaluation of durkhiem

Answer 14

• Newbury argues that two aspects of durkhiems work have been central in the development of sociological thinking on crime
  1. Durkheim was the first to suggest that some level of crime is normal in society
  2. Durkheim had the sociological insight to see that crime was linked to the values of particular societies and these values could change
• however, Newbury thinks that Durkheim paid little attention to how the powerful could have undue influence on what acts were seen as criminal. Durkheim exaggerated the extent to which there was a collective conscience in society. Not everyone agrees with laws and morals, not least many criminals themselves. A further criticism is put forward by Taylor, Walton and young who argue that crime itself is not functional for society. It is instead just the publicising of crime and public punishment that help to untie a society; critics have nites that most serious crime such as murder or sex crime/abuse is far from beneficial. Nevertheless durkhiems work has been very influential, as the section on strain theory demonstrates

Question 15

Strain theory

Answer 15

• in the 1930s, Merton tried to develop an explanation of deviance within a functionalist framework. However, Merton did not agree with other functionalists that all aspects of society were always beneficial: aspects of society could become dysfunctional and needed to be changes to get society running smoothly again. For Merton, crime and deviance were evidence for a poor fit between the socially accepted goals of society and the socially approved means of obtating those desired goals. The resulting strain led to deviance. Unlike later theorists, Merton was not a subcultural theorist. This just a point of difference between him and cohen: Merton focused on individual rather than group responses to strain.
• Merton argued that all socties set their members certain goals and, at the same time, provided socially approved ways of achieving these goals.
• however, Merton was aware that not everyone had the same opportunity to achieve these gaols. In an unequal class based society, those in high classes had more opportunity to succeed than others. They had, e.g, access to better schools and more wealth to back them if they wanted to start a business. Merton believed that the system only worked well as long as there was a reasonable chance that a majority of people were able to achieve their goals. However, in a very unequal American society, many among the population were unable to achieve the socially set goals, and they become disenchanted with society’s.

Question 16

Mertons five different forms of behaviour

Answer 16

• Merton identities five different forms of behaviour, or adaptations, that could be understood as a response to the strain between goals and means
  1. Conformity
  2. Innovation
  3. Ritualism
  4. Retreatism
  5. Rebellion
• Merton thought that deviant behaviour was particularly common among those from lower classes who were frustrated by their lack of achievement and turned to crime to get money (innovation) or success to who dropped out the ‘rat race’. However, because there was no upper limit on success in societies goals - even the well off could be greedy for more - there were some middle and higher class criminals too, although they were less common than working class offenders

Question 17

1. Conformity

Answer 17

• the individual continues to adhere both gaols and means, despite the limited likelihood of success. This was typical of most people

Question 18

2. Innovation

Answer 18

• the person accepts the goal of society but uses different ways to achieve those goals; criminal behaviour is included in this response. This was more common in lower social classes because they had less chance of succeeding than higher classes, partly because they did not have the same chances of success in education as middle and upper class children. To Merton, opportunites were not genuinely equal because the better off had advantages over those on lower incomes

Question 19

3. Ritualism

Answer 19

• a ritualist is a person who immerses him or herself in the daily routine and relegations of their job but has lost sight of the goal of material success.

Question 20

4. Retreatsim

Answer 20

• the individual fails to achieve fails to achieve success and rejects both goals and means. The person ‘drops out’ and may become dependent upon ‘drugs or alcohol’

Question 21

5. Rebellion

Answer 21

• both sociology sanctioned gaols and means are rejected, and different ones substituted. This is the political activist or the religious fundamentalist, who has decided society no longer works well and needs to be racially changed

Question 22

Evaluation of Merton

Question 23

Evaluation Merton

Answer 23

• Merton has been criticised by valier, among others for his stress on the existence of common goals in society. Valier argues that there are in fact, a variety of goals that people strive to attain at any one time. E.g, people might priories altruism or a happy life or leisure over financial success and power. Some sociologists, such as Taylor, Walton and young, think that he underestimates the amount of middle and upper class crime while over estimating working class crime.
• Merton has also been criticised for failing to explain crimes that do not produce material rewards and for ignoring the role of subcultures and illegitimate opportunites in crime and deviance

Question 24

Illegitimate opportunity structure

Answer 24

• the idea of strain between goals and means had a very significant impact on the writings of coward and ohlin, who owed much to the ideas of Merton. They agreed with Merton that lack of opportunity in the legitimate opportunity structure was a case of crime. However, they argues that Merton had failed to to appreciate that there was a parallel opportunity structure to the legal one, called the illegitimate opportunity structure. By this they meant for some subcultures in society, a regular illegal career was available, with recognised illegal means of obtaining societies goals. Where there was organised crime young people could look to crime for a successful career

Question 25

Coward and ohlin

Answer 25

-according to coward and ohlin, the illegal opportunity structure had three possible adaptations or subcultures.
1. Criminal
2. Conflict
3. Retreatist

Question 26

Criminal - coward and ohlin

Answer 26

• there is a thriving local criminal subculture, with successful role models. Young offenders can ‘work their way up the ladder’ in the criminal hierarchy. Young people were often attracted to a criminal career because they could see examples of people from the same background as them who had become successful career criminals enjoying all the trappings of success. They often recruited when young by the organisations and if they prove to be dedicated and resourceful are given opportunities to take their criminal careers further

Question 27

Conflict - cloward and ohlin

Answer 27

• there is no local criminal subculture to provide a career opportunity but territorial gangs exist which recruit or press gang young people in the neighbourhood into their service. These gangs often engage in violence against one another because violence is a means of achieving ‘respect’ or status for young people. This respect may be substitute for qualifications or a well paid job, either in mainstream employment or in criminal organisations

Question 28

Retreatist - cloward and ohlin

Answer 28

• this tends to occur where individuals have no opportunity or ability to engage in either of the other two subcultures or to achieves success in legitimate ways. They are ‘double failures’ and the result is a retreat into alcohol or drugs, spending their time with others who have dropped out of society in a similar way

Question 29

Evaluation of cloward and ohlin

Answer 29

• contemporary sociological research suggest that there is some organised crime in Britain and other western societies. A good example of this is given in Hobbs book. Research by ruggiero and khan, based on interviews with 110 uk, found some evidence of criminal careers being available for those who wanted to make money out of drug dealing. However, all the above researchers stress that large scale organised crime is limited in the uk and what there is trends to be loose knit networks rather than well structured organised. Most professional criminals are more like individuals entrepreneurs than employees. Cloward and ohlin theory also shares some of the weaknesses of Merton original theory. It is difficult to accept that such a neat distinction into three clear categories occurs in real life. E.g, there may an overlap between criminal subcultures and retreatist subcultures.

Question 30

Status frustration and subculture

Answer 30

• cohen drew upon both Mertons ideas of strain and ethnographic ideas of the Chicago school of sociology. Cohen was particularly interested in the fact that much offending behaviour was not economically motivated and did not therefore seem to fit mertons idea of the innovator who tried to achieve financial success by non legal means. It was therefore non Unitarian crime. Examples of this type of crime include vandalism and violence that is not linked to theft or robbery. Cohen also noted that much delinquent behaviour group activity. Mentions theory explain why some individuals might be motivated to commit crime, but not what crimes often took place in groups or gangs
• according to cohen, ‘lower class’ boys strove to emulate middle class values and aspirations, but lacked the means to attain success. Their upbringing did not equip them to succeed at school, so they found it difficult to get status from exam success. This led to starts frustration - that is, a sense of personal failure and inadequacy. The result was that they rejected those very values and patterns of ‘acceptable’ behaviour within which they could not be successful. He suggests that school is the key area for playing out of his drama. Lower class children are much more likely to feel humiliated. In an attempt to gain status, they ‘invert’ traditional middle class values by behaving badly and engaging in a variety of antisocial behaviours. By doing so they gain status from members of their peer groups who have adopted similar values

Question 31

Evaluation of cohen

Answer 31

• Cohens theory has been influential in studied of delinquency, gangs and subcultures generally and offered a plausible explanation for some offending. Box, however suggests that it may only apply to a minority of offenders who originally accepted mainstream values and then turn against them.
• mille suggested that opposition to mainstream values was more widespread in the working class because w/c culture does not correspond to the largely m/c environment of schools. Cohen theory is limited because it only attempts to explain male delinquency and says nothing about young female offenders whose delinquency may have different causes. Cohen also bases his explanation upon success and failure at school and underplays the significance of relationships outside of school, which may play a bigger role in the formation of subcultures

Question 32

Critiques of subcultural theory

Answer 32

• matza and Skye’s
• the seducation of crime
• Neo tribes
• gangs and subcultures

Question 33

Matza and Skye’s

Answer 33

• subcultural theory in general and cohens work in particular has been criticised by the American sociologist matza. Matza argues that there was no distinctive subcultural values, rather that all groups in society used a shared set of subterranean values. Subterranean values are values at the margins of society, which exist in leisure and mildly deviant activities, particularly leisure activities. They value spontaneity, a degree of rebellion and self expression which sometimes leads to people straying outside societies norms. The key thing was that, most of the time, people control these deviant desires. They only rarely emerge. People suspend observance of mainstream values but they don’t reject them all together.
• matza argues that very few individuals are committed to subcultural values. Most ‘drift’ in and out of subcultures, conforming to mainstream values most of the time

Question 34

The seductions of crime

Answer 34

• most of the approaches seek to explain deviant behaviour by looking for some rational reason why the subculture might have been developed. Recent postmodern approaches reject this explanation for behaviour. Katz, e.g, argues that crime is seductive - young males get drawn into it, not because of any process of rejection but because it is thrilling. In a similar manner, lyng, agues that young males like taking risk as and engaging in ‘edge work’. By edge work, he means going right to the edge of acceptable behaviour and flirting with danger

Question 35

Neo tribes

Answer 35

• maffesoli, introduced a postmodernist innovation in understanding subcultures, with his argument for the existence of Neo tribes

Question 36

Gangs or subcultures

Answer 36

• the most widely publicised type of subculture is the juvenile gang. But, despite the widespread media coverage of youth gangs, which gives the impression of widespread gang membership, only about 6 to 9% of young people claim to belong to have ever belonged to a ‘gang’ and just 2% claim to carry or to every carry a knife.