Functionalist, Strain and Subcultural Theories

Question 1

Durkheim functionalist theory
How do functionalist see society?

Answer 1

Society is based on value consensus where members of a society share a common culture which is a set of shared norms, values, beliefs, and goals.

Question 2

How is social solidarity maintained and achieved?

Answer 2

Socialisation which instill shared culture into members and social control, including rewards and sanctions and punishments.

Question 3

Why do functionalist see crime as inevitable in society?

Answer 3

Every known society has some level of crime and deviance, Durkheim crime is normal and an integral part of all healthy societies.

Question 4

Why is crime and deviance found in all societies?
2 reasons

Answer 4

Not everyone is equally effectively socialised into the shed norms and values so some individuals will be pray deviate
There is a diversity of liars and values where different groups develop their own subcultures and norms and values which may be seen as deviant.

Question 5

What is anomie

Answer 5

when governing behaviour becomes weaker unless clear because modern societies have a complex specialised division of labour which leads to individuals becoming increasingly different from one another which weakens shared culture.

Question 6

What are positive functions of crime according to functionalists?

Answer 6

Boundary maintenance
Adoption and change

Question 7

What is boundary maintenance

Answer 7

Crime produces a reaction from society uniting its members in condemning the wrong and re-reporting their commitment to share norms.

Question 8

How does Durkheim explain the function of punishment?
Boundary maintenance

Answer 8

This is not to make the wrong do a suffer or no way nor is it to remove crime from society. It is to reaffirm society shared rules and reinforce social solidarity.

Question 9

How is boundary maintenance used in society?

Answer 9

through the rituals of the courtroom which dramatised wrongdoing and publicly shamed and stigmatises the offender. This reaffirms the values of the law abiding majority and discourages others from rule breaking.

Question 10

What is Adaption and change

Answer 10

Who change starts with an act of deviance. individuals with new ideas values and ways of living must not be completely stopped by social control and there must be scope for them to challenge and change existing norms and values.

Question 11

How much new ideas and values lead to deviance?

Answer 11

Their values may give rise to a new culture and morality and if those of new ideas are suppressed society will stagnate and be unable to make a necessary adaptive changes.

Question 12

Durkheim and the desirable amount of crime

Answer 12

Too much crime threatens to tear the bonds of society apart and two little means that society is oppressing and controlling its members too much stifling individual freedom and preventing change.

Question 13

Other functions of crime in society
Kingsley Davis and crime as a safety valve

Answer 13

Davis argues that prostitution acts as a safety valve for the release of men’s section frustrations without frightening the monogamous nuclear family.

Question 14

Other functions of crime
Albert Cohen and crime as a warning sign

Answer 14

Cohen identifies that crime is a warning that an institution is not functioning properly. High rates of Truancy means that they’re are problems with the education system and that policy makers need to make appropriate changes.

Question 15

Other functions of crime
Kai Erickson and society organised to promote deviance

Answer 15

He argues that the function of agencies of social control such as the police may actually be to sustain a certain level of crime rather than to get rid of it completely.

Question 16

How do societies manage and regulate deviance rather than eliminating it entirely?

Answer 16

Demonstrations, carnivals festivals and student rage weeks all licence misbehaviour that in other context might be punished. This is them way of coping with the strains of the transition from charted to adulthood.

Question 17

Criticism of functionalist theory of crime and deviance

Answer 17

Don’t offer a way of knowing how much is the right amount of crime.

Ignores how crime and deviance may affect different groups or individuals within society.

Doesn’t always promote solidarity leading to people becoming more isolated.

Question 18

Mertons strain theory
What do strain theorist argue about deviance?

Answer 18

They argue that people engage in behaviour when they are unable to achieve socially approved goals bi legitimate means.

Question 19

Mertons explanation of deviance

Answer 19

Was explained by the combination of structural factors, Societies unequal opportunity structure
and cultural factors, the strong emphasis on success goals and the weaker emphasis on using legitimate means to achieve them.

Question 20

The American dream

Answer 20

This ideology tells Americans that their society is meritocratic where anyone who makes effort can get ahead however many disadvantage groups are denied opportunities to achieve legitimately.

Question 21

The result of disadvantaged groups being unable to achieve legitimately

Answer 21

produces frustration and this creates a pressure to resort to illegitimate means such as crime and deviance. The pressure to deviate is increased side effects that American culture puts more emphasis on achieving success at any price.

Question 22

Deviant adaptions to strain

Answer 22

Theory to explain some of the patterns of deviance found in society. an individuals position in a social structure affects the way they adapt or respond to the strain.

Question 23

5 types of adaptions depending on whether an individual accepts rejects or replaces approved cultural goals

Answer 23

Conformity
Innovation
Ritualism
Retreatism
Rebellion

Question 24

What is conformity?

Answer 24

Individuals except the culturally approved goals and strive to achieve them legitimately
Middle-class individuals who have good opportunities to achieve

Question 25

What is innovation?

Answer 25

Individuals except the goal of money success but use new illegitimate means such as theft or fraud to achieve it

Question 26

What is a ritualism?

Answer 26

Individuals give up on trying to achieve the goals but have internalised the legitimate means and so they follow the rules for their own sake

Question 27

What is retreat ism?

Answer 27

Individuals reject by the goals and the legitimate means and become dropouts. This includes outcasts vagrant tramps and drug addicts.

Question 28

What is a rebellion?

Answer 28

Individuals reject the existing societies goals and means, but they replace them with new ones in a decided to bring about revolutionary change

Question 29

Criticism of strain theory

Answer 29

It ignores the power of the ruling class to make an enforced laws in ways that criminalised the poor.
Assumes there is a valley consensus and ignores the possibility that many might not share this goal
Only account for crime for monetary gain and not crimes of violence

Question 30

Subcultures stain theories of crime and deviance
What’s their perspective of deviance

Answer 30

They see deviance as the product of a delinquent subculture with different values from those of mainstream society subcultures provide an alternative opportunity structure for those who denied the chance to achieve by legitimate means

Question 31

Status frustration and Albert Cohen
Deviance as a lower class phenomenon

Answer 31

Results from the inability of those in the lower classes to achieve mainstream success goals by legitimate means.

Question 32

Albert Cohen and deviance among working class boys

Answer 32

They face anomie in the middle class dominated school system they suffer from cultural deprivation and lack the skills to achieve their inability to succeed leaving them at the bottom of the official status hierarchy.

Question 33

The result of being unable to achieve status by legitimate means in education

Answer 33

Status frustration, they face a problem of adjustment to the low status they are given by mainstream society. They resolve their frustration by rejecting mainstream middle-class values.