Functionalist, Strain and Subcultural Theories

Question 1

Who is the main Functionalist Sociologists?

Answer 1

Durkheim

Question 2

What are Durkheim’s two positive functions of crime? What do they mean?

Answer 2

Boundary maintenance
- Reaffirms societies shared values

Adaption and Change
- Deviant acts can contribute to societal advancement

Question 3

What does Davis argue about prostitution?

Answer 3

It acts as a safety valve for mens sexual frustration without threatening the monogamy of the nuclear family

Question 4

What does Polsky argue about pornography?

Answer 4

It channels desires away from things such as adultery that threatens the monogamy of the nuclear family

Question 5

What does Erikson argue about social control agencies?

Answer 5

They promote a maintain a certain level of deviance within society

Question 6

Why does society maintain and regulate deviance according to Functionalists?

Answer 6

It acts a venting system for those discontented in society

Question 7

How is Functionalism criticised?

Answer 7

It doesn’t state who deviance is functional for. Murder creates solidarity between people but also kills one

Question 8

What are the two elements in Merton’s strain theory?

Answer 8

• Structural factors

- Cultural factors

Question 9

What is Merton’s key trigger of strain?

Answer 9

The strain between what culture wants people to achieve and what the system legitimately will let them achieve

Question 10

What’s Merton’s key example of strain theory? Why?

Answer 10

The American Dream, they’re told America is meritocratic but things such as discrimination and inadequate schooling reduces the meritocracy in society.

Question 11

What are Merton’s five adaptions to strain?

Answer 11

• Conformity - People achieve things through the allowed means
• Innovation - People achieve things through illegitimate means such as fraud
• Ritualism - People internalise the legitimate means but give up on success, dead end jobs
• Retreatism - Individuals reject both the means and goals of achievement, dropouts
• Rebellion - Individuals reject the goals and means but adopt new ones, revolutionary ones

Question 12

Why is Merton’s use of crime statistics criticised?

Answer 12

They’re taken at face value which means the working-class are over emphasised

Question 13

How do Marxists criticise Merton?

Answer 13

They argue it ignores the power of the bourgeoisie

Question 14

How is Merton’s use of value consensus criticised?

Answer 14

It assumes there is one present in society

Question 15

How is Merton’s use of Utilitarian crimes criticised?

Answer 15

He only uses utilitarian crimes, ignoring white-collar crimes

Question 16

How is Merton’s use of individuals adaption criticised?

Answer 16

It ignores group deviance such as delinquent subcultures

Question 17

Who proposed Status Frustration?

Answer 17

K. Cohen

Question 18

How does K. Cohen criticise Merton?

Answer 18

• Merton sees deviance as individual, Cohen points out it’s committed by groups
• Merton focuses on utilitarian crime, whereas things such as vandalism and assault may have no economic motive

Question 19

What class and gender is K.Cohens status frustration directed at?

Answer 19

Working-class boys

Question 20

What are the values of the alternative status hierarchy?

Answer 20

The inverse of mainstream society

Question 21

According to K. Cohen, what do boys create that allows them to fulfil aspects of the alternative status hierarchy?

Answer 21

Illegitimate opportunity structure

Question 22

What is an advantage of K. Cohen’s status frustration theory?

Answer 22

It offers an explanation of non-utilitarian deviance

Question 23

What is a disadvantage of K. Cohen’s status frustration theory that’s shared with Merton’s strain theory?

Answer 23

It assumes that working-class boys start off with the same goals as middle-class boys

Question 24

Who proposed the three subcultures?

Answer 24

Cloward and Ohlin

Question 25

Why does Cloward and Ohlin argue different subcultural responses occur?

Answer 25

Unequal access to illegitimate opportunity structures

Question 26

What are the three subcultures proposed by Cloward and Ohlin?

Answer 26

• Criminal
  Longstanding criminal order, youths become apprentices
• Conflict
  High population turnover, no established crime hierarchy
• Retreatist
  ‘Double failures’ that suck at both legit and illegit opportunities, junkies.

Question 27

Why is Cloward and Ohlin’s use of the working-class criticised?

Answer 27

It over-predicts working-class crime

Question 28

How would a Marxist criticise Cloward and Ohlin?

Answer 28

It ignores the wide power structure in society

Question 29

What’s an advantage of Cloward and Ohlin’s explanation for working-class deviance?

Answer 29

It distinguishes between the types by placing them into subcultures

Question 30

How does South’s research into the drug trade criticise Cloward and Ohlin?

Answer 30

He found that the drug trade consists of all three, kingpins, henchmen and users. People can be more than one on the hierarchy but in Cloward and Ohlin’s theory they could only belong to one

Question 31

What have strain theories been called? Why?

Answer 31

Reactive theories, they explain subculture formation as a result of the failure to achieve mainstream success

Question 32

How are reactive theories criticised?

Answer 32

They assume everyone starts with the same goals

Question 33

What did Messner and Rosenfeld propose? What does this refer to?

Answer 33

Institutional anomie theory, it focuses on how deviance is inevitable in free-market capitalism because it’s an ‘anything goes’ mentality

Question 34

How does Savelsberg (1995) support Messner and Rosenfield?

Answer 34

Post-communist societies in Europe saw a rise in crime rates due to the replacement of communist values with western ones