Functionalist, Strain And Subcultural Theories Flashcards
Durkheim
Crime is inevitable because not all are socialised equally and numerous subcultures have diff values.
Crime has 2 roles -
- boundary maintenance
- adaption and change
Davies
Prostituion acts as a safety valve for mens sexual fustration.
Cohen (other roles)
Crime acts as a warning system. For example, high truancy acts a warning thats theres something wrong with education
Criticisms for Durkheim
- no suggestion to how much crime is the right amount
- ignores effects on the victims
Merton
Strain theory -
As people struggle to reach societal goals, they must turn to illegal ways to obtain them due to this strain, or just conform. There is a ‘pressure to deviate.’
5 responses to the pressure to deviate:
- conform
- innovate
- ritualism
- retreatism
- rebellion
Criticism of merton
Ignores non-utilitarian crimes (no economic gain)
Cohen
Status frustration
as w/c cant achieve at school, they become frustrated, they resolve this by joining a deviant subculture. This subculture has an ‘alternative status hierachy’, subcultures values are hostility and deviance. The boys in the subculture create their own illegitmae opportunities, casuing crime.
Counter for Cohen
Assumes that the w/c had m/c values before they rejected them, ignores that maybe they never had those values, and never saw themselves as failures.
Cloward and Ohlin
not all respond to blocked opp’s by turning to crime as some cant. They say that different areas have different crime opportunities.
- Criminal
- Conflict
- Retreatist
Counters for Cloward and Ohlin
South - It’s possible to fit into more than one subculture, for example the drug trade is a mix of retreatists and criminal groups.
Messner and Rosenfeld
Instituional anomie theory
In societies based on the free market and inadequate welfare, crime is inevitable. Due to strain to get money as society is so focused on it.
Is Cohen a Subculturalist or a strain theoriest?
Subculturalist
