Functionalist Theories of crime

Question 1

What is formal social control?

Answer 1

• Based on written rules and laws associated with how society regulates and controls people’s behaviour and actions
• e.g. school, law, work

Question 2

What is informal social control?

Answer 2

• Based on unwritten rules and processes such as approval from others enforced by social pressure
• e.g. media, friends, family, religion

Question 3

What are the functions of crime according to Durkheim?

AO1

Answer 3

1. Re-affirming boundaries: media and public shaming shows society what will happen if they break the laws e.g. child abuse cases cause public outrage
2. Changing values: every so often when people are taken to court, important questions are raised about the justice system reflecting changes in tme, values, and ideas e.g. Kirinjit Ahluwalia got a life sentence for murdering her abuser but after appeals and campaigns it was reduced to manslaughter
3. Social cohesion: crime also strengthen social cohesion, when horrific crimes are committed, the community comes together e.g. community united to clean up after 2011 London Riots
4. Safety valve: deviance acts as a pressure release - allows individuals to express themselves in ways that aren’t criminal e.g. using escorts instead of prostitutes

Question 4

What is Durkheim’s view of crime in general?

AO1

Answer 4

• While limited crime is healthy for society, too much crime will lead to anomie
• In periods of great social change and stress, the collective conscience is weakened.
• When this happens, people may be freed from their social control and adhere to their own selfish interests (Egoism)
• When collective conscience collapses and anomie exists, crime rates skyrocket

Question 5

How can we analyse Durkheim?

AO3

Answer 5

2011 London Riots - due to the chaos people began looting shops

Question 6

How can we evaluate Durkheim?

AO3

Answer 6

• Lea and Young: Ignores the impact of crime on the victims involved - boundaries are reaffirmed when horrific crimes happen but for these boundaries to be reaffirmed something horrific has to happen to someone
• Walton and Young: its not the crime itself but the publicising of the crime that reaffirms boundaries
• There is not a value consensus across everyone

Question 7

What is Merton’s theory of crime?

AO1/2

Answer 7

There is a strain between the consensus of social goals e.g. American dream, wealth, nice house, etc and the struggle to achieve these goals through socially approved means.
5 responses to the strain:
1. Rebellion: individuals create new goals and new ways of achieving them e.g. creating religious sects with goal of elightenment/holiness
2. Conformity: individual conforms to the norms and values and continues with the same goals e.g. non criminal/deviant average person
3. Innovation: individual creates new methods of achieving goals e.g. drug dealing, mafia
4. Ritualism: individual abandons the goals but still conforms to society’s norms and values e.g. employee who has no hope/goal of promotion but continues with day to day life
5. Retreatism: individual gives up on goals and norms and values of society e.g. drop outs, addicts

Question 8

How can we analyse Merton?

AO3

Answer 8

• Ethnic minorities and WC are more likely to become innovators e.g. join gangs - commit crime to achieve material goals
• Important contribution to sociology - explains why people commit crime which helps us stop it

Question 9

How can we evaluate Merton?

AO3

Answer 9

• Messner and Rosenheld: ethnocentric - Merton assumes there’s a value consensus of material goals but some cultures value family and domestic goals over careers
• Ignores non-utilitarian crimes e.g. vandalism
• Exaggerates blue collar crime and underestimates white collar crime - these people already have american dream (are in MC positions) but continue crimes

Question 10

What is Hirschi’s theory of crime?

AO1/2

Answer 10

Agrees that there are shared values and socialisation that causes people to not commit crime. These are the 4 controls in people’s lives that cause them to not commit crime:
1. Attachment: people are sensitive to the needs of people they are attached to and so obey the law e.g. women are less likely to commit crime as are typically most attached to family members and have most family attached to them
2. Commitment: to conventional activiites e.g. school, work make people not want to risk their commitments by being criminals/deviant e.g. employed people and parents are less likely to commit crimes
3. Involvement: in activities mean people don’t have the time/ opportunity to commit crimes e.g. youth clubs cause decline in knife crime
4. Belief: people share many beliefs such as respect for others, following the laws that cause them not to commit crimes e.g. encouraged by religious leaders

Question 11

How can we analyse Hirschi?

AO3

Answer 11

There are now more policies relating to control which reduce crime e.g. ASBOs, neighbourhood watch, zero tolerance policing

Question 12

How can we evaluate Hirschi?

AO3

Answer 12

• Doesn’t explain why someone can have all 4 controls and still commit crime e.g. Harold Shipman
• Attachment could be a reason why someone DOES commit crimes e.g. start selling drugs to be able to support family
• Identifies the vulnerable people who are most likely to commit crime allowing us to prevent them from doinh so

Question 13

What is Cohen’s theory?

AO1

Answer 13

Status fustation = anger due to being denied the opportunity to obtain status
- WC boys join gangs because their parents fail to equip them with the right skills to achieve in education - cultural deprivation
- Labelling and setting and streaming act as a extra barrier to them achieving in education
- This causes WC boys to experience status fustration and makes joining gangs the only solution
- These subcultures are more likely to occur in urban areas as the higher proportion of WC means gangs are more likely to have been formed

Question 14

How can we analyse Cohen?

AO3

Answer 14

NSPCC 2009: Young people join gangs as they are “attracted to the status and power it can give them” as well as other factors like peer pressure and gang membership making them feel protected. Young people are more likely to commit crimes as a group.

Question 15

How can we evaluate Cohen?

AO3

Answer 15

• Willis: the lads didn’t feel staus fustration as they completely rejected school, saw no point in getting qualifications, and had no desire to gain status through school
• Matza: overpredicts delinquency in WC subculture - young people have the potential to be delinquent but only a minority actually become delinquent. Most drift in and out of deviancy
• Feminists: ignores WC girls assuming delinquency is only a male issue
• If Cohen was right all WC boys would be delinquent but this isn’t the case - delinquency is not the norm, conformity is. Most WC boys grow up to accept school/workplace values even if they experience status fustration

Question 16

What do Cloward and Ohlin say about subcultures?

AO1/2

Answer 16

There is unequal access to illegitimate opportunities - people access different deviant subcultures based on the area they live in:
1. Criminal subculture: useful crime e.g. theft, occurs in areas with illegitimate opportunities like organised crimes - there are organised hierachies where diff people have diff tasks e.g. mafia, drug cartels
2. Conflict subculture: where there’s a lack of organised crime hierachies some turn to conflict subcultures. These engage in highly masculine activity and respect violence e.g. crips and bloods
3. Retreatist subculture: if failed to access the other subcultures they may retreat to substance addictions paid for by crimes like prostitution, gambling, etc. E.g. drug dependency and poverty crime

Question 17

How can we analyse Cloward Ohlin?

AO3

Answer 17

• Postcode wars are still ongoing - N17 (Tottenham) v N15 (Wood Green)
• Can be seen as provocative and hostile to throw up the ‘crip’ sign in Tottenham to this day

Question 18

How can we evaluate Cloward and Ohlin?

AO3

Answer 18

PROS:
- Unlike Cohen, they recognise that not every subculture is violent
- Miller: deviance is widespread in the WC because they attempt to achieve their own goals and not mainstream society’s

CONS:
- Ignores female deviancy
- It’s hard to believe all crime falls into just 3 distinct subcultures. South found that drug trade is a mix of disorganised and professional crime

Question 19

What is Miller’s view?

AO1/2

Answer 19

Crime and deviance are a distinctive WC subculture which has existed for centuries. It mainly relates to males and revolves around the focal concerns - these are why WC boys join criminal subcultures:
- Acceptance: they accept violence as a necessary part of life to look after themselves and their family
- Fatalism: accept their fate in becoming deviants and believe nothing can be done to stop this destiny
- Autonomy: attitue that they won’t let authority - especially police - push them around
- Masculinity: need to have a sense of manliness - crime shows that they are tough and helps them attract female attention
- Excitment: committing crimes gives them a sense of thrill
- Smartness: crime allows them to gain street smarts and also helps them look good - can steal/use illegal money to buy designer clothes

Question 20

How can we analyse Miller?

AO3

Answer 20

• In the 2011 London Riots showed autonomy attacking police and burning police cars
• Archer: nike identities - leads WC boys to join criminal subcultures for the focal concern of smartness
• Sugarman: also identifies fatalism as a part of the WC subculture which led to their underperformance in education (arguably what sets them towards a life of crime)

Question 21

How can we evaluate Miller?

AO3

Answer 21

• This may not be exclusive to WC and applies to other male subcultures
• Doesn’t consider female criminality

Question 22

How does Matza evaluate subcultural theorists?

AO3

Answer 22

• There’s some similarity between the values held by delinquents and those of mainstream society e.g. delinquents can be outraged by major crime in the same way as wider society
• When caught, many show remorse, guilt, and shame - techniques of neutraliations
• They have little serious commitment to delinquent values and many grow out of it as they grow older

Question 23

What are the evaluations of functionalist-based explanations of crime and deviance?

AO3

Answer 23

• Taylor et al: Matza assumes there’s initial value consensus but not everyone is committed to mainstream values e.g. some people pick low paid jobs they genuinely enjoy over more high paid jobs they dislike
• Only explains WC deviancy
• Relies on evidence from official crime statistics which are skewed as certain groups are more likely to be detected for crime
• Implies WC youth are socialised into values centred around deviancy but if this were true then all WC would crime - most don’t and the few who do grow out of it

Question 24

What are some examples of criminal subcultures?

AO2

Answer 24

• Mods and Rockers: 2 conflicting groups that caused media outrage and a moral panic in 1964 due to their delinquency
• Football hooliganism: aim to ‘reclaim territory’ and create a sense of community