Functionalist View of Crime and Deviance

Question 1

What is social control

Answer 1

Mechanism which include rewards for conformity and punishment of deviance

Question 2

What did Durkheim believe was the reason why crime and deviance is culturally universal

Answer 2

• Lack of socialisation into the shared norms and values of society
• Diversity of lifestyle and values within culture and subcultures

Question 3

What were the 2 positive functions of crime Durkheim argued

Answer 3

1) adaptation and change
2) reaffirming the boundaries ( and social cohesion )

Question 4

What does reaffirming the boundaries mean

Answer 4

Every time a person breaks the law they are taken to court . Publicity depending on the seriousness of the case reaffirms those boundaries

Question 5

What does changing the values mean

Answer 5

A person is taken to court and charged with a crime , a degree of sympathy occurs for the person prosecuted . Results in a public outcry

Question 6

What does Davis (1937) argue

Answer 6

Prostitution acts as a safety valve for the release of men’s sexual frustrations without threatening the nuclear family

Question 7

What does Polsky (1967)

Answer 7

Pornography safely “channels” a variety of sexual desires away from alternatives such as adultery , which poses a greater threat to family

Question 8

What does Cohen argue

Answer 8

Another function of deviance is a warning that an institution is not functioning properly

Question 9

What does Erikson argue (1966)

Answer 9

If deviance performs positive social functions , then perhaps it means society is actually organised so as to promote deviance

Question 10

What are some criticism of functionalist view - durkheim

Answer 10

• Durkheim - A society required a certain amount of crime , however he offers no way of knowing how much is the right amount
• Functionalism ignores how crime might affect different groups or individuals for example victims
• Crime doesn’t always promote solidarity . It may in many cases have the opposite effect by leading people to become more isolated .
• Doesn’t mention specifics about class , age gender etc.

Question 11

What is strain theory

Answer 11

People engage in deviant behaviour when they’re unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means

Question 12

What’s Merton (1938) theory

Answer 12

• Adapts Durkheims idea of anomie
  • Anomie is based on 2 elements :
• Structural factors : society’s unequal opportunity structure e.g. education
• Cultural factors : Strong emphasis on success goals and the weaker emphasis on using legitimate means to achieve them ( THE AMERICAN DREAM )

Question 13

What does Merton (1938) argue about how deviance is the result of strain between 2 things

Answer 13

• The goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve
• What the institutional structure of society allows them to achieve legitimately

Question 14

What does Merton (1938) argue that the 5 reactions to the strain are

Answer 14

Conformity
Ritualism
Innovation
Retreatism
Rebellion

Question 15

What does innovation mean

Answer 15

Links to crime
Achieve success through any means , legitimate or illegitimate

Question 16

What does retreatism mean

Answer 16

Links to deviance
Give up on achieving success

Question 17

What are evaluations of mertons theory

Answer 17

• Shows how both normal and deviant behaviour can arise from the same mainstream goals in the pursuit of financial success
• He assumes most people accepts the goals - some people may value job satisfaction
• Marxists :
  He fails to look at the power of the ruling class which favours the rich and criminalises the poor

Question 18

what does subcultural strain theorist cohen (1955) state

Answer 18

Status frustration
- cohen sees deviance as lower class
- result of not being able to achieve success goals by legitimate means - education
- as a result they suffer status frustration
- they resolve this by rejecting mainstream values and joining delinquent subculture which inverts values of mainstream society
- subculture function to offer boys and alternative status hierarchy in which they can achieve through illegitimate opportunities structure
delinquent actions = gain status

Question 19

what are evaluations to cohens theory

Answer 19

• assumes working class boys started off sharing success goals possible these boys never had goals therefore never felt like failures
• Feminisit - ignored female crimes
• critical race theorists - ignored ethnicity

Question 20

what do subcultural strain theory Cloward and Ohlin (1960) argue

Answer 20

• Deviance is the result of working class youths being denied the legitimate opportunities to achieve money success.
• Not everyone turns to innovation ( utilitarian crimes )
• But not everyone has the means to access illegitimate criminal subcultures.
• Different neighbourhoods provide different illegitimate opportunities for young people to team criminal skills.
  • criminal subcultures - utilitarian crime
  • conflict subcultures - social disorganisation and gangs
  • retreatist subcultures - illegal drug use

Question 21

what are evaluations for subcultural strain theorists cloward and ohlin

Answer 21

• ignores crimes of the wealthy
• ignore wider power structure , including who makes and enforces the law
  Miller :
  • deviance is widespread in the lower class , he argues that this arises out of an attempt to achieve their own goals , not mainstream ones
  South :
  • Drug trade is a mixture of both disorganised crime , like conflict subculture and mafia style criminal subcultures
  • it would not be possible to belong to more than one of these subcultures
  Matza :
  • the most delinquent are not strongly committed to their subculture , but merely drift in and out of delinquency

Question 22

what does recent strain theorist messner and rosenfelds (2001) argue

Answer 22

Focuses on the American Dream
Its obsession with money success and winner takes all mentality , exerts pressure by encouraging an anomic cultural environment in which people are encouraged to adopt an anything goes mentality in persue of wealth
• Societies based on free market capitalism and lacking adequate welfare provision , such as USA , high crime rate is inevitable

Question 23

what do recent strain theorists Downes and Hansen (2006) argue

Answer 23

• survery of crime rates and welfare spending in 18 countries
• Societies that spent more on welfare has lower rates of imprisonment

Question 24

What does recent strain theorist Savelsberg (1995)

Answer 24

• Applied strain theory to post communist societies in eastern europe , which saw a rapid rise in crime after the fall of communism in 1989.