Functionalist view on C&D

Question 1

What are the 3 positive functions that crime performs for society (Durkheim)

Answer 1

1. Social integration
2. Social regulation
3. Social change

Question 2

Crime’s positive functions (Durkheim) - Social Integration

Answer 2

• Crime strengthens social cohesion
• when particularly horrific crimes have been committed the whole community bands together in outrage and the sense of belonging to a community is therefore strengthened
• EG after the death of Sarah Everard people across the UK put candlelit vigils on their doorstep to remember women lost to violence, including the then Prime Minister BoJo (2021)

Question 3

Crime’s Positive functions (Durkheim) - Social regulation

Answer 3

• Crime reaffirms the boundaries of acceptable behaviour (boundary maintenance)
• In contemporary society Newspapers and the media perform the publicity function by essentially broadcasting the boundaries of acceptable behaviour, warning others not to breach the walls of the law.
• Each time the police arrest a criminal they are making it clear to the rest of society that their actions are deemed unacceptable.

Question 4

Crime’s Positive Functions (Durkheim) - Social change

Answer 4

• When the law is clearly out of step with the feelings and values of the majority, legal reform is necessary
• Crime & deviance tests the boundaries of permitted actions and therefore provide a crucial function of helping the law reflect the wishes of the population and legitimising social change
• EG the Suffragettes

Question 5

A little amount of crime is necessary and inevitable - Society of Saints

Answer 5

• society will eventually be populated by perfect individuals but deviance would still exist as the general standards of behaviour would be so high that the slightest slip up would be considered a serious offence
• EG showing bad taste / being impolite = deviance and strong disapproval

Question 6

Crime is inevitable and necessary - social change

Answer 6

• Defiance allows social change to take place
• All social change begins with an act of defiance
• yesterday’s defiance becomes today’s norm

-EG women wearing trousers for the first time would have been considered deviant but now it is the norm

Question 7

Crime is necessary and inevitable - commitment to society

Answer 7

• Individuals are not 100% constrained by society
• Not every member of society can be equally committed to the collective sentiments (the shared values and moral beliefs of society)
• This is because they are all exposed to different influences and circumstances.