functionalists and marxists

Question 1

anomie

Answer 1

normlessness

Question 2

impact of anomie on society

Answer 2

as societies tend towards anomie the rules governing behaviour become weaker and less clear-cut

• weakens shared culture and collective conscience and higher levels of deviance (anomie a cause of suicide)

Question 3

while functionalists see too much crime as —- society, they also see crime as —– and —-

Answer 3

a- destabilising

b- inevitable

c- universal

Question 4

2 main positive functions of crime to durkheim

Answer 4

boundary maintenance

adaption and change

Question 5

boundary maintenance

Answer 5

Durkheim - unites its members in condemnation of wrongdoer and reinforces commitment to shared values

Question 6

adaption and change (durkheim)

Answer 6

Durkheim -
all change starts with deviance
if these new ideas are suppressed society would stagnate and would be unable to make necessary adaptive changes (therefore needs to be some change)

Question 7

Kingsley Davis ‘ safety valve

Answer 7

prostitution acts as a safety valve to relieve mens sexual frustrations without threatening the monogamous nuclear family

Question 8

how does Polsky develop Davis’ safety valve

Answer 8

pornography safely channels a variety of sexual desires away from alternatives (adultery etc) that would be a greater threat to nuclear family

Question 9

Cohen: crime is a warning

Answer 9

crime acts as a warning to highlight issue in society is not functioning properly

high rates of truancy - problems with education system and that changes must be made

Question 10

criticism of durkheims functions of crimes (4)

Answer 10

• no way of knowing what the appropriate amount of crime is
• just because crime does strengthen society etc doesn’t mean that’s why it is there in the first place
• looks at how it serves as a whole not how it affects smaller groups - isn’t ‘functional’ for the victim
• doesn’t always promote solidarity (forcing women inside for fear of attack)

Question 11

who developed strain theory

Answer 11

merton !

Question 12

for merton, deviance is a result of a strain between two things:

Answer 12

1- the goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve
2- what the institutional structure allows them to achieve legitimately

Question 13

what does merton mean by ‘the strain and the anomie

Answer 13

strain between cultural goal of money success and lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve it produces frustration
- leads to pressure to deviate

Question 14

according to merton, why is the pressure to deviate further increased in American culture

Answer 14

puts more emphasis on achieving success at any price than upon doing so by legitimate means

Question 15

five types of adaptation to strain

Answer 15

conformity
innovation
ritualism
retreats
rebellion

Question 16

ritualism

Answer 16

give up on trying to achieve goals but have internalised legitimate means and so follow rules for their own sake
lower middle class office workers in dead-end routine jobs

Question 17

retreatism

Answer 17

reject both goals and legitimate means and become dropouts
- vagrants, outcasts, drunks, drug addicts

Question 18

rebellion

Answer 18

reject societies goals and means but replace them with new ones in a desire to bring about revolutionary change

Question 19

evaluation of merton strain theory

four

Answer 19

• ignores people who commit crimes who have American dream aka white collar crime
• deterministic - creates issues of free will and judicial system
• assumes value consensus
• only accounts for utilitarian crimes

Question 20

utilitarian crimes

Answer 20

crime motivated by money

Question 21

marxists key points on crime (4)

Answer 21

• statistics shouldn’t be trusted - not representative
• criminogenic - capitalist system encourages crime
• law creation - made by elite to work in their interests
• selective law enforcement

Question 22

Gordon on crime being criminogenic

Answer 22

marxist
- crime is found in all social classes - rational response to capitalism
- rich: to make a profit
- poor: theyre exploited and blocked from achieveing mainstream goals capitalism encourages

Question 23

Chambliss on law creation (marxist)

Answer 23

laws that protect ruling class more obscure than in 3rd world countries
- laws protecting trade unions loosely implemented than laws governing property right

Question 24

who evaluates/develops Chambliss on his idea that laws protect ruling class more than wc

Answer 24

Snider - laws that are set up o hep wc are a smokecreen designed to disguise exploitation to which they are subjected

Question 25

explain marxist idea of selective law enforcement

Answer 25

• enforced more strictly among poor (partygate)
  -corporate crime more leniently dealt with if prosecuted
• financial crimes by poor almost always pursued by law enforcement

Question 26

evaluation of marxist view of crime (5)

Answer 26

• deterministic
• ignores gender and ethnicity
• not all capitalits societies have high crime rates (switzerland)
• crime in communist countries like cuba
• ruling class dont get away will all crimes

Question 27

neo marxists vs marxists

Answer 27

marxists - deterministic (due to capitalism)
neo-marxists - voluntaristic (ppl commit crime because of choice and free will)

Question 28

what are neo-marxists influenced by

Answer 28

interactionism and labelling theory