functionalists and marxists Flashcards
anomie
normlessness
impact of anomie on society
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)
while functionalists see too much crime as —- society, they also see crime as —– and —-
a- destabilising
b- inevitable
c- universal
2 main positive functions of crime to durkheim
boundary maintenance
adaption and change
boundary maintenance
Durkheim - unites its members in condemnation of wrongdoer and reinforces commitment to shared values
adaption and change (durkheim)
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)
Kingsley Davis ‘ safety valve
prostitution acts as a safety valve to relieve mens sexual frustrations without threatening the monogamous nuclear family
how does Polsky develop Davis’ safety valve
pornography safely channels a variety of sexual desires away from alternatives (adultery etc) that would be a greater threat to nuclear family
Cohen: crime is a warning
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
criticism of durkheims functions of crimes (4)
- 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)
who developed strain theory
merton !
for merton, deviance is a result of a strain between two things:
1- the goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve
2- what the institutional structure allows them to achieve legitimately
what does merton mean by ‘the strain and the anomie
strain between cultural goal of money success and lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve it produces frustration
- leads to pressure to deviate
according to merton, why is the pressure to deviate further increased in American culture
puts more emphasis on achieving success at any price than upon doing so by legitimate means
five types of adaptation to strain
conformity
innovation
ritualism
retreats
rebellion
ritualism
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
retreatism
reject both goals and legitimate means and become dropouts
- vagrants, outcasts, drunks, drug addicts
rebellion
reject societies goals and means but replace them with new ones in a desire to bring about revolutionary change
evaluation of merton strain theory
four
- 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
utilitarian crimes
crime motivated by money
marxists key points on crime (4)
- 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
Gordon on crime being criminogenic
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
Chambliss on law creation (marxist)
laws that protect ruling class more obscure than in 3rd world countries
- laws protecting trade unions loosely implemented than laws governing property right
who evaluates/develops Chambliss on his idea that laws protect ruling class more than wc
Snider - laws that are set up o hep wc are a smokecreen designed to disguise exploitation to which they are subjected
explain marxist idea of selective law enforcement
- enforced more strictly among poor (partygate)
-corporate crime more leniently dealt with if prosecuted - financial crimes by poor almost always pursued by law enforcement
evaluation of marxist view of crime (5)
- 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
neo marxists vs marxists
marxists - deterministic (due to capitalism)
neo-marxists - voluntaristic (ppl commit crime because of choice and free will)
what are neo-marxists influenced by
interactionism and labelling theory
