The Functionalist Theory Flashcards
According to Durkheim, what four characteristics does crime have?
Crime is:
Inevitable – it will always exist, it can be reduced, but not eliminated.
Universal – it exists in every society.
Relative – what is seen as criminal behaviour varies from society to society and over time.
Functional – a limited amount of crime can benefit the society because the experience of crime can strengthen social bonds.
Why does Durkheim say a small amount of crime necessary?
Because it performs vital functions for society:
It reaffirms the boundaries of acceptable behaviour through degrading ceremonies. This is particularly clear in societies where public punishments take place.
It maintains social cohesion - when particularly horrific crimes have been committed, the entire community draws together and the sense of belonging to a community is thereby strengthened., e.g. 9/11, 7/7.
It can lead to social progress by changing values - sometimes, when a person is taken to court and charged with a crime, a degree of sympathy is felt for them. The resulting public outcry signals a change in values – in time this leads to a change in the law.
It can provide a safety valve - deviance can provide a relatively harmless expression of dissatisfaction, e.g. prostitution.
To act as a warning device to show that society is malfunctioning - deviance is a way of showing that society is malfunctioning. Truants may indicate that something is wrong with the education part of society.
However, what does Durkheim state about the alternative reaction to times of great social change?
The collective conscience may be weakened. He called this anomie – a state of normlessness.
People are freed from social control and crime rates rocket as they start to look after their selfish interests rather than adhering to social values.
The only way the situation can be brought back under control is by re-imposing collective values.
Evaluate Durkheim
Strengths
He was first to analyse crime and deviance and point out their positive functions.
His work represented a huge breakthrough in understanding deviance, helping us to see that it’s in fact integral to society.
Weaknesses
Fails to explain what causes crime.
Doesn’t explain why certain people are more likely to commit crimes than others.
Fails to see that crime can be dysfunctions for some groups, e.g. elderly can become isolated as a result of staying indoors from fear of crime.
Ignores the concept of power, he fails to acknowledge that in society certain groups have the power to control the law and make the rules.
Explain Merton’s strain theory
Re-defined concept of anomie to mean a reaction to situations where A.D is impossible for the majority of the population to reach by legitimate means.
Merton claims that crime exists because everyone shares the same goals in life, but not all can achieve them through legitimate means.
ie) The American dream is shared by all member of society, but not all have the legitimate means (well-paid jobs, good education) to achieve it.
This results in a strain between people’s ambitions and their ability to achieve them so they are forced to turn to illegitimate means to achieve their goals.
Therefore, people are under pressure to deviate and Merton calls this the STRAIN TO ANOMIE
What are the 5 ways Merton says people can react to the pressure to achieve the American Dream?
1) Conformity – response of the majority, trying to achieve the A.D via legitimate means – going to school, getting good qualifications, working hard to get a promotion,…
2) Innovation – illegal means to achieve the A.D Innovators break the law to make money, e.g. drug dealing, burglary, robbery,…
3) Ritualism – deviant, but not criminal response to the A.D. Includes giving up on trying to achieve A.D, e.g. giving up on trying to get a pay rise.
4) Retreatism – criminal response, includes giving up on the A.D and turning to alcohol or drugs, e.g. ‘dropping out’ of society.
5) Rebellion – criminal response, trying to replace the A.D with another set of values, e.g. terrorism.
Evaluate Merton’s Strain Theory
Strengths:
Explains w/c crime.
Explains utilitarian crimes
Shows that in societies ie)US values money so people are likely to turn to crime to make money VS In Japan, respect for others is a major value so there is little criminal behaviour in Japan.
Weaknesses:
Takes OCS at face value.
Doesn’t explain why many members of the w/c don’t break the law.
Focuses on individuals not groups. Crime is often a group activity (e.g. gangs).
Assumes everyone shares the same values.
Fails to explain non-utilitarian crimes like vandalism.
Explain Albert Cohen’s subcultural theory
Developed in response to Merton’s strain theory’s failure to explain non-utilitarian crimes such as vandalism, fighting, drug use, etc.
Cohen argues that delinquent behaviour is most likely to develop among w/c boys who do badly at school.
They know they can not achieve success in or through education as their working class values are different to the middle class values promoted by the education system.
As a result, they suffer from status frustration – the anger and resentment felt because their aspirations are blocked.
Therefore, in order to achieve success and status, they form subcultures which can lead to crime such as vandalism, etc.
These subcultures invert the mainstream values, e.g. what the mainstream promotes, the subculture condemns, e.g. good school attendance is a mainstream value, so the subculture encourages truanting.
The subculture functions by offering its members an illegitimate opportunity structure through which they can achieve status.
Explain Nightingale – a study providing evidence for A. Cohen
Nightingale studied young black gangs in an inner city area of Philadelphia, USA.
His findings show that gang members want to achieve status through acquisition of latest consumer goods.
However, they are excluded from society educationally, economically and politically so they turn to crime to gain status.
Evaluate Cohen
Strengths:
Explains non-utilitarian crimes.
Strengthens the Functionalist theory by adding to Merton, by explaining that the response to the pressure to succeed can be a group response.
Weaknesses:
Assumes value consensus – that everyone shares the same norms and values.
Ignores female crime.
Explain Cloward and Ohlin’s – subcultural theory
They argue that different subcultures react differently to the members’ failure to succeed through legitimate means and this reacting depends on their unequal access to illegitimate opportunity structures. In other words, they fail to achieve success legitimately, e.g. through education, but then may not even have the illegitimate means to succeed, e.g. not knowing how to get involved in crime or anyone who can help them get involved in crime. Whether they have access to illegitimate opportunity structures depends on the neighbourhood they live in: Criminal subculture – in stable working class areas, with a developed criminal culture where status is gained through existing gang membership and crime is committed for financial gain. Conflict subculture – develops in areas with high population turnover where there is no established criminal subculture. The activities include anti-social behaviour such as vandalism, fighting, etc. Retreatist subculture – develops among those who are double failures – they’ve failed to succeed legitimately and illegitimately so focus on drug abuse and alcoholism.
Evaluation of Cloward and Ohlin
Strengths:
They add to A. Cohen’s theory by providing an explanation for different types of working class subcultures and different types of crimes they get involved it.
Weaknesses:
Ignore the crimes of the wealthy by assuming that crime is a working class phenomenon.
Ignore the overlap between different subcultures, e.g. a criminal subculture may also be a conflict subculture.
Ignore female crime.
Explain Miller’s Subcultural theory
Miller argues that the working class has its own independent subculture, separate from the mainstream.
Therefore, the working class get into trouble because they hold a different set of values to the rest of society.
Miller calls these values focal concerns.
Focal concerns include:
Smartness – look good and be witty.
Trouble –
Excitement – thrill-seeking.
Toughness – physical strength.
Autonomy – not being controlled by others.
Fatalism – ‘what will be, will be’.
Therefore, it is the nature of their values that leads them into crime.
Evaluate Miller’s theory
Weaknesses: The focal concerns are not necessarily working class values, they could be middle class males’ values too. Not all working class are criminal, if they had a distinct criminal subculture, they would all be criminal as they would be socialised into those values.
What are the General criticisms of Functionalism according to Matza?
Unlike the subcultural theorists, Matza argues that there are no distinctive subcultural values held only by members of subcultures.
He argues that there are the mainstream values, held by all members of a society, and parallel to these are the subterranean values, deviant values, also shared by all.
For most of the time, most people control these deviant subterranean values.
They only emerge occasionally, e.g. after a night out drinking.
Therefore, most delinquents drift in and out of delinquency.
Once a person acts on the subterranean values, they justify them using the techniques of neutralisation:
Denial of responsibility
Denial of victim
Denial of injury
Condemnation of condemners
Appeal to higher loyalties
