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Sociology > Topic 2: Functionalist and Subcultural Explanations > Flashcards

Topic 2: Functionalist and Subcultural Explanations Flashcards

1
Q

Durkheim’s negative side of deviance

A

Saw too much crime leading to social disruption

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2
Q

What did Durkheim believe?

A

A limited amount of crime was necessary for any society

Acts as a safety valve - relatively harmless way for someone to express their discontent

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3
Q

What does Durkheim’s ‘collective conscience’ provide?

A

Set of shared values that guide our actions and provides a framework with boundaries

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4
Q

Problems with Durkheim’s collective conscience (2)

A

The boundaries are unclear and change over time

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5
Q

What are the positive aspects of Durkheim’s collective conscience? Provide examples for each (3)

A

Reaffirms boundaries e.g. Someone hung in public
Changes values e.g. Changing attitudes towards cannabis use can lead to a change in laws
Social cohesion e.g. When horrific crimes have been committed the public comes together in shared outrage e.g. Paris attacks

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6
Q

Who came up with the term anomie? And why?

A

Durkheim

Too much crime has negative consequences

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7
Q

Define anomie

A

When society is left in a sense of normlessness as the collective conscience weakens

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8
Q

What could anomie cause and why?

A

More crime and deviance to occur as values of society are lost

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9
Q

What theory did Merton come up with?

A

The Strain Theory

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10
Q

What did Merton believe deviance was a result of?

A

Strain between:
The goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve
Socially approved means of obtaining those desired goals

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11
Q

Provide an example supporting Merton’s goals and means

A

A well paid job is a shared goal in Britain and qualifications are the socially accepted means of achieving that goal

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12
Q

Evaluation of Merton: Valier -

A

Criticises the stress on the existence of common goals in society, there is always a variety of goals

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13
Q

What did Merton believe goals were linked to?

A

A person’s position in the social structure

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14
Q

Evaluation of Merton: Taylor, Walton and Young -

A

Accuses Merton of ignoring the crimes of the powerful while exaggerating the significance of w/c crime

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15
Q

Evaluation of Merton: Reiner -

A

Defended Merton, saying he did explain m/c crime by pointing out that there was no limit to success - the wealthy may still be greedy for more

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16
Q

Who came up with the illegitimate opportunity structure?

A

Cloward and Ohlin

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17
Q

What were Cloward and Ohlin’s views of the illegitimate opportunity structure?

A

For some subcultures in society a regular illegal career was available with recognised illegal means of obtaining society’s goals

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18
Q

What did Durkheim believe was inevitable?

A

Deviance

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19
Q

Why did Durkheim believe deviance was inevitable in society?

A

Not everyone buys into the collective sentiments of the general society

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20
Q

Who said that prostitution performs such a safety valve function without threatening the institution of the family

A

Cohen

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21
Q

What did Merton observe in American culture?

A

That they aspired for the American dream, and when they struggled to live up to this ideology, they experienced a strain to anomie and began to act normlessly

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22
Q

What definition also links with the functionalist perspective on the social construction of crime and deviance? How?

A

Absolutist

Also sees societies based on shared values (collective conscience)

23
Q

What does the absolutist definition ignore?

A

Power relations in society, and the fact that some groups are able to impose their view on others - Marxist view of ruling class control

24
Q

What is an example of anomie taking hold?

A

New Orleans
Post-Katrina crime wave
The structure, boundaries and community had gone as so many people had to leave suddenly
Reflected increase in crime rate

25
Q

Who believed that all social change began with some form of deviance? Provide example

A

Durkheim, he believed that crime is functional
Suffragettes
Nelson Mandela

26
Q

What did Murray analyse?

A

The Underclass

27
Q

How did Murray explain the underclass?

A

The underclass are responsible for a high proportion of crime
Gangs are now formed commonly on economic grounds
There is a declining demand for unskilled labour, causing unemployment and an increase in crime as they are brought to reject mainstream norms and values

28
Q

Durkheim’s positive side of deviance

A

Helps society change and remain dynamic

29
Q

According to Cloward and Ohlin what were the 3 possible adaptations of the illegal opportunity structure?

A
  1. Criminal - role models, young offenders can work their way up the criminal hierarchy
  2. Conflict - groups brought up in a criminal environment are likely to turn to violence against other similar groups e.g. Violent gang ‘warfare’
  3. Retreatist - individual response with no opportunity to engage in the other two subcultures, retreats into alcohol or drugs
30
Q

Evaluationof Cloward and Ohlin -

A

No discussion of female violence

Hard to just have three categories to define criminal activity into

31
Q

Hobbs’ study of the illegal opportunity structure

A

Interviewed successful professional criminals and demonstrated how it is possible to have a career in crime if you have the right ‘qualities’ and connections

32
Q

Who came up with status frustration?

A

Cohen

33
Q

Cohen w status frustration - what was he interested in?

A

The fact that much offending was not economically motivated, but done simply for the thrill of the act

34
Q

Provide an example of how offending is not always economically motivated

A

18% of crimes recorded by the BCS are vandalism

35
Q

Explain Cohen’s view of lower class children

A

They wanted to hold mc values and aspirations, but lacked the means to attain success. So felt inadequate, leading to status frustration.
This resulted in the rejection of those very values and patterns of ‘acceptable behaviour’
School is one of the key areas where this behaviour plays out, as wc children are more likely to fail and feel humiliated, so in an attempt to gain status they invert mc values by behaving badly and engaging in anti-social behaviour to gain status

36
Q

Evaluation of Cohen -

A

Research is solely on males, no discussion of females
The young ‘delinquents’ would have to have an understanding of what mc values even are to invert them
Cohen fails to prove that school really is the place where success and failure are demonstrated

37
Q

Miller thought that deviancy was linked to…

A

The culture of lower-class males

38
Q

What were the six ‘focal concerns’ that Miller thought were likely to lead to delinquency?

A
  1. Smartness - look good w wit
  2. Trouble - looking for trouble
  3. Excitement - search for thrills
  4. Toughness - physically stronger than others
  5. Autonomy - not to be pushed around
  6. Fate - with little chance to overcome what awaits them
39
Q

How did Millers definition of focal concerns affect the working class?

A

Pushed them towards crime because of the values of their subculture

40
Q

Evaluation of Miller -

A

Little evidence to show that these are specifically working class values

41
Q

How did Box evaluate Millers focal concerns theory?

A

The values Miller defined could just as equally apply to males right across the class structure

42
Q

In the UK evidenceof distinctive subcultures has been fairly difficult to obtain - which two British sociologists have discovered this?

A

Parker

Downes

43
Q

How did Parker (British) apply Millers focal concerns?

A

To his study of wc ‘lads’ in inner-city Liverpool, which successfully showed these values

44
Q

How did Downes (British) apply Millers focal concerns?

A

Young wc males in London
No evidence of distinctive values
Young wc males ‘dissociated’ from mainstream values
Concerned more w leisure than long term future - more likely to engage w petty crime

45
Q

Main criticism of subcultural theories

A

Little evidence to demonstrate a distinct set of antisocial values

46
Q

How did Matza combine the criticisms of subcultural theory?

A

There were no distinctive subcultural values

All groups in society used a shared set of subterranean values

47
Q

What are subterranean values?

A

Set of deviant values that exist alongside the socially approved values, but are usually kept hidden/under control
They may emerge in social situations e.g. Parties/consumption of alcohol

48
Q

What did Matza think of subterranean values?

A

That most of the time people kept control of their deviant desires
They rarely emerge

49
Q

What did Matza say happened when subterranean values emerge?

A

We use techniques of neutralisation to provide justification for our deviant actions

50
Q

How do you sum up Matza’s critique of subculture?

A

He is saying that all of us share deviant, ‘subcultural values’ and that it isn’t true that there are distinctive groups w their own values, different from the rest of us

51
Q

What did Nightingale study in subculture: the paradox of inclusion

A

Young Black youth in inner city areas

52
Q

What did Nightingale find out about subculture?

A

Subculture emerges from a desire to be a part of something, as they have been segregated and marginalised from mainstream society
Its therefore not about rejecting the common values

53
Q

How did Nightingale explain Black children in this paradox of inclusion in the US?

A

They consume US culture through TV and emphasis on consumerism and violence
BUT are excluded economically, racially and politically from participating in that mainstream US culture

54
Q

How did Nightingale explain how Black children compensated for the exclusion?

A

Overcompensated by identifying themselves w the wider culture

Sociology (3 decks)

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