functionalism

• Durkheim

  -crime has a positive function for society, it is healthy for society & is universal

  -too much crime - anomie; too little crime - stagnation

  -boundary maintenance: puts people in their place, know when they've gone too far. Example: 2024 riots.

  -social cohesion: brings people together. Example: MP Jo Cox murdered by a nationalist from the other party; Manchester bombings.

  -adaptation & change: crime & deviance helps society progress. Example: homosexuality - change of beliefs - stonewall; suffragettes.

  -sandy hook: social cohesion; DB Cooper: adaption & change; Bernie Madoff: boundary maintenance.
• additions to Durkheim's functions of crime

  -Davis: safety valve - do smaller crimes instead of bigger crimes e.g., watching videos instead of sexual assault.

  -Clinard/Cohen: warning sign - shows when society isn't working & there needs to be a change e.g., French revolution.
• Durkheim - AO3

  -rose tinted glasses - too positive

  -assumes there is a value consensus (social cohesion)

  -not all crimes have a positive function

  -ignores the impact on victims

  -only benefits the powerful

  -did not quantify the amount of crime that is good
• Merton's strain theory

  -based on Americans socialised into the American Dream

  -goals vs means

  -conformists: accept goals & means

  -innovations: accept goals; reject means (most criminal)

  -ritualists: reject goals; accept means e.g., hippies

  -retreatists: reject goals; reject means e.g., homeless

  -rebels: make new goals & means
• Merton's strain theory - AO3

  -era dependent & ethnocentric: based on 1950s America. Outdated.

  -explains some crimes e.g., utilitarian

  -lacks explanation - theoretical

  -people without strain still commit crime - limited explanation

  -marxists: it is in the interest of capitalism
• Cohen: status frustration

  -focus on working class boys.

  -says that status frustration starts in school, working class boys are put in lower sets at school.

  -when put in these lower classes the boys suffer from status frustration and instead of accepting this they form subcultures to gain a status - this is normally done via deviant behaviour.

  -these boys reject societal norms and form their own - normally breaking the law.
• Cohen: status frustration - AO3

  -Lyng & Katz: delinquents are influenced by boredom/seeking a buzz - delinquents don't consciously consider how mainstream society would view the acts.

  -focused on working-class boys, doesn't consider others.

  -doesn't explain non-utilitarian crime.

  -outdated.

  -deterministic.
• Cloward & Ohlin: illegitimate opportunity structures

  -developed Cohen's theory and looked at why different subcultures are present in different regions.

  -criminal subculture: present in areas of organised adult crime where are is a hierarchy of crime. Children learn how to commit crimes and learn how to commit more serious crimes as they grow up - utilitarian crimes.

  -conflict subculture: areas where there is little organised adult crime, present is dysfunctional areas. Young people focus on getting respect via gang violence (non-utilitarian).

  -retreatist subculture: people who have tried to enter other subcultures (mainstream and criminal) join this subculture. It is for people who have failed. They are seen as 'double failures' and tend to use drugs and alcohol.
• Cloward & Ohlin: illegitimate opportunity structures - AO3


  -not distinct enough

  -reductionist

  -groups can overlap

  -blames the WC not MC
• Miller: focal concerns

  -looked at young WC males - said they're socialised into certain norms & values

  -6 focal concerns: excitement; toughness; smartness; trouble; autonomy and fate
• Miller: focal concerns - AO3

  -only looked at boys

  -deterministic

  -only talks about WC, not MC

  -outdated
• Hirschi: bond theory(a control theory)

  -social bonds encourage conformity

  -4 social bonds: commitment; belief; involvement; attachment

  -people without these bonds are more likely to be criminals
• Hirschi: bond theory - AO3

  -influenced social policy makers to maintain these bonds

  -doesn't explain why people with strong bonds commit crime

  -assumes there is a value consensus

  -deterministic

  -outdated