functionalist, strain and subculture theories

• functionalist 


  • deviance disrupts social stability but is inevitable and beneficial causes
  • causes of deviance - blocked opportunities to achieve
  • want to explain deviant subcultures
• Durkheim's functionalist theory - two mechanism to achieve solidarity


  • socialisation - instils shared culture into its members
  • social control - rewards for conformity, punishment for deviance
• Durkheim - inevitability of crime (why is crime and deviance found in all societies)


  • not everyone is equally effectively socialised
  • particularly in complex modern societies there's a diversity of lifestyles and values. different groups develop their own subcultures
  • Durkheim sees anomie as a cause of suicide
• Durkheim - positive functions of crime 


  • boundary maintenance -punishment (public shaming) is to reaffirm society's shared rules and reinforce social solidarity
  • adaptation and change- all change starts with an act of deviance. too much crime tear bonds of society apart but too little represses and control its members too much
• Durkheim- other functions of crime 


  • Davis -prostitution release men sexual frustrations without threatening the monogamous nuclear family
  • Polsky- pornography channels sexual desires away from adultery
  • Cohen - warning that an institution is not functioning properly
  • Erikson-true functions of agencies of social control (police) sustains certain level of crime either than to rid society of it
  • the young may be given leeway to 'sow their wild oats' to cope with the strains of the transition from childhood to adulthood
• Durkheim - criticisms

  • offers no way of knowing how much crime is the right amount
  • explains the function of the crime ( strengthen solidarity) but not why it exists in the first place
  • ignores how it might affect different groups/individuals within society ( how it effect the illegal trafficked sex workers)
  • crime doesn't always promote solidarity. leads people to isolation (forcing women to stay indoors for fear of attack). some do reinforce collective sentiments (uniting the community in condemnation of a brutal attack)
• Merton's strain theory 


  • people are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means
  • structural factors - society's unequal opportunity structure
  • cultural factors - strong emphasis on success goals and weaker emphasis on using legitimate means to achieve them
  • deviance is the results of a strain between two things:
  • goal that a culture encourages individuals to achieve
  • what the institutional structure of society allows them to achieve legitimately
• the american dream


  • expected to pursue this goal by : self-discipline, study, educational qualification, hard work in a career
  • disadvantage groups are denied opportunities to achieve legitimately (ethnicity and class)
  • this produces frustration- pressure to deviate
  • american culture puts more emphasis on achieving success at any price
• Deviant adaptations to strain 


  • strain theory explains some of the patterns of deviance found in society
  • individuals position in the social structure affects how they adapt or respond to the strain to anomie

  
• 3/5 different responses

  • conformity- accept culturally approved goals and strive to achieve them legitimately (m/c)
  • innovation- accept goals of money success but use illegitimate means (theft or fraud) (L/C, pressure to innovate)
  • ritualism- give up on trying to achieve the goal but have the internalised and legitimate means, follows the rule for their own sake (L/M/C, office workers)
• 2/5 different responses

  • Retreatism- reject the goal and legitimate means becoming dropouts(psychotics, outcasts, chronic drunkards and drug addicts)
  • rebellion- reject the existing society's goals but replace them with new ones to bring out revolutionary change and a new society (hippies)
• evaluation (criticism) of merton 


  • sees crime as mainly w/c crime, too deterministic: w/c experience the most strain, yet they don't all deviate
  • marxists - ignores power of the ruling class to make and enforce the laws to criminalise the poor but not the rich
  • ignores that many may not share the same 'money success' goals
  • only account utilitarian crime for monetary gain and not violent crimes
  • ignores the role of group deviance (delinquent subcultures )
• subculture strain theories 


  • deviance is the product of a delinquent subculture with different values
  • provides an alternative opportunity structure for those who are denied the chance to achieve bu legitimate means
  • subculture strain theories criticise Merton's theory and build on it
• A.K. Cohen: status frustration (page 73)


  • agrees that deviance is largely L/c phenomenon
  • result from l/c to achieve mainstream goals legitimately
  • cohen criticise merton

  1. ignores deviance committed in groups
  2. ignore crimes like assault and vandalism, which may have no economic motive

  • w/c boys face anomie in the m/c dominated school system. suffering from cultural deprivation and lack of skills to achieve
  • boys suffer status frustration
  • resolving frustration by forming or joining a delinquent subculture with boys in the same situation
• alternative status hierarchy 


  • offer boys an alternative status hierarchy
  • creates their own illegitimate opportunity structure
  • strength=explains non-utilitarian deviance
  • like merton, cohen assumes w/c boys start of sharing m/c success goals, only to reject these when they fail. ignores they may not share these goals in the first place and never saw themselves as failures
• Cloward and Ohlin: three subcultures (page 74)


  • agree w/c youths denied legitimate opportunities to achieve 'money success'
  • not everyone turn to innovation
  • unequal access to illegitimate opportunity structure
  • different neighbourhood provides different illegitimate opportunities for young people to learn criminal skills and develop criminal career
• cloward and Ohlin: 3 subcultures


  • criminal - apprenticeship for a career in utilitarian crime . neighbourhood with long standing stable criminal culture with professional adult crime
  • conflict - areas of high population turnover. high social disorganisation. only loosely organised gangs. violence release young men frustration at their blocked opportunities and an alternative source of status by winning territory from rival gangs
  • retreatist - any neighbourhood, not everyone aspire to be a professional criminal or a gang leader succeeds. double failures turn to illegal drug use
• evalrecent strain theories 


  • agree young people may pursue other goals like: popularity with peers, autonomy from adults, to be treated like 'real men'
  • failure to achieve these goals may result in delinquency
  • m/c juveniles may have problems achieving such goals
• institutional anomie theory 


  • focus on american dream
  • people are encouraged to adapt an 'anything goes mentality in pursuit of wealth'
  • economic goals are valued above all
  • messner and Rosenfeld - societies based on free-market capitalism and lack adequate welfare provision, high crime rates are inevitable
  • Downes and Hansen - societies that spent more on welfare had lower rates of imprisonment
  • Savelsberg - rapid rise in crime after the fall of communism replaced by new western capitalist goals of individual 'money success' in 1989