functionalism

• What does Durkheim propose are the 2 functions of crime?

  • boundary maintenance
  • enables social change
• What is the 'safety valve' and who proposed this?


  • Davis - functionalist
  • A certain amount of deviant behaviour can be beneficial to the maintenance of social order - exemplified by men using prostitution to release sexual frustration without damaging the nuclear family
• What five functions do functionalists think crime may perform?

  • boundary maintenance
  • social change
  • safety valve
  • a warning
  • creating employment
• When do functionalists see C+D as a threat?

  • when levels are very low (social stagnation) or very high (chaos)
  • breakdown of social norms - anomie
• Main criticisms of Durkheim?

  • Fails to explain why certain people are more likely to commit crime
  • Assumes law reflects the values of the majority, fails to recognise some groups have more power than others in law making
• Criticism of the safety valve?

  Feminists dismiss it, argue it is exploitation
• Criticisms of the functionalist theory of crime?


  • Ignores victims of crime
  • assumes everyone holds the same moral values
• What is the 'strain' in Merton's strain theory?

  Occurs between the socially-encouraged goals of society and the socially-acceptable means to get them

  Relies on the american dream and the myth of meritocracy
• What did Merton propose are the 5 responses to strain?

  • Conformity - acceptance of both goals and means
  • Innovation - goals are accepted but innovative ways are used to achieve them
  • Ritualism - goals are rejected but individual goes along with institutionalized means
  • Retreatism - rejection of both goals and means eg. drug users and alcoholics
  • Rebellion - both goals and means are rejected and substituted
• Evaluations of strain theories?

  • Doesn't consider in whos interest the social goals are (eg marxists argue its in the interest of capitalism/the bourgeoisie)
  • Doesn't consider why some find it harder to achieve society's goals than others
  • Doesn't explain why groups of people are deviant in the same way eg gangs
  • Presents no explanation for non-utilitarian crime
• What is Durkheim's anomie?

  Normlessness - in complex industrial societies there is a diversity of lifestyles based around a wide range of working conditions, encouraging distinctive norms and values
• How does boundary maintenance work?

  • shared outrage about serious crimes unite people in grief/anger
  • rituals dramatise wrong-doing, speeches outside court-rooms and TV footage stigmatise offending
• Davis?


  Sees prostitution as a safety valve - release from men's sexual frustration without damaging the nuclear family
• Polsky?


  Sees pornography as functioning as a 'safe' outlet in a similar way
• Conformity?


  Acceptance of both goals and means
• Innovation?


  Goals are accepted but innovative ways are used to achieve them
• Ritualism?


  Goals are rejected but individual goes along with institutionalized means (school and work)
• Retreatism?


  A rejection of both goals and means eg drug users
• Rebellion?


  Both goals and means are rejected and substituted eg political activist
• Evaluation of merton?


  • Fails to explain why an individual will choose one type of deviant act rather than another
  • Provides little evidence that the American Dream is widely accepted
• Which group of people does subcultural theory focus on?

  Young working-class people
• In what way does Cohen agree with Merton?

  Delinquency is caused by a strain between cultural goals and the institutional means of achieving them
• According to Cohen how are working class boys denied status?

  • Parents fail to equip them with necessary skills
  • boys are placed in lower sets
  • unable to acquire knowledge and status of high sets
  • leave school with few qualifications
  • work low paid jobs/unemployed
  • denied status by wider society
• Cohen believes that due to this the boys experience a form of anomie - what does he call this?

  Status frustration
• How do working class boys respond to this anomie?

  Alternative status hierarchy - form gangs or subcultures awarding one another based on anti-school and delinquent behaviour
• Criticism of Cohen?


  Working class and middle class may have never shared goals in the first place
• What are Cloward and Ohlin's 3 illegitimate opportunity structures?

  • Criminal - established career in crime
  • Conflict - loosely organised gangs, violence, turf wars
  • Retreatist - 'double failures'
• Criticisms of Cloward and Ohlin?

  • ignores crimes of the wealthy
  • over predicts working class crime
  • cross over between subcultures
• What does Walter Miller blame working-class delinquency on?

  Lower class have their own independent subculture
• Messner and Rosenfeld's institutional anomie theory?

  Pursuit of wealth at all costs - high crime rates inevitable in capitalist society
• Downes and Hansen?

  Countries spending more on welfare had lower rates of imprisonment