Functionalist Explanation

• Define ’delinquency’:

  Crimes + anti-social behaviour committed by young ppl
• According to Functionalism, what is society based on?

  Value consensus
• According to Robert M_____, every society has clear, culturally defined goals.

  Merton
• What are some cultural goals in Western society?

  • Big houses
  • Luxurious holidays
• How do we achieve cultural goals in Western society?

  Institutionalised means e.g. education, employment + merit
• What phenomenon did Robert Merton say some individuals experience between socially accepted goals & socially approved means of getting them?

  Strain
• What are the 5 possible responses to Strain? (HINT: Can I Remember Robert’s Responses?)


  Conformity - innovation - ritualism - retreatism - rebellion
• What does Merton’s ‘Conformity‘ mean?


  Accepting goals + means of achieving them.

  Most common
• What does Merton’s ‘Innovation‘ mean?


  Accept goals, reject means

  Crime!
• What does Merton’s ‘Ritualism‘ mean?


  Reject goals, accept means
• What does Merton’s ‘Retreatism‘ mean?


  Reject goals & means

  These ppl ‘drop out‘ of society + turn to addiction
• What does Merton’s ‘Rebellion‘ mean?


  Rejecting societal goals and means, replacing them with new ones.

  To create a new society!
• Why is Strain functional for society?

  • The way diff. ppl respond means they’ll end up in diff. positions > role allocation + div. of labour
• Why does Merton consider youth deviance to be functional for society?

  Tests young ppl to determine what path they’ll go down in life, distinguishing skilled/unskilled workers
• Why was Merton criticised? (2)

  • Ignoring non-utilitarian crime e.g. joyriding
  • Doesn’t apply his theory to youth
• Who later modified Merton’s ‘Strain’ theory + what did they name it?


  Albert Cohen, ‘status frustration’
• What is ‘status frustration’?

  • Everyone is socialised + has same values/goals
  • WC boys are aware but lack the means to achieve them > status frustration
• What did Cohen argue happened to WC boys at school, leading to low status?


  They failed
• What do WC boys form after experiencing ‘status frustration’?

  Delinquent subcultures with reversed mainstream values
• What does deviance offer WC youth?

  A__________ s_____ h________

  Alternative status hierarchy
• AO3: Why has Cohen’s idea of subverted mainstream values been criticised?

  It’s unlikely that individuals consciously think that their subculture would accept a deviant act whilst mainstream society would reject it
• AO3: What did PMs Lyng & Katz argue about youths committing deviant acts?


  Might just be influenced by boredom + looking for a ‘buzz’
• AO3: Why do Feminists critique Cohen’s ‘status frustration’ theory?


  If deviance was caused by frustration at one’s status, then girls in 50’s America could be doing the same
• Which 2 sociologists argued that just as people have diff. lvls of access to the legitimate routes (access to education), people also have diff. lvls of access to the ILlegitimate routes too?

  Cloward + Ohlin
• Cloward + Ohlin that 3 diff. subs could develop depending on the illegitimate means available - what were they?


  1. Criminal
  2. Conflict
  3. Retreatist
• Describe C+O’s ‘Criminal’ subcultures:


  • Emerges where there’s alr established ‘adult crime’
  • Youths are raised around deviant role model > taught skills needed to commit crime
  • Those w/ aptitude can move up professional criminal hierarchy
• Describe C+O’s ‘Conflict’ subcultures:


  • Little organised crime
  • High turnover of residents > little solidarity + stable criminal subcultures CAN’T form
  • Youths turn to gang violence to release frustration about BOTH opportunity structures being blocked
• Describe C+O’s ‘Retreatist’ subcultures:


  • Ppl don’t have access to either opportunity structures + don’t join gangs
  • Retreat to illegal drugs (Sim. to Merton’s Strain - Retreatism)
• AO3: How did Matza critique Cloward & Ohlin?

  Criminality is a phase that lung males drift in/out of, rather than a career
• AO3: Merton, Cohen, C&O ignore the crimes of which social group?


  Wealthy
• AO3: Merton, Cohen, C&O OVERPREDICT the crimes of which social class?


  WC
• Whose theory is ’Focal concerns’?

  Miller
• What did Miller argue that ‘focal concerns’ led to?

  Delinquency
• What are embedded within WC culture and are criminogenic?

  Focal concerns
• AO3: Functionalists generalise the WC and ignore what other variations?

  Regional + ethnic
• AO3: What term did Heidensohn use to describe how Functionalist theories ignore FEMALE delinquency?

  Male-streaming
• AO3: Many Functionalist studied are ________.

  Outdated
• AO3: Taylor et al. argues that these Functionalist thinkers assume everybody in _______ shares the same goal: what?

  America - wealth