Functionalist + Strain Theory Explanations of Crime

• Functionalism is a consensus structuralist theory that sees the source of crime and deviance located in the structure of society
• Social order and cohesion are based on value consensus, and the agencies of social control seek to protect this by controlling the threat posed by crime and deviance
• The American Dream is the belief that anyone can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone, based on meritocracy but doesn't work for everybody as not everyone can be successful.
• Durkheim's view on the functionality of crime:

  Crime has four characteristics. It is...

  1. Inevitable: crime will always exist, it can be reduced but not eliminated
  2. Universal: it exists in every society
  3. Relative: what is seen as criminal behaviour varies from society to society and over time
  4. Functional: a limited amount of crime can benefit society by strengthening social bonds
• Durkheim's perspective:

  • A crime-free society of saints is impossible
  • A limited amount of crime is necessary for any society
  • Everyone in society shares the collective conscience, a set of shared values forming the basis of society. Collective conscience distinguishes between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.
  • Boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour are unclear and change over time. Limited amount of crime helps clarify boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.
• Durkheim's perspective on crime:

  • A small amount of crime is necessary for society as it performs vital functions of society:
  • Reaffirms boundaries of acceptable behaviour through degrading ceremonies
  • Maintains social cohesion, especially when horrific crimes committed
  • Can lead to social progress by changing values, influencing changes in laws
  • Provides a safety valve for expressing dissatisfaction, like in the case of prostitution
  • Acts as a warning device to show societal malfunctioning, for example, truancy indicating issues in the education system
• Durkheim

  • In times of great social change, collective conscience may be weakened. Durkheim called this anomie - a state of normlessness.
  • At these times, people are freed from social control and crime rates rocket as they start to look after their selfish interests rather than adhering to social values.
  • Only way situation can be brought back under control is by re-imposing collective values.
• Strengths of Durkheim

  • First to analyse crime and deviance in terms of a broad sociological theory and point out their positive functions
  • His writing represented huge breakthrough in helping us understand deviance, helping us to see that it isn't unnatural but integral to society.
• Limitations of Durkheim:

  • Fails to explain what causes crime
  • Doesn't explain why certain people are more likely to commit crimes than others
  • Fails to see that crime can be dysfunctional for some groups, eg. elderly can become isolated as a result of staying indoors from fear of crime.
  • Ignores the concept of power in society, overlooking how certain groups have the power to control the law and make rules.
• Merton - Strain Theory

  • Adapted Durkheim’s concept of anomie to mean a reaction to situations where socially approved goals are unattainable for majority of population through legitimate means
  • Crime exists as everyone shares same goals in life, but not all can achieve them through legitimate means.
  • In the USA, American dream (success through accumulation of wealth, power, status) is shared by all members of society, but not all have means (well-paid jobs, good education) to achieve it.
• Merton - Strain Theory

  • Results in strain between people's ambitions and ability to achieve them so they are forced to turn to illegitimate means to achieve their goals.
  • People are under pressure to deviate and Merton calls this the strain to anomie.
• Rebellion (Merton's 5 ways people react to pressure to achieve American Dream)

  • Criminal response, replacing the American dream with alternative values, like terrorism
• Conformity (Merton's 5 ways people react to pressure to achieve American Dream)

  • Response of the majority, trying to achieve the dream through legitimate, meritocratic means - getting good qualifications and working hard to get a promotion
• Ritualism (Merton's 5 ways people react to pressure to achieve American Dream)

  • Deviant but not criminal response to American dream. Giving up on trying to achieve the American dream e.g. giving up on trying to get a pay rise.
• Innovation (Merton's 5 ways people react to pressure to achieve American Dream)

  • Illegal means to achieve American dream. Illegal innovators break the law to make money e.g. drug dealing
• Merton's five ways people react to the pressure to achieve the American Dream

  • Conformity
  • Innovation
  • Ritualism
  • Retreatism
  • Rebellion
• Retreatism (Merton's 5 ways people react to pressure to achieve American Dream)

  • Criminal response, includes giving up on the American dream and turning to alcohol or drugs
• Strengths of Merton

  • Explains working class crime
  • Links strain in society to criminal behaviour
  • Explains crimes that make profits for the criminals.
  • Shows that in societies, such as the USA, which value money above all else people are likely to turn to crime to make money. In Japan, respect for others is a major value so there is little anti-social behaviour in Japan. 
• Limitations of Merton

  • Takes OCS (Official Crime Statistics) at face value (eg. doesn’t explain why there is a large group of conformists that don’t break the law to achieve American Dream)
  • Doesn’t explain why some members of the working class don’t break the law.
  • Focuses on individuals not groups. Crime is often a group activity (eg. gangs).
  • Assumes that everyone shares the same values. 
  • Fails to explain non-utilitarian (crimes that don’t benefit the individual economically) crimes such as vandalism.
• Albert Cohen - Subcultural Theory 

  Developed in response to Merton’s strain theory’s failure to explain non-utilitarian crimes such as vandalism, fighting, drug use, etc.

  • Argues delinquent behaviour most likely to develop among working class boys who do badly at school. 
  • They know they can't achieve success in or through education as their working class values are different to middle class values promoted by the education system. 
  • As a result, they suffer from status frustration - anger and resentment felt as their aspirations are blocked. 
• Albert Cohen - Subcultural Theory

  • In order to achieve success and status, they form subcultures which can lead to crime such as vandalism, etc. 
  • These subcultures invert mainstream values, eg. good school attendance is a mainstream value, so subculture encourages truanting.
  • Subculture functions by offering its members an illegitimate opportunity structure in which they can achieve status.
• Nightingale - A study providing evidence for A.Cohen

  • Nightingale studied young black gangs in an inner city area of Philadelphia, USA.
  • His findings show that gang members want to achieve status through acquisition of the latest consumer goods.
  • However, they are excluded from society educationally, economically and politically, so they turn to crime to gain status.
• Strengths of A. Cohen

  • Explains non-utilitarian crimes.
  • Adds to Merton, by explaining that the response to the pressure to succeed can be a group response. 
  • Assumes everyone shares same values
• Limitations of A.Cohen

  • Assumes value consensus - that everyone shares the same norms and values.
  • Ignores female crime.
  • Ignores middle class crime
• Cloward and Ohlin - Subcultural Theory

  • They argue that different subcultures react differently to the members’ failure to succeed through legitimate means and this reacting depends on their unequal access to illegitimate opportunity structures. In other words, they fail to achieve success legitimately, eg. through education, but then may not even have the illegitimate means to succeed, eg. not knowing how to get involved in crime or anyone who can help them get involved in crime. 
• Criminal subculture (Cloward and Ohlin)

  • In stable working class areas, with a developed criminal culture where status is gained through existing gang membership and crime is committed for financial gain
• Conflict subculture (Cloward and Ohlin)

  • Develops in areas with high population turnover where there is no established criminal subculture. Activities include anti-social behaviour such as vandalism, fighting, etc.
• Retreatist subculture (Cloward and Ohlin)


  • Develops among those who are double failures - they’ve failed to succeed legitimately and illegitimately so focus on drug abuse and alcoholism
• Cloward and Ohlin - Subcultural Theory

  Whether they have access to illegitimate opportunity structures depends on the neighbourhood they live in:

  • Criminal subculture
  • Conflict subculture
  • Retreatist subculture
• Strengths of Cloward and Ohlin

  • They add to A.Cohen’s theory by providing an explanation for different types of working class deviance.
• Limitations of Cloward and Ohlin

  • Ignore the crimes of the wealthy by assuming that crime is a working class phenomenon.
  • Ignore the overlap between different subcultures.
  • Ignore female crime
• Miller - Subcultural Theory

  • Miller argues that the working class has its own independent subculture, separate from the mainstream.
  • Therefore, the working class get into trouble because they hold a different set of values to the rest of society.
  • Miller calls these values focal concerns.
  • Focal concerns include:

  1. Smartness - look good and be witty
  2. Trouble 
  3. Excitement - thrill-seeking
  4. Toughness - physical strength
  5. Autonomy - not being controlled by others
  6. Fatalism - “what will be, will be”

  • Therefore, it is the nature of their values that leads them into crime.
• Strengths of Miller

  • Provides us with an understanding of working-class delinquency.
  • Provides us with an explanation of deviant behaviour. 
  • Provides an explanation for the impact of societal factors and why crimes that are not materialistic may happen. 
  • Gives an insight into why the working class may develop different values / behaviours
• Limitations of Miller

  • The focal concerns are not necessarily working class values, they could be middle class males’ values too.
  • Not all working class are criminal, if they had a distinct criminal subculture, they would all be criminal as they would be socialised into these values.
  • Focus is on male criminals / deviant behaviour
• Criticisms of functionalist-based explanations of crime and deviance

  • People may not always be driven by money eg. some religious sects reject struggle for material success in favour of spiritual goals.
  • Subcultural explanations only explain working-class delinquency, and don't explain white-collar (middle-class) and corporate crimes.
  • Subcultural explanations are inadequate as they are based on an unrepresentative sample of offenders as they rely on the pattern of crime shown in official crime statistics and a lot of crime in never reported.
• Criticisms of functionalist-based explanations of crime and deviance

  • Implies working-class youth are socialised into and committed to central values of delinquency. If true, this should lead to delinquency behaviour being widespread and persistent but Matza found, most working-class youth don’t engage regularly in illegal acts and those who do give it up in early adulthood.
• Criticisms of functionalist-based explanations of crime and deviance

  • Matza criticises subcultural theories for making delinquents out to be different from other people. Matza stresses similarity between values held by delinquents and those of main-stream society and shows how ordinary delinquents actually are. For example, they show feelings of outrage about crime in general similar to those of most people.
• Criticisms of functionalist-based explanations of crime and deviance

  • When they are caught offending, most delinquents express feelings of remorse, guilt and shame, and use what Matza calls techniques of neutralisation (justifications used to excuse crime such as denying responsibility or deviance justified by circumstances). For example, they were only shoplifting because they wanted to get their mum a birthday present and didn’t have any money. This shows a commitment to mainstream values, not a rejection of them.
• Criticisms of functionalist-based explanations of crime and deviance

  • Matza also suggests that many young people commit only occasional delinquent activities as a means of achieving identity, excitement and peer-group status for a short period of “drift” in their lives before reaching full independent adult status. They have little serious commitment to delinquent values or a delinquent way of life, and many give it up as they grow older. 
• Control theory: Hirschi's (1969) social bonds theory of crime and deviance

  • Believes social order is based on shared valued and socialisation through institutions integrating individuals into society.
  • Instead of asking what drives people to commit crime, Hirschi asks why most people do not commit crime.