Durkheim

• A certain level of crime is desirable for society, but too much crime would lead to the decay of society's norms and values
• Undesirable effects of rapid social changes

  • Poverty, mental illness, crime
• Society's process of organic change

  Gradual social changes that advance society for the better, e.g., urbanization and industrialization
• Positive and negative functions of society


  • Deviance is desirable at an optimal level
• Public reactions to terrorist activities in London and Manchester

  • Form of boundary maintenance through public displays of grief and defiance against terrorism
• Media images of riots and damage caused

  • Lead to proposals for more extreme measures to combat rioters, reinforcing the intolerance of such behavior in society
• Social reactions to criminal behavior

  Reinforce the value consensus of society
• Too little deviance in society would lead to stagnation in growth
• Attitudes against deviant behavior are reinforced through media coverage of protests
• Nationwide riots after the shooting of Mark Goggin in London in 2011

  • Public condemnation of rioting and looting, reinforcing the collective conscience against such behavior
• Criminality and deviance in modern society is a normal part of a healthy and functioning society
• Emile Durkheim


  One of the founding fathers of sociology who developed theories to explain how society functioned and evolved through different stages
• Extreme criminality unites society to condemn the crime, reinforcing the collective conscience and acting as informal social control
• Boundary maintenance


  • Social reactions to criminal behavior help to reinforce the value consensus of society
• Rapid social changes after the industrial revolution

  Led to many unwanted changes in society, shifting towards more mechanical or engineered solidarity
• Historical movements

  • Civil rights movement in the USA
  • Gay rights movement
  • Women's liberation movement
• Other functions of crime suggested by Durkheim

  • Crime acts as a safety valve for society
  • Mass demonstrations are a warning sign that society is drifting towards anomic
  • Some forms of deviance such as prostitution and pornography can act as a form of social release for society
• Deviant behavior


  Demonstrates that attitudes are changing towards the established social order
• Attitudes towards deviant behavior


  Are often reinforced when footage of other protests are shown on TV
• Protests over climate change have been met with widespread condemnation by the media rather than meaningful social change
• Durkheim's concepts of boundary maintenance and deviance as a form of social change are part of his lasting legacy to sociology
• Durkheim offers little explanation as to how crime occurs other than to suggest it is due to frustrations
• Durkheim's argument that there will be a reasonable reaction by society to social change can be criticized by actions of the media and the state in attempting to ensure the status quo
• Police water cannons

  Reinforce the collective conscience that the behavior witnessed is not to be tolerated in society
• We need to be able to evaluate Durkheim's views of crime and deviance
• Defining the optimum level of crime in society is problematic
• Black Lives Matter protests in the USA have not always been met with social change but rather by attempts to nullify and sensationalize issues
• Contemporary example

  • Removal of the statue of slave trader Edward Coulston in Bristol
• Deviant behavior by smaller groups

  Attracts the following of others and gradually changes the norms and values of society
• Positive function of crime and deviance suggested by Durkheim

  • Adaptation and change
• In contemporary society, deviant behaviors seem to have less effect than in previous generations