Functionilism

• Functionalists think society is based on consensus. They believe that socialisation is used to pass on shared norms and values to members of society, to create a sense of social solidarity. Society functions like the body in that all the institutions work together in harmony, like organs, for the health of the whole (the organic analogy).
• Functionalists believe social solidarity is achieved through two ways:

  Socialisation into shared norms and values

  Social control – rewards for conformity and punishments for deviance.
• Why Is Crime Intervenable According To Durkheim

  •Not everyone is effectively socialised into norms and values (i.e. bad parenting!).•Different subcultures hold different values, and what they regard as normal may be deviant in mainstream culture.•In modern societies, increased anomie leads to a decline in the collective conscience, and a rise in crime and deviance.•
• Criticisms of the idea that crime can be functional

  • - It is not clear at what point the "right" amount of crime (necessary and beneficial) becomes "too much" (creating disorder and instability). Positivists criticise this for being unscientific.
  • The idea that crime can be functional is insensitive to victims. Does the benefit to society matter to a victim of rape, or the family of someone who has been murdered?
  • This approach is not useful for explaining patterns of crime: it does not explain why some people commit crimes and others do not, or why they commit particular offences.
  • Finally, functionalism assumes that norms and laws reflect the wishes of the population; it does not consider the possibility that a powerful group is imposing its values on the rest of society (as Marxists would argue).