Functionalists view in crime and deviance

• Functionalist


  Sociological perspective that views crime and deviance as serving positive functions for society
• Durkheim's three key ideas about crime


  • A limited amount of crime is inevitable and even necessary
  • Crime has positive functions- a certain amount of crime contributes to the well-being of a society
  • Too much crime is bad for society and can help bring about its collapse, hence institutions of social control are necessary to keep the amount of crime in check
• Functionalist view of crime

  • Crime is beneficial for society. For example it can improve social integration and social regulation and is necessary for social change
• Durkheim's view on crime

  Crime is an inevitable aspect of social life. He argued that the crime rate was in fact higher in more advanced, industrial societies
• Durkheim argued that crime was inevitable because not every member of society can be equally committed to the collective sentiments (the shared value and moral belief of society)
• There are at least two reasons why crime and deviance are found in all societies: 1) Not everyone is equally effectively socialised into the shared norms and values, so some individuals will be prone to deviance. 2) In complex modern societies, there is a diversity of lifestyles and values, and different groups develop their own subcultures with distinctive norms and values
• Durkheim argues that deviance would still exist even in a 'society of saints' populated by perfect individuals. The general standards of behaviour would be so high that the slightest slip would be regarded as a serious offence
• Positive functions of crime according to Durkheim

  • Social regulation
  • Social integration
  • Social change
• Social regulation


  Crime performs the function of social regulation by reaffirming the boundaries of acceptable behaviour
• Social integration


  A function of crime is to strengthen social cohesion. For example, when particularly horrific crimes have been committed the whole community joins together in outrage and the sense of belonging to a community is therefore strengthened
• Social change

  Durkheim argued deviance was necessary for social change to occur because all social change began with some form of deviance. In order for changes to occur, yesterday's deviance became today's norm
• Durkheim argued that crime only became dysfunctional when there was too much or too little of it- too much and social order would break down, too little and there would not be sufficient capacity for positive social change
• The positive functions of crime


  • Boundary maintenance
  • Adaptation and change
• Boundary maintenance


  Crime reproduces a reaction from society, uniting its members in condemnation of the wrongdoer and reinforcing their commitment to the shared norms and values
• Adaptation and change


  Deviant behaviour demonstrates a changing attitude of the population to the established way of doing things. As small groups deviate, others in society will accept these behaviours as the norm
• Other functionalists have suggested criminal and deviant behaviour can act as a safety valve, warning that there are issues in society that need to be addressed
• Davis argues that prostitution acts as a safety valve for the release of men's sexual frustration without threatening the monogamous nuclear family. Polsky argues that pornography safely 'channels' a variety of sexual desires away from alternatives such as adultery, which would pose a much greater threat to the family
• Evaluation of Durkheim's theory

  • Contemporary examples illustrate the legacy of Durkheim's view of the impacts of crime on society
  • Difficult to measure the 'optimal amount' of crime that can exist in a society
  • In contemporary society, has deviance led to social change or have other social institutions acted to nullify movements? E.g. climate change protests, Black Lives Matter protests in USA
  • Functionalism explains the existence of crime in terms of its supposed function, but this doesn't mean society actually creates crime in advance with the intention of strengthening solidarity
• Strain theory


  People engage in deviant behaviour when they are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means
• Merton's strain theory


  Deviance is the result of a strain between the goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve and what the institutional structure of society allows them to achieve legitimately
• The American dream ideology tells Americans that their society is a meritocratic one where anyone who makes the effort can get ahead, but the reality is different - many disadvantaged groups are denied opportunities to achieve legitimately
• Merton's five types of adaptation

  • Conformity
  • Innovation
  • Ritualism
  • Retreatism
  • Rebellion
• Conformity

  Individuals accept the culturally approved goals and strive to achieve them legitimately
• Innovation

  Individuals accept the goals of money and success but use 'new' illegitimate means such as theft or fraud to achieve it
• Ritualism


  Individuals give up on trying to achieve the goals, but have internalised the legitimate means and so they follow the rules for their own sake
• Retreatism

  Individuals reject both the goals and the legitimate means and become dropouts
• Rebellion


  Individuals reject the existing society's goals and means, but they replace them with new ones in a desire to bring about revolutionary change and create a new kind of society
• Evaluation of Merton's strain theory


  • Explains patterns shown in official crime statistics
  • Marxists argue it ignores the power of the ruling class to make and enforce the law in ways that criminalise the poor but not the rich
  • Assumes there is a value consensus - that everyone strives for 'money success' - and ignores the possibility that many may not share this goal
• Introduction to functionalist and strain theories of crime and deviance

  • The consensus theory - social institutions generally work, social control is good, crime is dysfunctional (bad)
  • Closely related to subcultural theories
  • Historical period: 1890-1940s
• Overall evaluation of functionalist and strain theories of crime

  • Positive: Recognise the relationship between social structure and crime, Durkheim - crime does exist in every society, Durkheim - recognises that a crime-free society is an unrealistic goal, Hirschi - official statistics support, Merton - explains different types of deviance, IAT - recognises recent social changes
  • Negative: Can't explain hidden crimes such as domestic violence, Durkheim - fails to ask 'functionalist for whom' - ignores victims (left realism), Can't explain elite crimes, elite are attached (Marxism), Ignores power and labelling, doesn't recognise that crime stats are socially constructed and elite crimes happen but generally aren't recorded (interactionism), Can't explain recent decrease in crime