Functionalist view of C+D

• What do functionalist view about society?

  They see society as based on a value consensus. These shared values produced social solidarity. Instead of seeing crime and deviance as negative Functionalists see it as positive and an integral part of all modern society.
• (Durkheim’s theory of crime and deviance) Crime ensures boundary maintenance

  In Durkheim’s view, the purpose of punishment is to reaffirm society shared rules

  - for example, this may be drawn through the rituals of the courtroom which traumatised wrongdoing and publicly shamed and stigmatised the offender. This reaffirms, the values of the law abiding majority and discourages others from lawbreaking.
• (Durkheim’s theory of crime and deviance) Adaptation and change

  For Durkeheim all change, starts with an act of deviance. Individuals with new ideas, values and ways of living must not be completely stifled by the weight of social control. They must be away for them to challenge and change existing norms and values, and in the first instance this will appear as deviant.

  - for example, the authorities, often persecute, religious visionaries, who give off a new message or values system. However, in the long run, their values may give rise to a new culture and morality.

  If they were able to give these new ideas, society wouldn’t be able to make necessary changes
• Crime is an early warning system and a coping mechanism - Cohen says, explain:

  Cohen argued that crime is a warning system

  - for example, high rates of truancy (skipping lessons) may tell us that there are problems with the education system and policy makers need to make changes

  -

  It is a coping mechanism with the strain of transition from childhood to adulthood

  - for example, festivals, demonstrations, sports, or misbehaviour that in other contexts might be punished.

  
  
• Strengths of Durkheim's view:

  • Highlights the positive functions of crime
  • Durkheim shows crime isn’t just harmful, it can create boundary maintenance (reaffirming shared values when people unite against wrongdoing) and adaptation and change (new ideas emerge when laws are challenged).
  • Example: Civil rights protests in the 1960s were deviant at the time but led to legal and moral progress.
  • Recognises crime as inevitable
  • Unlike older theories, Durkheim doesn’t see crime as society “breaking down” — he argues some crime is normal and even necessary. This avoids the unrealistic idea of a “crime-free society.”
  • Useful starting point
  • His ideas influenced later functionalist thinkers like Merton (strain theory) and Cohen (status frustration). They developed his notion of shared values but gave more detail on why some groups are more likely to commit crime.
• Weaknesses of Durkheim's view:

  • Too vague/general
  • Durkheim says crime is “functional,” but he doesn’t explain how much crime is good for society — at what point does crime start harming society?
  • Ignores power and inequality
  • He treats law as if it reflects shared values, but Marxists argue laws serve the interests of the ruling class, and crime may reflect inequality rather than benefit everyone.
  • Overemphasis on the positive
  • Not all crime can be seen as functional (e.g. child abuse, domestic violence) — these don’t promote solidarity but cause harm and division. Feminists especially criticise functionalists for ignoring the impact of crime on victims, particularly women.
  • Doesn’t explain who commits crime
  • Functionalism recognises crime is inevitable but doesn’t explain why specific individuals or groups commit more crime than others. Later theories (Merton, subcultural theories, labelling) are needed to fill this gap.
• Explains Merton's theory of crime and deviance - Strain Theory:

  Suggested that C+D were evidence of a poor fit/strain between the socially accepted goals of a society (for eg; good house, good grades, nice family) and socially disapproved means of obtaining these desired goals (eg; theft to get money to get a nice house).

  • Merton argues that all members of society share similiar values but do not share the same opportunities because of different positions and it is this situation that can create deviance
• Strengths of Merton’s Strain Theory

  • Links crime to social structure
  • Shows how crime isn’t just about individual failings, but about the gap (strain) between cultural goals (e.g. wealth, success) and the legitimate means to achieve them.
  • This makes crime understandable as a socially produced phenomenon.
  • Explains working-class crime rates
  • Useful for explaining higher crime among the working class: they face the greatest strain because of fewer opportunities.
  • This links to official statistics (higher recorded crime in deprived areas).
  • Provides typology of responses
  • Merton’s five adaptations (conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion) show not everyone responds the same way to strain.
  • Innovation, for example, helps explain utilitarian crime like theft and fraud.
  • Influential starting point
  • Paved the way for later theories, e.g. subcultural theories (Cohen, Cloward & Ohlin) who built on and criticised Merton’s work.
• Weaknesses of Merton’s Strain Theory

  1. Takes official statistics at face value

  • Merton accepts O/S that working-class crime is higher → ignores the dark figure of crime and the possibility that policing biases over-report w/c crime and under-report m/c or white-collar crime.

  1. Ignores power of ruling class

  • Marxists argue he overlooks how laws are made in the interest of the powerful.

  1. Exaggerates monetary success

  • Over-focuses on the “American Dream” / money as the main goal. Many crimes (e.g. domestic violence, vandalism, hate crimes) are not motivated by material success.

  1. Ignores group crime/subcultures

  • Strain theory is largely individualist; doesn’t explain why crime often occurs in groups (gangs, youth subcultures). Later theorists like Cohen addressed this gap.
• What are Merton's 5 ways people may respond to success goals?

  Conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion.

  • they are the different ways individuals respond to the strain between society’s shared goals (like wealth and success) and the means available to achieve them. They describe how people adjust their behaviour — some conform, while others turn to deviance, rejection, or rebellion.
• (Merton's ways that people may respond to goals) Conformity

  • People accept the cultural goals (e.g. wanting success, money) and the legitimate means (education, hard work).
  • Most people fall into this category.
  • Example: A student works hard in school to get qualifications and a good job.
• (Merton's ways that people may respond to goals) Innovation

  • People accept the goals (e.g. wealth) but reject the legitimate means → they find new, often illegal, ways to succeed.
  • Example: A working-class youth wants money but turns to theft, drug dealing, or fraud instead of education.
  • This explains much working-class utilitarian crime.
• Explain what Merton means by the ways in which people may respond to success goals

  they are the different ways individuals respond to the strain between society’s shared goals (like wealth and success) and the means available to achieve them. They describe how people adjust their behaviour — some conform, while others turn to deviance, rejection, or rebellion.

  👉 Basically: they are five different responses people make when they can’t achieve society’s goals through legitimate means.
• (Merton's ways in which people may respond to success goals) Conformity

  • People accept the cultural goals (e.g. wanting success, money) and the legitimate means (education, hard work).
  • Most people fall into this category.
  • Example: A student works hard in school to get qualifications and a good job.
• (Merton's ways in which people may respond to success goals) Innovation

  • People accept the goals (e.g. wealth) but reject the legitimate means → they find new, often illegal, ways to succeed.
  • Example: A working-class youth wants money but turns to theft, drug dealing, or fraud instead of education.
  • This explains much working-class utilitarian crime.
• (Merton's ways in which people may respond to success goals) Ritualism

  • People give up on achieving the goals but still stick rigidly to the means (rules and routines).
  • They go through the motions without aiming for success.
  • Example: A low-level office worker who has no ambition for promotion but still turns up every day and follows the rules.
• (Merton's ways in which people may respond to success goals) Retreatism

  • People reject both the goals and the means.
  • They “drop out” of society altogether.
  • Example: Drug addicts, alcoholics, vagrants — people who disengage from mainstream success and don’t follow social rules.
• (Merton's ways in which people may respond to success goals) Rebellion

  • People reject existing goals and means but replace them with new ones.
  • They want to change society and its value system.
  • Example: Political radicals, revolutionaries, or protest groups who seek alternative systems (e.g. anti-capitalist movements).
• Cohen criticises Merton 2 ways, what are they?

  • he sees deviance as a response for the strain on w/c , BUT ignores the fact that much deviance is committed in groups like young people.
  • he focused on untiliation crime (crime committed for gain) but ignores crime like assault
• What did Cohen say about status frustration?

  Cohen said that status frustration can lead to delinquent behavior.

  People do delinquent behaviour not for economic gain but for the thrill of it.

  • he argued that w/c boys face failure in the m/c school system, they lack the skills to achieve, leaving them at the bottom of the hierarchy. -> this lead to status frustration, so the boys created delinquent subcultures as a way of coping with it.
  • -> Cohen found that the response the boys had to this was to reject the values of acceptable behaviours and use an alternate status hierarchy which are illegal and/or deviant
• Strengths of Cohen - Status Frustration:

  • Cohen's ideas about status and respect are still very relevant to understanding of comtemporary gang culture
  • Like Merton, Cohen has successfully demonstrated he link between crime and the social structure of capitalism
• Weaknesses of Cohen - Status Frustration:

  • Willis' concluded that w/c youth do not share the same definition of status as m/c boys. The lads in Willis' study saw educational failure as 'success' because they didnt NEED qualifications to do the same jobs as their fathers.
  • Feminists say that Cohen has ignored female delinquency, so this theory is not generalisable to young females who commit crimes.
• What did Cloward and Ohlin say about Illegitimate Oportunity Structures?

  They argue that Merton had ignored that there was a parallel opportunity structure to the legal one. By this, they meant that, for some subcultures and illegal career was available. With the right connections and personal qualities, it is impossible to have a career in crime.
• Cloward & Ohlin - Illegitimate opportunity structures.

  They say that illegal opportunity structure had three possible subcultures : Criminal Subculture

  Criminal subcultures provide youth with an apprenticeship for a career in utilitarian crime. They arise only in neighbourhoods with the stable criminal culture with an established hierarchy or professional adult crime. This allows the young to associate with adult criminals who can select those with the right abilities and provide them with training and role models as well as opportunities for employment within the crime career.
• Cloward & Ohlin - Illegitimate opportunity structures.

  They say that illegal opportunity structure had three possible subcultures : Conflict Subculture

  Conflict subcultures arise in areas of high population, this result in high levels of social disorganisation, and prevents a stable professional criminal network developing. The absence of this criminal network means that only the illegal opportunities available within loosely organised gangs. In these violence provides a release for young men frustration at their blocked opportunities, as well as an alternative source of status that they can earn by winning territory from rival gangs.
• Cloward & Ohlin - Illegitimate opportunity structures.

  They say that illegal opportunity structure had three possible subcultures : Retreatist Subculture

  In any neighbourhood, not everyone who inspires to be a professional criminal actually succeeds, just as in the legal opportunities structure, we’re not everyone gets a well-paid job. Those who fail to be criminal, both professionally and illegitimately may turn to a retreatist subculture based on illegal drug use
• W Miller - Focal Concerns

  Melissa suggested that working class meals had six focal goals that are passed on from generation to generation that would likely to lead to delinquency. He argued this culture had emerged due to the experience of low, skilled, boring, repetitive, deaden, jobs and periods of unemployment. The focal concerns were

  - smartness

  - trouble

  - excitement

  - toughness

  - autonomy

  - fate

  For example, excitement might lead to thrill, seeking behaviour, such as drugtaking, and toughness, may lead to fighting
• Matza - Delinquency and drift

  Argues that all climb and deviance, no matter who commits it is caused by underground values throughout society, which are only expressed in particular context or situation. So for example, in a certain context, someone may do something deviant, even though they are a good person.

  He argues that young people view their delinquency with guilt and shame, which suggests at least some commitment to mainstream values whilst they also use techniques to justify their actions

  - denial of responsibility for themselves

  - denial of injury - ‘ nobody got hurt ‘

  - denial of the victim - ‘ they had it coming ‘

  - condemning the condemners - ‘ the police are corrupt anyway’

  - appeal to high loyalties - ‘ I was doing it for my family’

  
  

  , this clearly suggest that delinquents are no different from everyone else .
• Hirschi - Social Bonds

  Hirschi shares most of Durkheim’s views, but instead of asking why some young people commit crimes, he asks why most young people do NOT commit crimes. He argues that all human beings have weaknesses which make them unable to resist temptation and turn to crime

  There were social bonds with other people that encouraged them to have self-control, tied them to conformity and restrain them from committing crime . If the social bonds are weakened, the self-control is weakened and then they turn to crime.

  - for example, a group of teenagers, it may be tempted to try an illegal substance because there is no adult supervision, and therefore social control is weakened
• Hirschi - 4 Social Bonds

  - Attachment - timing about what others think ( eg; family, teachers, friends) strong, emotional ties, discovered deviance, because people don’t want to disappoint or lose respects

  - Commitment - investment in conventional goals (eg; education, career) . The most someone has to lose the less likely they are going to risk it through crime.

  - involvement - being busy with legitimate activities (school, sports community) time spent on positive activities, at least less opportunity for deviance

  - belief - agreement with societal rules and values. If people respect laws and see them, as fair, they are less likely to break them.