Sociology - WJEC

• Boundary Maintenance


  For Durkheim, crime is functional because of the response such activities draw forth from society. Through DEGRADATION CEREMONIES such as criminal trials or public punishment, society and the individual are reminded of their shared norms and values. By publicly condemning those who have broken significant rules, not only are norms and values reaffirmed but we learn the limits of tolerance and unite against the condemned
• Adaptation and Change


  For Durkheim all change starts with an act of deviance, think of Rosa Parks or Dr Death. These examples show that crime and deviance can be used to challenge laws that might seem outdated or wrong
• Strengthens Social Cohesion


  In this last point Durkheim famously argue that crime can concentrate upright consciousness. A good example is the murder of James Bulger, a horrific act that led to inquiries and hopefully change for the best, moreover it unites people creating social solidarity and collective consciousness
• Safety Valve


  Kingsley Davis has argued that there is a conflict between a mans instinctual need for sexual satisfaction and society's need to restrict the legitimate expression of sex to within the family. Davis therefore argues that in this context prostitution becomes functional as it provides sexual satisfaction without threatening the family as an institution
• Warning Function


  Criminal or deviant acts may serve as a signal or warning that there is a problem with the social organisation or structure which may lead to changes that enhance morale or efficiency. For example, truancy from school may indicate unsuspected causes of discontent and the need to change the education system
• Functionalism fails to ask who the crime is functional for, for example murder is not functional for the victim
• Crime doesn't always promote solidarity in some cases it may have the opposite effect for example forcing women to stay at home for fear of attack
• Structuralist Theory


  The structure of society was key in shaping people's behaviour
• Anomie


  Normlessness - a situation where norms no longer guide behaviour in essence anything goes
• Strain to Anomie


  Pressure to deviate due to the discrepancy between the goal that a culture encourages individuals to achieve and what the institutional structure of society allows them to achieve legitimately
• Merton's Five Adaptations to Strain


  • Conformity
  • Innovation
  • Ritualism
  • Retreatism
  • Rebellion
• Merton's theory was an early attempt to explain crime and deviance in terms of the culture and structure of society
• Merton's theory raises unanswered questions such as why do some people but not others adopt deviant adaptations, and it focuses on individuals rather than groups
• Status Frustration


  Many working class adolescents experience low status as 'failures' and are given little or no respect
• Subculture


  A group that has its own norms and values which are different from mainstream society
• Non-Utilitarian Crime


  Criminal activities not directed at monetary gain, such as vandalism, joy riding and anti-social behaviour
• Criminal Subculture


  A subculture that develops in areas with a well-established pattern of adult crime, providing an illegitimate opportunity structure for young people to learn criminal skills and climb the hierarchy of professional crime
• Conflict Subculture


  A subculture that develops in areas with an absence of an illegitimate opportunity structure, leading to frustration and anger which is expressed through gang violence
• Retreatist Subculture


  A subculture that emerges among those who have failed to succeed through either legitimate or illegitimate means, often based on illegal drug use
• Focal Concerns


  Major interests and involvements of the lower class subculture, including a desire for excitement, an emphasis on toughness, and a concern with 'smartness' and conning others
• Techniques of Neutralisation


  Ways in which delinquents justify their criminal acts in terms of mainstream values, including denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of the victim, condemning the condemners, and appeal to higher loyalties
• Matza argues that delinquents largely accept the values of the wider society and 'drift' in and out of delinquency, rather than having a distinctive delinquent subculture
• Cohen argues that techniques of neutralisation do not necessarily indicate a commitment to conventional norms and values, and may simply be a public justification for criminal behaviour