Functionalism and Crime

• 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 These examples show that crime and deviance can be used to challenge laws that might seem outdated or wrong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
• Durkheim does not explain the origins of crime; he simply suggests that in some cases it can be functional
• 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 from accepted norms and values 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 Adaptations to Strain of Anomie

  • Conformity
  • Innovation
  • Ritualism
  • Retreatism
  • Rebellion
• Merton's theory raises unanswered questions about why some people but not others adopt deviant adaptations
• Merton's theory is too deterministic
• Status Frustration


  Many working class adolescents experience frustration with their low status as failures and are given little or no respect
• Delinquent Subculture


  Subculture which has its own norms and values which are different from mainstream society, including values of spite, malice and hostility for those outside the subculture
• Non-Utilitarian Crime


  Criminal activities not directed towards monetary gain, such as vandalism, joy riding and anti-social behaviour, which can bring respect and status within the delinquent subculture
• Criminal Subculture


  Delinquent subculture that develops in areas with a well established pattern of adult crime, providing an illegitimate opportunity structure and role models for young men to learn the tricks of the trade and climb the criminal hierarchy
• Conflict Subculture


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


  Delinquent subculture that emerges among those who have failed to succeed either by legitimate means or as members of criminal or conflict subcultures, based on illegal drug use
• Cloward and Ohlin's theory tends to ignore the overlaps between the different delinquent subcultures
• 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 - with conning and outwitting others
• Miller's argument seems to put forward the idea that lower class young men are living in a world of their own with little reference to mainstream society
• Techniques of Neutralisation


  • Denial of Responsibility
  • Denial of Injury
  • Denial of the Victim
  • Condemning the Condemners
  • Appeal to Higher Loyalties
• Techniques of neutralisation don't necessarily indicate a commitment to conventional norms and values, they may simply be a public justification and excuse for criminal behaviour