crime and devience merton, beker, ak & cohen, cloward and ohlin

• Functionalist theory


  Society is a stable system of shared values, beliefs, goals and norms (Value Consensus). Based on socialisation and social control.
• Socialisation


  Values and a shared culture is internalised into members, who feel they know what is right and wrong to do in that society.
• Social control


  Rewards and punishment for doing the right and wrong thing, more opportunities with a clean criminal record, and prison if you are deviant.
• Functionalists believe that crime is inevitable and can be beneficial
• Durkheim's view


  Crime is inevitable because some people just aren't socialised adequately because we are all individuals and have different experiences, influences and circumstances.
• Anomie


  Normlessness, caused by modern societies promoting a diverse and specialised labour force, and a diversity of subcultures which can divide individuals and groups making the value consensus blurred.
• Functions of crime


  • Boundary maintenance
  • Adaptation and change
  • Safety valve
  • Warning light
• Criticisms of Functionalist theories of crime: We don't know exactly how much deviance is a good amount to create a good amount of change and development. It doesn't really explain why crime exists in the first place, where it comes from. Assumes crime has positive roles for society, but ignores how it affects individuals, especially the victims.
• Merton's strain theory


  People try crime and deviant behaviour because they might not be able to achieve legitimate goals by legitimate means that are in the societies 'Value Consensus'.
• Anomie


  Normlessness, caused by an unequal society with less opportunity to get legitimate means legitimately, so people face a strain.
• Merton's modes of adaptation

  • Conformity
  • Innovation
  • Ritualism
  • Retreatism
  • Rebellion
• American dream


  Deviance is the strain between what a culture encourages an individual to achieve and what a society actually allows them to achieve legitimately.
• Evaluation of Merton's strain theory: Explains patterns shown in official statistics, but assumes people all agree on goals and means, and doesn't explain how most people under the same strain don't turn to crime.
• Cohen's status frustrations theory

  Working class boys face Anomie from mainstream middle class cultures and education system, leading them to form delinquent subcultures with alternative values as a deliberate reversal of accepted norms.
• Cloward and Ohlin's theory


  Working class boys are denied legitimate ways to achieve, leading to three types of delinquent subcultures: criminal, conflict, and retreatist.
• Miller's focal concerns theory


  The working class have different values (focal concerns) like being tough and resenting authority, and over-conform to these when trying to gain status, becoming delinquent.
• Criticisms of Functionalist theories: Consensus is flawed, they only explain working class delinquency, and assume delinquency is socialised into the working class when most don't partake.
• Evaluation of Hirschi's theory: It contradicts other theories, doesn't explain why some people have weaker bonds, and assumes everyone could be criminal so needs careful control and monitoring.
• Beker argues that people are motivated by their own needs rather than external factors.
• Merton's strain theory suggests that the American Dream is unattainable due to social barriers.
• Ak and Cohen suggest that working-class youth have limited opportunities and turn to delinquency as an alternative.
• Ak and Cohen argue that there are two main causes of crime - relative deprivation and differential association.
• Relative deprivation occurs when individuals feel they do not receive what they deserve compared to others.
• Ak and Cohen argue that there are two types of subcultures - conventional and deviant.
• Cloward and Ohlin suggest that deprived areas lead to gang formation as a way to survive.
• Differential association refers to learning from significant figures such as family members or peers.
• Marxists believe that crime is caused by capitalist society and inequality.
• Cloward and Ohlin argue that subcultures develop within deprived areas, leading to different types of delinquent behaviour.
• Relative deprivation occurs when individuals feel they lack what they believe they deserve compared to others.
• Functionalism focuses on consensus and social integration, while conflict theories focus on power relations and inequality.
• Differential association refers to learning from others through interaction with them.
• Theories of crime and deviance can be used to understand the causes of crime and how it affects society.
• Differential association refers to learning from others through interaction or observation.
• Conventional subculture values conformity with society's norms and rules.
• Left realism


  Supports the working class, ethnic minorities (people of colour), agrees with labour party, looks at the conditions of society and why the marginalised commit more crimes
• Right realism


  Conservative, less empathetic viewpoint towards the underdog, believe if people want to achieve, they can but they choose not to
• The cause of crime is debated between left and right realism
• Evaluation of causes of crime

  • Relative deprivation (too deterministic, Marxist that even the bourgeoisie commit crime)
  • Subcultures (not all subcultures are criminal, there are people who are not in subcultures and still commit crime)
  • Marginalised (strain of anomie, status frustration, no explanation for why crime is the outlet of their frustration opposed to other behaviours (deviance))
  • Rational Choice Theory (overstates the offender's rationality and how far they have cost-benefit calculations before committing a crime, too deterministic, working class may not know the consequences, due to the lack of education)
  • Biological Factors (if low intelligence was an explanation for why people commit crime, it would not explain why Asians have such high crime statistics but are simultaneously the highest achievers in education, Marxists suggest that this explanation fails to explain the importance of material deprivation and the social factors that leads to people committing crimes out of necessity, this also does not explain non-utilitarian crimes)
  • Inadequate Socialisation (too deterministic to assume that all people in the under/ working class are inadequately socialised, too deterministic to assume that if you are 'inadequately socialised' you would be a criminal)
• Left and right realism perspectives on preventing crime

  • Policing and control (must be made accountable to local communities and need to improve their relationship with such communities by spending more time investigating crime and involving the community and making policing policy)
  • Tackling structural causes (tackle the structural cause of poverty by reducing inequality of opportunity and discrimination by providing jobs for everyone)
  • Zero tolerance policing (a zero-tolerance policy to undesirable behaviour such as prostitution, begging and drunkenness, police should patrol the streets and take a 'short, sharp, shock' approach, and carry out on stop and search on suspicious characters)
• Broken window thesis


  It is essential to maintain orderly characteristics of neighbourhoods and reduce any signs of crime immediately. This means if an area looks rundown, its going to be treated as such by criminal.