FUNCTIONALISM Flashcards
Who are the 4 functionalist perspectives?
Durkheim: Positive function of crime
Cohen: Status frustration theory
Cloward and Ohlin: Status frustration theory
Merton: Strain theory
According to Durkheim, why is crime inevitable?
Stems from inequality, poor socialisation results in not everyone being taught the same norms and values
According to Durkheim in what ways is crime postivive, and what sociologist agrees and points out another positive function
Boundary maintenance: punishing crimes teaches the rest not to do it
Adaption and Change: crime must take place to allow to norms to form, allows social adaption
Davis
Safety valve: e.g. prostitution is a safely valve, allows a release of sexual frustration without ruining nuclear family
How can you criticise Durkheim’s perspective of crime being a positive function?
Doesn’t explain why crime exists
Ignores how crime affects the individual victims, just focuses on how it benefits society
Doesn’t always promote Solidarity, could promote isolation. E.g. women staying inside in fear of attacks
What is Mertons strain theory, how does it cause crime?
States that crime is cause by the failure to achieve the goals of the American dream through legitimate means.
Many disadvantaged groups
lack legitimate opportunities resulting in frustration and turning to illegitimate means, winning becomes more important that the rules
According to Merton, what is the American Dream?
Goals that the culture encourages the individual to achieve. American are expected to pursue this goal legitimately, e.g. through education, regardless of class, gender or ethnicity
According to Merton what a the five different types of deviant adaptions to strain?
Conformity: accept and try to achieve legitimately, this is usually m/c
Innovation: accept the goal but use illegitimate means, e.g. theft or fraud
Ritualism: give up on trying to achieve goals but continue legitimate means for their sake, .e.g, dead end jobs
Retreatism: reject goal and legitimate means, become dropouts
Rebellion: replace societies goals with new ones to bring revolutionary change, e.g. political radicals
How can you criticise Mertons strain theory in explaining crime?
Official crime stats over represents working class crime, also too deterministic, the working class do experiance strain but they aren’t all deviant
Marxists: it ignores the power of the ruling class
Assumes everyone has the same goal, not everyone wants riches
Doesn’t take into account violence crime, or explain group crime
What is Cohen’s status frustration theory?
Focuses on the study of working class boys in schools who fail to succeed in middle class environments
Why would working class boys fail to succeed in a middle class environment such as school?
Cultural Deprivation
Material deprivation
Lack the skills necessary
According to Cohen, what is the response by these working class boys to the status frustration frustration experiance?
Create their own delinquent subcultures that are the opposite of societies m/c mainstream goals and values. Offers an alternative status hierarchy that they are more likely to achieve and rise in. This explains non-utilitarian crime (crime that doesn’t produce monetary reward, e.g. vandalism)
How can you criticise Cohen’s status fustration theory?
Assumes w/c boys start off with m/c success goals and only reject these when they fail. Ignores the possibility that they never had these goals in the first place
How does Cloward and Ohlin further develop Cohen’s status frustration theory?
Outlines three different subcultures, and how they respond in different ways. Also points out reasons for responses isn’t just failure of legitimate opportunities but also illegitimate opportunities
According to Cloward and Ohlin what are the three different subcultures created by status frustration?
Criminal subcultures: provide apprenticeships for a career in crime, have hierarchy and is a stable culture, e.g. drug dealers
Conflict subcultures: exist in areas areas of high population turnover, loosely organised gangs, e.g. turfs wars with rival gangs
Retreatist Subcultures: formed by people who fail legitimately and illegitimately and turn to drug use, e.g. junkies
How can you criticise Cloward Ohlin’s status frustration theory?
Ignores crime of wealth, over predicts the amount of w/c crime and ignores the wider power of who makes and enforces laws
South: draws the boundaries too sharply, according to this theory you can’t be part of more than one subculture
Miller: deviance arises to achieve their own goals, not mainstream ones
Matza: delinquents aren’t committed to subculture, and drift in and out of it
