Crime and Deviance - Functionalist, Strain and Subcultural Theories. Flashcards
(40 cards)
1
Q
According to Functionalists, what two factors are needed to achieve social solidarity?
A
- Socialisation and social control.
2
Q
How does socialisation help to achieve social solidarity?
A
- It encourages a shared culture between its members.
- Individuals internalise the same norms and values and act in the way that society requires.
3
Q
How does social control help to achieve social solidarity?
A
- Positive sanctions for conformity.
- Negative sanctions for deviance.
4
Q
What does Durkheim say about the inevitability of crime?
A
- “Crime is normal… an integral part of all healthy societies.”
5
Q
According to Functionalists, how is crime and deviance universal?
A
- Unequal socialisation into the norms and values, leading to deviancy amongst members.
- Increased diversity of lifestyles has led to the formation of distinctive subcultures that hold their own norms and values. These norms and values may oppose those of mainstream society.
6
Q
Why does Durkheim argue that modern societies tend towards anomie?
A
- Modern societies have a complex, specialised division of labour, leading to individuals becoming increasingly different from one another. This weakens the collective conscience and results in higher levels of deviance. E.g. Durkheim sees anomie as a cause of suicide.
7
Q
According to Durkheim, what are the two positive functions of crime?
A
- Boundary maintenance: Crime produces a reaction from society, uniting its members and reinforcing their commitment to the shared norms and values. Durkheim argues that this is the function of punishment. E.g. Courtrooms publicly shame and stigmatise the offender.
- Adaptation and change: All change starts with an act of deviance. Individuals must be able to think differently if society wants to evolve further. However, too much crime threatens to tear the bonds of society, and too little means that society is controlling and repressing its members, preventing change and individual freedom.
8
Q
What are other functions of crime according to Functionalists? (minus Durkheim)
A
- Cohen: Deviance acts as a warning that an institution isn’t functioning properly. E.g. High rates of truancy may indicate problems with the education system.
- Erikson: Argues that if deviance performs positive functions, then perhaps society is actually organised to promote deviance. E.g. He argues that the true functions of agencies of social control such as the police may actually be to sustain crime rather than to rid society of it.
9
Q
Evaluation of Functionalist theories about crime.
A
- Durkheim argues that society requires a certain amount of deviance to function properly, but he offers no way of knowing how much is the right amount.
- Functionalists ignore how deviance might affect different groups or individuals in society. It may be more beneficial for one group compared to another. E.g. Prostitution.
- Crime doesn’t always produce solidarity and may have the opposite effect. E.g. Women staying indoors due to a fear of attack.
- Some crimes do reinforce collective sentiments. E.g. Uniting the community in condemnation of a brutal attack.
10
Q
What two elements does Merton consider to explain deviance?
A
- Structural factors and cultural factors.
11
Q
What are structural factors according to Merton?
A
- Factors that cause deviance as a result of society’s unequal opportunity structure.
12
Q
What are cultural factors according to Merton?
A
- Having a strong emphasis on success goals and a weaker emphasis on using legitimate means to achieve them, leading to deviance.
13
Q
Merton argues that deviance is the result of a strain between what two things?
A
- The goals that a culture encourages people to achieve.
- What the institutional structure allows them to achieve legitimately.
14
Q
What is the American Dream?
A
- An ideology that tells Americans that their society is a meritocratic one where anyone who makes the effort can get ahead.
- Americans are expected to pursue ‘money success’, a high status, and individual wealth using legitimate means: self-discipline, study, educational qualifications, and hard work in a career.
15
Q
Why do minority ethnic groups find it difficult to achieve the American Dream legitimately?
A
- Poverty, inadequate schools, and discrimination in the job market.
16
Q
What is “the strain to anomie”, according to Merton?
A
- The pressure to deviate due to a strain between the cultural goal of money success and the lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve them.
17
Q
Why does Merton argue that the pressure to deviate is increased?
A
- American culture puts more emphasis on achieving success by any means rather than achieving it legitimately.
18
Q
What are the five adaptations to strain?
A
- Conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion.
19
Q
What is conformity? (Merton)
A
- When individuals accept the culturally approved goals and strive to achieve them legitimately.
- Most likely among middle-class individuals, but Merton sees it as the typical response of most Americans.
20
Q
What is innovation? (Merton)
A
- When individuals accept the goal of money success but use ‘new’, illegitimate means such as theft or fraud to achieve it.
- Most likely among those at the lower end of the class structure.
21
Q
What is ritualism? (Merton)
A
- When individuals give up on trying to achieve the goals, but have internalised the legitimate means and so they follow the rules for their own sake.
- Most likely among lower-middle class office workers in routine jobs.
22
Q
What is retreatism? (Merton)
A
- When individuals reject both the goals and the legitimate means and become dropouts.
- Merton uses ‘outcasts, chronic drunkards, and drug addicts’ as examples.
23
Q
What is rebellion? (Merton)
A
- When individuals reject the existing society’s goals and means, but they replace them with new ones in a desire to bring about revolutionary change and create a new kind of society.
- This includes political rebels and counter-cultures such as hippies.
24
Q
Evaluation of Merton.
A
- He explains the patterns shown in official crime statistics: Most crime is property crime because American society values material wealth, and lower-class crime rates rates are higher, because they have the least opportunity to achieve legitimately.
- His theory is too deterministic: The working class experience the most strain, yet they don’t all deviate.
- It takes official crime statistics at face value. These over-represent working-class crime, so Merton sees crime as mainly a working-class phenomenon.
- It assumes that there is a value consensus: Everyone must share the same goal of ‘money success’ which isn’t the case.
25
What are subcultural strain theories?
- Theories that see deviance as the product of a delinquent subculture with different values from those of mainstream society.
26
What social group is more deviant according to A.K Cohen?
- He agrees with Merton that deviance is largely a lower-class phenomenon.
27
What two criticisms does A.K Cohen give about Merton's explanation of deviancy?
- Merton sees deviance as an individual response to strain, ignoring the fact that much deviance is committed in or by groups, especially among the young.
- Merton focuses on utilitarian crime committed for material gain, such as theft or fraud. He largely ignores crimes such as assault and vandalism, which may have no economic motive.
28
What did A.K Cohen study and what were his findings?
- Studied deviance among working-class boys because they face anomie in the middle-class dominated school system.
- The boys suffer from cultural deprivation and lack the skills to achieve, which leaves them at the bottom of the official status hierarchy.
- The boys suffer from status frustration because they can't achieve status by legitimate means (education).
- They resolve their frustration by rejecting mainstream middle-class values and instead join delinquent subcultures with boys in the same situation.
29
What is the "alternative status hierarchy" according to A.K Cohen?
- The illegitimate opportunity structure that working-class boys created after joining delinquent subcultures.
- This involves inverting the values of mainstream society. E.g. Society upholds regular school attendance, whereas boys gain status in the subculture from vandalising property and truanting.
30
Evaluation of A.K Cohen.
- Offers an explanation of non-utilitarian deviance.
- Ignores the possibility that the boys didn't share the same goals and never saw themselves as failures.
31
Why do Cloward and Ohlin argue that different subcultural responses occur?
- The key reason is not only unequal access to the legitimate opportunity structure, but also unequal access to illegitimate opportunity structures. E.g. Not everyone who fails by legitimate means have an equal chance of becoming a successful safecracker.
32
What were the three deviant subcultures identified by Cloward and Ohlin?
- Criminal, conflict, and retreatist subcultures.
33
How do criminal subcultures provide opportunities for young people to develop criminal careers? (Cloward and Ohlin)
- Arise only in neighbourhoods with a longstanding criminal culture with an established hierarchy of professional adult crime.
- Young people associate with adult criminals and view them as role models.
34
How do conflict subcultures provide opportunities for young people to develop criminal careers? (Cloward and Ohlin)
- Arise in areas of high population turnover.
- High levels of social disorganisation leads to the development of a professional criminal network.
- Only illegitimate opportunities are available with loosely organised gangs. E.g. They offer violence as a release for men's frustration at their blocked opportunities, as well as an alternative source of status that they can achieve by winning 'turf'.
35
How do retreatist subcultures provide opportunities for young people to develop criminal careers? (Cloward and Ohlin)
- Arise in any neighbourhood.
- Not everyone who aspires to be a professional criminal or a gang leader succeeds, which is the same case for those who fail in the legitimate opportunity structure. E.g. Getting a well-paid job.
- Those who fail in both the legitimate and illegitimate opportunity structure turn to these subcultures based on illegal drug use.
36
Evaluation of Cloward and Ohlin.
- Agree with Merton and Cohen that crime is mostly working-class, ignoring crimes of the wealthy.
- Matza: Claims that most delinquents are not strongly committed to their subculture, as strain theories suggest, but instead drift in and out of delinquency.
- They provide an explanation for different types of working-class deviance.
37
What do recent strain theories suggest?
- Young people may pursue a variety of goals other than money success. E.g. Popularity with peers, autonomy from adults, or the desire of some young males to be treated like 'real men'.
- Like earlier strain theorists, they suggest that failure to achieve these goals may result in delinquency.
- Middle-class juveniles may also have problems achieving their goals, offering an explanation for middle-class delinquency.
38
What is the "Institutional Anomie Theory"? (Messner and Rosenfeld)
- An extension of Merton's Strain Theory which argues that societal crime rates are linked to the dominance of economic institutions over other social institutions. E.g. If a society values wealth, people may feel pressured to succeed financially. This alongside weak social institutions such as family and education, can lead to an increase in criminal activity such as theft or violence to achieve economic success.
39
Evaluation of the Institutional Anomie Theory.
- Downes and Hansen: In a survey of crime and welfare spending in 18 countries, they found that societies that spent more on welfare had lower rates of imprisonment.
40
What is the difference between goals and means?
- Goals: Desired outcomes that individuals want to achieve.
- Means: The methods used to attain desired goals.
