Crime and Deviance Theorists Flashcards
(10 cards)
Durkheim - Cause of crime
Crime is inevitable and universal. Caused by inadequate socialisation, diversity leads to deviant subcultures.
Durkheim - anomie
Modern society tends to normlessness. Weak collective consciousness lads to high deviance
Durkheim - positive functions of crime
Boundary maintenance: Produces a social reaction uniting members in condemnation of deviant. Reinforces shared norms and value consensus
Adaptation and change: New ideas and ways of living arise from challenges to value consensus created by crime
Durkheim - balance of crime
Too much and too little is dysfunctional.
Too little: Society of saints where no innovation/social change occurs.
Too much: Leads to anomie, normlessness which results in social disorder
Kingsley-Davis
Prostitution acts as a safety valve for the release of male sexual frustrations
Polsky
Pornography channels sexual desires away from alternatives which may pose a risk to the family (such as adultery)
Clinard and Cohen
Warning signs that an institution isn’t working. Signifier of social issues. Riots, truancy, crime rates
Merton - Strain
People engage in C&D when they are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means. Strain between what they are encouraged to and what they can achieve legitimately.
Merton - 5 responses to anomie
Strain between goals and means causes anomie.
1. Conformity: Majority, use conventional means to strive for unreachable success
2. Innovation: Strive for success through C&D means
3. Ritualism: Motions of conventional means with no interest in outcome
4. Retreatism: Lost sight of means and goals. Societal dropouts (druggies)
5. Rebellion: Means and goals consciously rejected. Revolutionaries
Cohen - Status frustration
Working class boys are unsuccessful in society (due to education), as they face anomie in m/c ed system due to cultural deprivation. Unable to succeed in m/c world, bottom of social hierarchy. Can’t achieve by legit means, status frustration
