Topic 1 Flashcards
(22 cards)
Functionalism
Sees society as based on value consensus = sees members of society as sharing a common culture
Sharing common culture produces social solidarity - binds people together
Functionalists say to achieve this…
Solidarity, society has 2 key mechanisms
- Socialisation - instals shared culture into members - helps to ensure people internalise the same n+v = act in way society requires
- Social control - mechanisms include rewards/positive sanctions for conformity and punishments for deviance - helps to ensure people behave in the way society expects
Functionalists also see crime as…
Inevitable and universal. Every known society has some level of crime and deviance
Durkheim quote
“Crime is normal…an integral part of all healthy societies”
Reasons why crime and deviance are found in all societies
- not everyone is equally effectively socialised into the shared n+v so some people will be prone to deviate
- particularly in complex modern societies there is a diversity of lifestyles and values - different groups develop their own subcultures with distinctive n+v - what the members of the subculture regard as normal mainstream culture may see as deviant
Durkheim
Modern societies tend towards anomie or normlessness - the rules governing behaviour becomes weaker and less clear cut. Because in modern society people are becoming increasingly different from each other because of diversity of lifestyles and values
This weakens the shared culture / collective conscience
Durkheim - positive
For Durkheim crime fulfils 2 positive functions:
- boundary maintenance- Crime produces a reaction from society, uniting its members in condemnation of the wrongdoer and reinforcing society’s commitment to the shared n+v + solidarity
May be done through dramatising wrong-doing in rituals of courtroom / publicly shaming and stigmatising the offender, reaffirms values of law abiding majority and discourages others from rule breaking
- adaptation and change - Durkheim says all change starts with an act of deviance, people with new ideas values and ways of living must not be completely stifled by the wright of social control - must be some scope for them to challenge existing n+v, in first instance this will appear as deviance. Eg authorities often persecute religious visionaries who come up with a new message or value system however in the long run their values may give rise to a new culture and morality. Therefore if those with new ideas are suppressed society will stagnate and be unable to make necessary adaptive changes
Davis
Prostitution acts as a safety valve for the release of men’s sexual frustrations without threatening the monogamous nuclear family
Polsky
Pornography safely channels a variety of sexual desires away from alternatives like adultery which would pose a greater threat to the family
Erikson
Argues if deviance performs positive social functions perhaps it means society is actually organised so as to promote deviance. He suggests function of agencies of social control may be to sustain a certain level of crime rather than rid society of it
What do societies sometimes do
Manage and regulate deviance e.g carnivals festivals sport and student rag weeks all license misbehaviour that in other contexts might be punished
Young may be given leeway - deviance may be way of coping from transition from childhood to adulthood
Durkheim criticisms
Says society requires a certain amount of deviance but doesn’t say how much
Society doesn’t create crime with intent of positive functions
Ignores how crimes might affect people within society, e.g murderer on victims family
Crime doesn’t always produce solidarity it can lead to people becoming more isolated eg forcing women to stay indoors in fear of violence
Strain theories
Argue people engage in deviant behaviour when they are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means
Merton
Adapted Durkheims concept of anomie to explain deviance
He says deviance is the result of strain between the goals that a culture encourages people to achieve and what the institutional culture of society allows them to achieve legitimately
Example - Merton
American culture values money success and Americans are expected to pursue this goal by legitimate means like self discipline hard work educational qualifications. The ideology of the AD tells Americans that their society is a meritocratic one where anyone who makes effort can get ahead (opportunities for all)
BUT he reality is different - many disadvantaged groups are denied opportunities to achieve legitimately eg poverty inadequate schools discrimination in job market = blocks opportunities.
Resulting strain produces frustration and this creates a pressure to resort to illegitimate means such as crime and deviance. Merton calls this pressure to deviate strain to anomie
Pressure to deviate is further increase because American culture puts more emphasis on success at any price than achieving it by legitimate means
Merton adaptions to strain
- Conformity - people accept the culturally approved goals and strive to achieve them legitimately (Merton sees typical response of most Americans)
- Innovation - People accept goal of money success but use new illegitimate means such as theft or fraud to achieve it
- Ritualism - people give up on trying to achieve goals but have internalised legitimate means so follow rules
- Retreatism - people reject both goals and legitimate means and become dropouts
- Rebellion - people reject existing society’s goals and means but replace them with new ones in a desire to bring about revolutionary change and create a new kind of society eg political radicals
Positive evaluation of Merton
- He explains patterns shown in official crime statistics that lower class crime rates are higher because they have least opportunity to obtain wealth legitimately
Criticisms of Merton’s theory
- takes official crime statistics at face value which over represent WC crime so Merton sees crime as mainly a WC phenomenon
- not all WC deviate despite experiencing most strain
- assumes there’s a value consensus that everyone strives for same goals of money success
- doesn’t account for crimes of violence vandalism
- ignores role of groups in creating deviance such as delinquent subcultures
Cloward and Ohlin
Agree WC yours are denied legitimate opportunities to achieve money success
Not everyone adapts by turning to innovation - different subcultures respond in different ways.
He says the key reason different subcultural responses occur is not only unequal access to legitimate opportunity structures but unequal access to illegitimate opportunity structures also
Eg fail at legitimate means can also meaning failing at illegitimate means
Cloward and Ohlin Chicago School
Drawing on ideas of Chicago school they argue different neighbourhoods provide different illegitimate opportunities for young people to learn criminal skills and develop criminal careers.
They identify 3 types of deviant subcultures that results:
1. Criminal subcultures- provides youths with an apprenticeship for a career in utilitarian come - arise only in neighbourhoods with a long standing and stable criminal culture with an established hierarchy of professional adult crime - allows young to associate with adult criminals who can select those with right abilities and provide them with training as well as opportunities for employment on criminal career ladder
2. Conflict subcultures- arise in areas of high population turnover. This results in high levels of social disorganisation and prevents stable professional criminal network developing. Means only illegitimate opportunities available are with loosely organised gangs, provide a release for young men’s frustration at their blocked opportunities + alternative source of status
3. Retreatist subcultures- not everyone succeeds = double failures who fail both in legitimate and illegitimate opportunity structure - may turn to retreatist subculture based on illegal drug use
Cloward and Ohlin evaluation
- Over predicts amount of WC crime
- Show different types of WC deviance however the boundaries are drawn too sharply. South says drugs trade is a mixture of disorganised crime like conflict subculture and professional crime like criminal subculture
Strain theories evaluation
Miller - lower class has its own independent culture separate from mainstream culture with its own values - this subculture doesn’t value success in the first place so its meme era aren’t frustrated by failure Matza- just delinquents aren’t strongly committed to their subculture but drift in and out of delinquency
