essay plan

top tips

Five main paragraphs plus a conclusion
Don’t limit yourself to one piece of evidence or idea each paragraph
Reference studies and such throughout the answer
Durkheim covers paragraph one and two

paragraph one

Para one focus on the inevitability of crime how you look at society as a whole and the institutions
All about the functionalist context what do they think about society ad how does that link to crime
Don’t lose sight of the question make sure you are focusing on crime and not getting lost
Crime is universal as it is found in every society
The counter argument should be relevant to the paragraph
Crime is inevitable in functioning society but this ignores the victims and that crime can have a bad effect on people

paragraph two

Crime can be functional
Talk about Durkheim’s five main functions of crime
Relate to these in the ao2

paragraph three

Merton talks about strain theory
Explain the difference between conformist and innovator
Downes and Hanson found societies that spent more on welfare had less crime - innovators less reason to turn to crime
unlike Durkheim, Merton actually suggests why people do crime
Link to innovators conformists American dream and so on
Use loads of ao1
doesn't think about group crime, only focuses on individuals
links to functionalism as assumes society is meritocratic and people have a consensus about goals in society

paragraph four

Cohen has two main concepts to be unpacked status frustration and the alternative status hierarchy
Alternative hierarchy is a different way to gain status through deviant behaviour
conformist/innovator routes
innovators gain alternative status through crime
doesn't explain why subcultures change over time or why people of higher classes commit crimes and join gangs
links to functionalism as it suggests this aspect of society has a function in allowing all people to achieve status and become valuable members of society despite the circumstances of their birth

paragraph five

Cloward and Ohlin say there are three types of subculture
This depends on the illegitimate opportunity structure
This means whether it is organised or not
The types are criminal conflict and retreatist subcultures
doesn't tackle class/gender they don't explain why in a meritocratic society, lower classes can't access success legitimately through working hard
links to functionalism as it suggests there are structures even within crime that work together and let society function like the human body analogy

conclusion

functionalists explain crime as necessary/improves society
explanation useful as it suggests how and why people turn to crime
but rely on stats rather than qualitative - low validity
ignores white-collar crime
focuses on WC
assumes majority accept consensus
overall structural approach so focuses on society affecting people rather than people affecting each other and society