Functionalist, strain and subcultural theories

According to Durkheim, what are the two ways in which we achieve social solidarity?

• Socialisation

• Social control

What is social control?

The positive sanctions for conformity and negative sanctions for deviance ensure that people behave according to society’s standards.

According to Duekheim why is crime inevitable?

• Not everyone is socialised adequately and into the same norms and values.

• The diversity in complex societies → subcultures with alternative norms and values.

What are the two positive functions of crime according to Durkheim (1893)?

• Boundary maintenance.

• Adaptation and change.

Explain the concept of boundary maintenance? [3]

• Crime produces a reaction from society → members come together to condemn others wrong doings.

• This explains the purpose of punishment - to reaffirm society’s shared rules and reinforce social solidarity.

• E.g. the drama of the courtroom helps publicly shame criminals and reaffirms the idea that there is a law-abiding majority.

Explain how crime leads to adaptation and change?

• Durkheim believes that all change starts with an act of deviance.

• Challenging the status quo will always initially appear to be deviant.

• However, these actions of beliefs may lead to a necessary change in culture of beliefs.

Who said that the positive functions of crime are boundary maintenance and adaptation and change?

Durkheim (1893)

Why does Durkheim (1893) argue that a moderate amount of crime is desirable?

• Too much crime leads to the break down of society.

• Too little means that society is repressive and controlling.

What did Davis (1937; 1961) say was a positive function of prostitution?

It acted as a safety valve for the nuclear family.

Who said that prostitution was a safety valve for the nuclear family?

Davis (1937; 1961)

Who said that pornography protected the nuclear family?

Polsky (1967)

Who said that deviance acts as a warning sign?

Cohen (1972)

What did Cohen (1972) say about deviance?

Deviance can act as a warning sign that institutions are not functioning properly.

Who said that if deviance has positive functions, then society is organised to promote it?

Erikson (1966)

What did Erikson (1966) say about the positive functions of crime?

They argue that if deviance has positive functions, then society is organised to promote deviance and the actual function of agents of control is to maintain a certain level of crime.

What are some criticisms of the functionalist theory on crime? [4]

• Durkheim’s theory is vague and doesn’t describe what is meant by too much or too little crime.

• Functionalism is teleological as it only explains crime in its alleged function rather than the actual cause of crime.

• Functionalism ignores the negative effects of crime and deviance.

• Crime doesn’t always create social solidarity and can lead people feeing alienated from society.

What is strain theory?

The theory that people commit crimes when they can’t achieve society’s goal through legitimate means.

What is Merton’s (1938) strain theory?

Merton argues that people commit crimes when there is a strain between the goals they want to achieve and our access to legitimate means to achieve them.

What does Merton (1938) say about the American Dream? [4]

• American culture values money success and people are expected to pursue this goal through legitimate means.

• The ideology of the American Dream tells us that society is meritocratic and has enough opportunities for all.

• But in reality, disadvantaged groups are denied the opportunities to legitimately achieve their goals.

• The pressure to deviate is heightened by the fact that American culture places more emphasis on achieving success rather than how you do it.

Who created strain theory?

Merton (1938)

What are Merton’s 5 deviant adaptations to strain?

• Conformity

• Innovation

• Ritualism

• Retreatism

• Rebellion

According to Merton, what is conformity?

Individuals accept society’s golas and aim to achieve them legitimately. This adaptation is common amongst the middle class who have the opportunities to succeed.

According to Merton, what is innovation?

Individuals accept society’s goals but turn to crime to achieve them. The lower classes are more likely to feel pressure to innovate.

Accding to Merton, what is ritualism?

Individuals who reject both society’s goals and the legitimate means so become the dropouts of society. Merton gives drug addicts, chronic drunkards and psychotics as examples.

According to Merton, what is rebellion?

Individuals reject current society’s goals and means so aim to create their own. This includes terrorists, radicals and counter-cultures.

What are the criticisms of Merton? [6]

• He takes official crime statistics at face value.

• It he sees crime as a working-class issue which is too deterministic.

• It ignores the power of the ruling class who enforce laws that only criminalise the poor.

• It assumes that there is a value consensus and that everyone strives for money success.

• It only takes utilitarian crime into account.

• It only looks at the crimes of individuals, ignoring group deviance.

What is a subculture?

A group within a larger society, that have alternative beliefs or interests to mainstream society.

What theory do subculture theorists both build on and criticise?

Merton’s strain thoery

Who says that working-class boys form deviant subctulres because they experience status frustration?

Cohen (1955)

What does Cohen (1955) say is the cause of crime?

• Working-class boys suffer from cultural deprivation so end up at the bottom of the school’s hierarchy.

• They can’t change this so they experience status frustration.

• They begin to reject middle-class values and create their own delinqnuent subculture.

• The subculture inverts the values of the mainstream, creating an alternative status hierarchy.

• This gives the boys an illegitimate opportunity structure where they can now gain status through deviance.

How can Cohen (1955) be criticised?

Cohen assumes that working-class boys start off with the same values as the middle class.

Who says that different subcultures arise because of unequal acess to illegitimate opportunity structures?

Clowarad and Ohlin (1960)

What did Ccloward and Ohlin (1960) say about subcultures? [4]

• Although they agree with Merton, they argue that not everyone was the same opportunity to turn to innovation.

• Different subcultures respond differently to a lack of legitimat means.

• These different subcultures arise because of unequal access to illegitmate opportunity structures.

• Different neighbourhoods povide different illegitimate opportunities for young people to develop their criminal careers.

Who identifies three different types of deviant subcultures?

Cloward and Ohlin (1960)

What are the three different subcultures Cloward and Ohlin (1960) identified?

• Criminal

• Conflict

• Retreatist

Describe criminal subcultures?

• They provide young people with an apprenticeship for a caeer in utilitarian crime.

• They arise only in areaswith a longstanding, stable criminal culture that has a hierarchy.

Describe conflict subcultures?

• A less stable network of criminals that tend to partake in violent crimes.

• They are found in places where people tende to come and go, preventing a stable criminal network from forming.

• The violent crimes they commit are an outlet for young men’s frustration.

Describe retreatist subcultures?

• They are a subulture of double failures that are based on illegal drug use.

• They comprise of people who don’t achieve success through neither the legitimate nor ilegitimate means.

How can Cloward and Ohlin (1960) be criticised?

• They exaggerate working-class crimes and ignore the crimes of the wealthy.

• They ignroe wider power structures that criminalise the working-class.

• They assume that everyone starts of sharing the same goals of succecss.

Who said that Cloward and Ohlin’s (1960) subcultures are too distinct?

South (2020)

How did South (2020) criticse Cloward and Ohlin (1960)?

• Argued that their subcultures were too distinct.

• E.g. They found that drug usage can also be found in conflict and criminal subcultures.

What type of theories are subcultural because they assume that working-class crime is a response to failure?

Reactive theories

Who said that the working-class have their own independent subculture that doesn’t value scess to being with?

Miller (1962)

How does Miller (1962) criticise subcultural theorists?

• They argue that the working-class have their own distinct subculture that never valued success to begin witth.

• Working-class deviance is actually a result of them trying to achieve their own goals, not the mainstream’.

How do Messner and Rosenfled (2001) explain utilitarian crime? [2]

• Economic goals are valued above all and this undermines other institutions.

• This pressure to achieve the American Dream creates a winner-takes-all mentality that creates an anomic cultural environment where people are willing to do anything in the pursuit of wealth.

Who said that pressure to achieve the American Dream creates an anomic cultural environment that leads to crime?

Messner and Rosenfeld (2001)

What did Downes and Hansen (2006) find about the relationship between crime rates and welfare spending?

The countries that spent more on welfare had lower prison rates.

Who found that the countries that spent more on welfare had lower prison rates?

Downes and Hansen (2006)

Who applied strain theory to post-communist Eastern Europe?

Savelsberg (1995)

How did Savelsberg (1995) apply strain theory?

In post-communist Eastern Europe he noted the rapid rise in crime after the fall of communism due to money success being the new goal in society.