Theoretical explanations, crime control and punishment (copy)

-Functionalism:

1. The inevitability of Crime?

• P= Social regulation

  E= Can perform a boundary setting function- reminding the law, pursuit, trial + punishment of criminals reassure people that society is functioning effectively.

  E= Davies> prostitution provides economic support for unskilled women

  E= Deviance is a warning signal that something in society is not properly working.

• P= Social integration

  E= Some crimes create public outrage which reinforce social solidarity + community values against offenders, argued it only becomes dysfunctional when its rate is unusually high or low.

  E= London Riots, when particularly horrific crimes have been committed the whole community joins together in outrage.

  E= Taking official crime statistics at face value

• P= Social change

  E= Everytime a person is prosecuted for a crime attention is drawn to that act. When the law is clearly out of step with the feelings + values of the majority, legal reform is necessary.

  E= Sufragette movement

  E= Assume that society has universal norms + values.

2. Structural Functionalism?

• P= Bonds of attachment

  E= Hirschi> crime is a result of poor/ a lack of socialisation into societies shared norms + values. Criminal activity occurs when an individual’s attachment to society is weakened.

  E= Negative experience of discrimination, working-class students due to labelling- struggle to find a job, so turn to crime.

  E= Blames the victim, ignores wider societal factors e.g. poverty, middle class commit crimes as well.

• P= Strain theory

  E= Merton> ‘if we work hard we will be rewarded with status + material health’. The problem is there are insufficient opportunities for all those who work hard to achieve, this is therefore a strain between what we think we should have + our ability to achieve this legitimately. Striving to achieve the ‘American dream’ could lead to criminal or deviant behaviours.

  E= Retreatism> lack the means of achieving society’s goals but also don’t accept the goals.

  Rebelion> people who reject the dominant social goals + the means the achieve them e.g. terrorist

  E= Marxist> Ignores the powers of ruling class who enforce laws in a way that criminalise the poor but not the rich.

3. Subcultural functionalism?

• P= Status frustration

  E= Cohen> argues that lower class boys strove to emulate middle-class values + aspirations, but lacked the means to achieve success, this led to status frustration- a sense of personal failure + inadequacy.

  E= Bourgois> Studied Latino + African-American drug dealers. Understandable that the youths in these subcultures + gangs did not work for minimum wage when there was a million-dollar industry on their doorstep.

  E= Cohen ignores female delinquency + neglects police stereotyping.

• P= An alternative status hierarchy

  E= This delinquent subculture reverses the norms + values of mainstream culture, offering positive rewards (status) to those who are the most deviant.

  E= Reggie Yates documentary> Boy joined a gang because he wanted to gain status + protection due to him being bullied.

  E= Working-class boys actually conform at school despite eduction failure.

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