crime and deviance- functionalist, strain and subcultural theories

describe durkheim's functionalist theory

· See society as based on value consensus- shared norms and values and a shared culture.

· In order to achieve this value consensus society takes part in socialisation to instil the shared culture to individuals and social control mechanisms such as rewards to ensure society behaves as expected.

why do functionalists see crime as inevitable

· Whilst functionalists view excess crime destabilises society, they also see crime as inevitable and universal.

· This is due to 2 reasons

1. Not everyone is equally effectively socialised into the shared norms and values therefore some individuals will be prone to deviate.

2. In particular to modern societies, there is a diversity of lifestyles and values. Different groups develop their own subcultures with distinctive norms and values, and what the subculture regards as normal, mainstream culture may see as deviant.

· In Durkheim's view, modern societies tend towards anomie as modern societies have a complex, specialised division of labour which leads to individuals becoming increasingly different from one another.

· This weakens the shared culture/ collective conscience and as a result leads to higher levels of deviance.

· Too much crime threatens to tear the bond of society apart.

· Too little means that society is repressing and controlling its members too much, stifling individual freedom and preventing change.

according to durkheim what are the 2 positive functions of crime

boundary maintainece, adaption and change

describe boundary maintenance

Boundary maintenance

· Crime produces a reaction from society, uniting its members in condemnation of the wrongdoer and reinforcing their commitment to the shared norms and values.

· For Durkheim, this reinforces the role of punishment not to condemn the wrongdoer but to reaffirm society's shared rules and reinforce social solidarity.

· This may be done through the rituals of the court room which emphasise the wrong doings and publicly shame the offender. This reaffirms the values of the law abiding majority and discourages others for law breaking.

describe adaptation and change

· According to Durkheim, all change starts with an act of deviance. Individuals with new ideas, values and way of living will at first appear deviant. These individuals must not suffer from the weight of social control.

· However, in the long run it is these individuals with the new values that give rise to a new culture and morality. If those with new ideas are suppressed then society will become stagnant and be unable to make the necessary changes to fit the needs of the members in society.

other functions of crime

Safety Valve (Kingsley Davis, 1937/61):

Prostitution acts as a safety valve, releasing men's sexual frustrations without threatening the stability of the nuclear family.

2. Channeling (Ned Polsky, 1967):

Pornography channels sexual desires safely, preventing adultery which could be more disruptive to the family.

3. Warning Sign (Albert Cohen):

Crime/deviance signals that an institution is not functioning properly.

E.g., high truancy = problems in the education system → policymakers need to act.

4. Promoting Deviance (Kai Erikson, 1966):

If deviance has positive functions, society may actually organise itself to promote deviance.

Agencies of social control (e.g., police) may sustain a certain level of crime rather than eliminate it.

Links to labelling theory (social control can actually produce deviance).

5. Managing Deviance:

Societies regulate deviance instead of eliminating it.

Examples: demonstrations, carnivals, festivals, sport, student events → allow misbehaviour without major punishment.

Youth given leeway to "sow wild oats" → helps cope with transition to adulthood.

criticisms of this functionalist theory

· For Durkheim, society requires a certain amount of deviance to function successfully but offers no way of knowing what the right amount is.

· Crime doesn't always promote solidarity and may have the opposite effect, leading to people becoming more isolated. On the other hand, some crimes do reinforce collective sentiments such as uniting a community in condemnation of a brutal attack.

· Functionalism looks at the positive functions of deviance but ignores how it might affect different groups or individuals within society.

· Functionalist explain the existence of crime in terms of supposed function in society such as to strengthen the bonds. However, this doesn't mean society creates crime in advance with the intention to strengthen solidarity or provide positive functions.

describe Merton's strain theory

The strain theory argues that people engage in deviant behaviour when they are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means.

The first strain theory was developed by Merton who adapted Durkheim's theory of anomie to explain deviance through cultural and structural factors.

For Merton, deviance is a result of a strain between

The goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve

What the institutional structure of society allows them to achieve legitimately.

describe the american dream

Americans are expected to pursue this goal by legitimate means- self discipline, study and qualifications

The ideology of the "American dream" indicates that society is a meritocratic one where anyone who makes the effort can get ahead-opportunities for all

But in reality, many disadvantaged groups are denied opportunities to achieve legitimately. For example due to poverty.

The resulting strain between the cultural goal of success and the lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve produces frustration and in turn creates a pressure to resort to illegitimate means such as crime. Merton calls this pressure to deviate, the strain to anomie

According to Merton, the pressure to deviate is further increased by the fact that American culture puts emphasis on achieving by any means than doing it legitimately.

what are the deviant adaptations to strain

Merton argues that an individual's position in the social structure affects the way they respond to the strain of anomie.

Conformity- individuals accept the culturally approved goals and strive to achieve them legitimately. This is most likely among m/c individuals who have good opportunities to achieve but Merton sees it as the typical response of most Americans

Innovation- individuals accept the goal of money and success but use illegitimate means such as theft to achieve it. This is usually for w/c who are under greatest pressure to innovate.

Ritualism- individuals give up in trying to achieve the goals but have internalised the legitimate means and so follow the rules for their own sake. This is typical for low end middle class office workers in routine jobs

Retreatism- individuals reject both the goals and the legitimate means and become dropouts. Common in vagrants and drunks etc

Rebellion- individuals reject the existing society's goals and means but replace them with new ones in hopes to bring about revolutionary change. This includes political radicals

evaluation of merton- strengths

Shows how both normal and deviant behaviour can arise from the same mainstream goals- both conformists and innovators are pursuing money one legitimately and the other not

This is explained in official crime stats where most crime is property crime as Americans value wealth so highly and lower class crime rates are higher as they have the least opportunities to obtain wealth legitimately

evaluation of merton- criticism

Takes official crime stats at face value- over represent w/c crime so Merton sees crime as a mainly w/c phenomenon.

Too deterministic and assumes all of the w/c will deviate due to lower opportunities

Marxists argue that it ignores the power of the ruling class to make and enforce the laws in ways that criminalise the poor but not the rich.

It assumes there is a value consensus - that everyone strives for 'money success' - and ignores the possibility that many may not share this goal.

It only accounts for utilitarian crime for monetary gain, and not crimes of violence, vandalism etc. It is also hard to see how it could account for state crimes such as genocide or torture.

It explains how deviance results from individuals adapting to the strain to anomie but ignores the role of group deviance, such as delinquent subcultures.

what are subcultural strain theories

· See deviance as the product of a delinquent subculture with different values from those of mainstream society.

· They see subcultures as providing an alternative opportunity structure for those who are denied the opportunity to achieve by legitimate means- mainly the w/c

how does cohen agree and disagree with merton

· Cohen agrees with Merton that deviance is largely a w/c occurrence- results from the inability of those in the lower classes to achieve mainstream success goals by legitimate means.

· Cohen criticises Merton's explanation of deviance

1. Merton sees deviance as an individual response to strain, ignoring the fact that much deviance is committed in or by groups

2. Merton focuses on utilitarian crime committed for material gain such as theft and ignores crimes such as assault and vandalism which may have no economic motive.

describe status frustration

· Cohen focuses on deviance among w/c boys and argue they face anomie in the m/c dominated school system. They suffer from cultural deprivation and lack the skills to achieve.

· Their inability to succeed in this m/c society leaves them at the bottom of the official status hierarchy- resulting in resorting to illegitimate means to achieve money success.

· This leads to boys suffering from status frustration- they face a problem of adjustment to the low status they are given by mainstream society.

· They resolve their frustration by rejecting mainstream m/c values and instead turn to other boys in the same situation by forming/joining a delinquent subculture.

describe the alternative status hierachy

· Cohen argues that the subculture's values are in contempt for those outside it. The delinquent subculture inverts the values of mainstream society.

· The subculture's function is that it offers the boys an alternative status hierarchy in which they can achieve through their own illegitimate opportunity structure in which they can earn status through their peers through their delinquent actions.

positive and negative evaluation of cohen's theory

Positive

· Explains non-utilitarian deviance. Cohen's ideas of status frustration, value inversion and alternative status hierarchy help to explain non-economic delinquency.

· Demonstrates the part school's contribution

Negative

· Cohen assumes the w/c boys start off sharing m/c values only to reject these when they fail. He ignores the possibility that they didn't share these goals in the first place and so never saw themselves as failures.

describe cloward and ohlin's subcultural strain theory

· They agree with Merton that w/c youths are denied legitimate opportunities to achieve money success and that their deviance stems from the way they respond to this situation.

· They note that different subcultures respond in different ways to the lack of legitimate opportunities and argue the key reason isn't only unequal access to the legitimate opportunity structure but also the unequal access to illegitimate opportunity structure.

what are the 3 subcultures

1. Criminal subcultures

o Found in areas with established, stable working-class communities and adult crime networks.

o Provide an "apprenticeship" for utilitarian crime (e.g. theft, fraud).

o Young people can learn from adult criminals, gaining role models and opportunities for a criminal career and work their way up the criminal ladder

2. Conflict subcultures

o Found in areas of high population turnover and social disorganisation.

o Lack of stable adult criminal networks.

o Instead, youths form loosely organised gangs.

o Violence becomes a way of gaining status and releasing frustration at blocked legitimate opportunities.

3. Retreatist subculture

¨ Not everyone who aspires to be a professional criminal actually succeeds- just as in the legitimate opportunity structure where not everyone gets a well paid job.

¨ According to Cloward and Ohlin these "double failures" turn to illegal drug use.

evaluation of cloward and ohlin

· Agree with Merton and Cohen that most crime is w/c thus ignoring crimes of the wealthy.

· Their theory overpredicts the amount of w/c crime and ignores the wider power structure, including those who make and enforce the law.

· They provide an explanation for different types of w/c deviance in terms of different subcultures.

· They draw the boundaries too sharply between these. South found that the drug trade often mixes: Disorganised crime (conflict gangs) and Organised 'mafia'-style crime (criminal subcultures). Even retreatist users (drug addicts) may also act as professional dealers, showing overlap. Cloward and Ohlin assumed individuals belonged to only one type of subculture, which is unrealistic.

criticism of strain/subcultural theories

Assume subcultures form only in response to failure to achieve mainstream goals.

Criticised because not everyone necessarily starts off sharing mainstream success goals

alternative views on devience in society

Walter Miller (1962) Argues the lower class has its own independent subculture, separate from mainstream. It has its own values ("focal concerns"), so its members are not frustrated by failure to achieve mainstream success. Deviance arises from pursuing their own goals, not reacting to blocked opportunities.

David Matza (1964) Claims delinquents are not strongly committed to subcultures. They "drift" in and out of delinquency depending on circumstances.

Suggests deviance is not a permanent identity but something temporary and situational.

influence of strain theory

Strain theories (especially Merton's and Cloward & Ohlin's) influenced later theories and government policy.

Example: Left Realism draws on strain ideas to explain crime.

Historical example: In the 1960s, Cloward & Ohlin's work influenced US crime policy under President Kennedy

describe recent strain theories

· Argue that young people may pursue a variety of goals other than money success. These include popularity with peers and autonomy from adults.

· They argue that failure to achieve these goals may result in delinquency and that middle class juveniles may also have problems achieving such goals which offers an explanation for m/c delinquency.

describe institutional anomie theory

· Messner and Rosenfield's institutional anomie focuses on the American dream. They argue that its obsession with money success and winner takes all mentality exerts pressure to crime by encouraging an anomic culture in which people are encouraged to adopt an "anything goes" mentality for wealth.