Functionalism

Functions of Crime

There are four ways in which deviance contributes to the normative order:

1. It sets boundaries.

2. It enhances group solidarity.

3. It maintains innovative functions.

4. It reduces tensions.

Problems of Functionalism

1. False Teleology.

2. Tautology.

3. No theory of crime/deviance.

4. Non-disprovable.5. Beneficial?

False Teleology

This is "the imputation of cause to beneficial consequence"

or,

"the explanation of phenomena by the purpose they serve rather than by postulated causes."

Tautology

Circular reasoning. "Because it exists it must be functional. If it were not functional, it would not exist."

Prostitution (Davis) would not exist if it were not functional.

Crime, poverty, repressive governments, deviance etc

Theory

The epistemology of science demands that we generate causal statements about how social life works.

• Functionalism does not explain how norms arise, why they arise, and how widely they are accepted.

• The approach does not specify how modes of punishment become accepted by society.

Non-Disprovable

Functionalism is non-disprovable. This means that it cannot be refuted scientifically. It is always correct

.• This is true to the extent that the approach is plagued by tautology and teleology.

• Functionalism maintains that even dysfunctional characteristics are somehow functional (famine,war, sexual assault, poor grades etc.).

Beneficial, Functional?

Sanctioning deviance and deviants acts is said tobe functional by structural functionalists.

• By functional, they mean functional for society at large.

• Many have argued, however, that such sanctioning may be rather dysfunctional. For example, the Supreme Court of Canada has argued that prostitution laws are harmful to sex workers.

Kai Erikson (1964) Wayward Puritans

Erikson used court records to reconstruct the role of deviance among Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He found:

1. For each punishment moral boundaries were clarified.

Each time the community moves to censure deviance, it sharpens the authority of the violated norm. The norm is more clearly identified as important to society

Erikson II

2. The definitions of deviance were clarified by the values of society.

Norms varied with what is punished.

Men who fear witches soon find themselves surrounded by them; men who become jealous of private property soon encounter eager thieves.

Erikson III

3. Most importantly, he notes that the volume of deviants remained relatively constant over a 30 year period.

"Does the fear of deviance create deviance, ordoes deviance create fear?"

In our post 911 society, will we find more acts of terrorism suggesting a greater problem than what actually exists?

Prostitution (Kingsley Davis)

In 1937, Davis asked "Why is it that a practice so thoroughly disapproved, so widely outlawed in Western Civilization,can yet flourish so universally"?

Why is it considered "the world's oldest profession"?

He argued that prostitution would never be eliminated because of the important social functions it served.

Prostitution II

Prostitution exists for physiological and sociological reasons.

Physiological

Davis noted that females do not have periods of anoestrus (complete unresponsiveness to sexual stimuli). Different from other mammals because it is conditioned (sexual stimuli).

Sociological

Social dominance. The degree of dominance determines how bodily appetites will be satisfied.

Prostitution III

Davis wrote:

Since prostitution is a contractual relation (money for sex), it is strange that modern writers have made so much of it as a social evil with economic causes only.

Three aspects of prostitution must be recognized:

1. Causes.

2. The rate of prostitution.

3. Individual causes for seeking a prostitute.

Prostitution IV

There is something about the inherent character of society other than the mere economic argument that explains this reality. It is not simply an economically motivated behaviour.

Would raising wages for women abolish this behaviour? This logic ignores the demand side of the equation. Not only poor women engage in this behaviour and it existed in the Soviet Union.

Why do not more women engage in this behaviour if it is economically feasible?

Prostitution V

The functions of prostitution include:

1. Male need for sexual adventure and experimentation. Men have a much higher need for sex (including unusual sex) that may not be met by their wives.

2. Less attractive men may not find sex so readily. Prostitutes make this possible.

3. Prostitution then, functions to keep the family (with all of its societal benefits i.e. procreation,love etc.) intact.

Prostitution VI

Why else might it exist? Davis argues that society, from time to time, rounds up well-known prostitutes and "Johns", but does little to abolish the practice.

Could not the state send in police in droves to eliminate the behaviour? What would happen if they did?