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FUNCTIONALIST THEORY OF CRIME + DEVIANCE - Coggle Diagram
FUNCTIONALIST THEORY OF CRIME + DEVIANCE
DAVIS/POLSKY - SAFETY VALVE
Some minor crimes + deviant acts can actually prevent larger, more serious crimes
Polsky suggested suggests that accessing pornography can prevent more more serious sexual crimes
ROBERT MERTON - STRAIN THEORY
Based around the idea of the 'American dream'
Merton believed that crime is a response to strain place on people to achieve the goals + values of society
Conformity
- Accepting goals set out by society + accepting the means to achieve them
Ritualism
- Following the means to achieve the goals of society but believing that you will never actually achieve them
Innovation
- Accepting the goals set out + agreed by society but choosing alternative means to achieve them
Rebellion
- Rejecting the goals of society + creating you own as well as the means of achieving them
Retreatism
- Reject the goals of society and the means of achieving them but do not replace them with all their own goals or means
Underestimates the amount of crime that has been committed by those who have achieved societal goals
Over exaggerates the importance of gaining money + how it leads to success
Fails to explain non-utilitarian crime (crimes with no financial gain e.g. vandalism
DURKHEIM - THREE KEY IDEAS ABOUT CRIME
A limited amount of crime is inevitable + necessary
Crime has positive functions - a certain amount of crime contributes to the well-being of society
Too much crime is bad for society - so institutions of social control are necessary to keep the amount of crime in check
Boundary Maintenance
Crime allows society to reinforce what is acceptable behaviour and the punishments show people what will happen for breaking the rules
Social Cohesion
Very serious crimes can also lead to society coming together to express disapproval towards the perpetrator
Adaption + Change
Some social deviance is necessary to allow society to move forward + progress. Without some deviant + criminal behaviour society will become stagnant and die
Durkheim ignores the impact that crime has on an individual victim, instead focuses on the impact of society
HIRSCHI - BOND THEORY
Belief
- how strong is a personal sense to obey the rules of society is
Attachment
- to what extent do we care about the opinions of people around us?
Involvement
- how busy you are, do you have the time to commit crime?
Commitment -
personal investment that each of us make in our lives, what have we got to loose if we cannot commit crime?
Assumes all people are naturally bad and it's society that keeps people good + doesn't explain why the bonds are weak or strong. You can have strong bonds but still be deviant , e.g., sexuality
WARNING SIGN - CLINARD + COHEN
An increase in a certain type of crime or deviant behaviour can be an indication that something in society is not functioning as it should be and that a change needs to occur
SUBCULTURAL THEORIES
COHEN - STATUS FRUSTRATION
Young people get frustrated by their inability to achieve social goals which lead to status so instead they turn to crime to achieve status
MILLER - FOCAL CONCERNS
Working class have a different set of of values/focal concerns to the rest of society e.g. hyper masculinity which can lead to a criminal behaviour appearing normal
Not all working class are criminal
Matza - subculture membership is often short lived
Willis - working class boys do not share the same ideas as middle class boys
Only discusses youth crime
Ignores young female criminality
CLOWARD + OHLIN - ILLEGITIMATE OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURES
Criminal subcultures which socialise young people into criminal activity
Conflict subcultures where there is little social cohesion
Retreatist Subcultures = those who fail to gain access to the to the other two subcultures
Assumes that official statistics of crime are accurate
Over exaggerates the criminal opportunities that are available to the young