Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Crime and Deviance - Functionalism (flashcards done) - Coggle Diagram
Crime and Deviance - Functionalism (flashcards done)
Definition of C+D
Crime
Behaviour that breaks formal, written laws of a given society.
Often with a harsher punishment than deviance, but can vary due to different treatment of the crime.
social constructuion
law creates crime not the other way around
. Crime is not fixed, as it is observed in a different way in different places at different times, so the reaction by society makes a behaviour a crime not the act itself.
Deviance
Behaviour that moves away form a set of standards in society.
More general and often not legally controlled (no formal punishment). Unlike crime it is not always seen in a negative light.
social construction
Ken Plummer (1979)
Societal deviance refers to acts which most members of a society regard as deviant
. However this is situational, and depends on the time and place to define the circumstances which label the act as deviant.
Durkheim
Inevitability of crime
Quote
Crime is normal ... an integral part of all healthy societies.
Crime and deviance occur because:
not everyone is socialised to share he same values effectively and equally.
modern societies are complex due to diversity, so not all subcultures are considered normal by the other.
As crime is inevitable, we must regulate and control it to make sure that it only
benefits
society and doesn't damage it. This is done through the CJS
Positive function of crime
BOUNDARY MAINTENANCE
reinforces value consensus and social solidarity, of what is right and wrong
ADAPTATION AND CHANGE
ALL CHANGE STARTS WITH DEVIANCE - challenges to trad values and norms with first be deviant but lead to change in long-term.
Other functions of crime
COHEN
acts as a safety valve
- allows people to 'let off steam' in a relatively harmless way -
Prostitution releases sexual expression
Polsky
- porn protects marriage as it is an alternative to adultery
warning device
- high levels of crime show the break down of social order. This shows that there is a problem that the state needs to tackle to make society better.
Anomie and Atrophy
Anomie
- modern societies are heading towards this as diversity breaks down value consensus. This leads to higher levels of C & D as there is no longer a collectve agreement on what is right and wrong, and t what means people should go to gain things they didn't have before.
Atrophy
- erosion of society's norms and values due to anomie, and on a large scale dysfunctional.
Deviants experience ANOMIE and as a result ATROPHY occurs when they go against society's value consensus. As a result, deviants are different to normal people.
EVALUATION
does not actually what level of crime is
optimal
- just says that too much or too little is bad
ignores the intersectionality of
CAGE
overlooks the function of crime for the
individual
, as while it can benefit society as a whole, it can be damaging for the individual (victim)
does not look at the causes of crime -
why do people experience anomie?
believes that C & D strengthen social solidarity, but ignores how it can
isloate people
- afraid to leave their homes due to high levels of crime.
Merton
STRAIN THEORY - American Dream
Summary
argues that people engage in deviant behaviour when they are
unable to achieve goals by legitimate means
further developed Durkheim's theory as it
explains the gap left by him
, about why people become deviant and commit crimes in the first place
Deviance is a result of
strain between 2 things
GOALS ENCOURAGED BY CULTURE
MEANS TO ACHIEVE LEGITMATELY
there is a strain because, society is unequal and not everyone has the same opportunities to achieve these goals and as a result, react to this inequality differently
The ideology of the American Dream is an example, as society is taught that
financial success is meritocratic , however in practice this is not true.
STRAIN THEORY - Adaptation to strain
argues that an
individual's position in social structures
affect the
way they respond
to the strain - there are
5 different responses
as the individual adapts by
accepting or rejecting goals or means.
5 adaptations - Goals, Means
Rebellion
- R(A), R(A)
Retreatism
- R, R
Ritualism
- R, A
Innovation
- A, R
Conformity
- A, A
EVALUATION
Strengths
explains how
normal and deviant
behaviour occurs from mainstream goals
most crime is
property crime
- Western societies value material wealth highly like in the American Dream ideology.
W/C crime rate is higher
- least legitimate opportunity to gain wealth.
Weaknesses
takes W/C crime at face value
Marxists
- ignores the power of ruling class to decide the make and effect of laws
assumes a value consensus of goals
only accounts for
utilitarian
crime (economic) - not
non-utilitarian
(violence)
only explains C & D at
individual level
not
group crime
RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR STRAIN THEORY - Downes & Hansen (2006)
survey of crime rates and welfare spending in 18 countries - found societies who spend more had lower imprisonment rates.
If you provide more legitimate opportunities (support and protection) there is less crime
Subcultural strain theories
Cohen - Status Frustration
Status frustration - definition
A sense of frustration arising in individuals or groups who fell they are denied status in society.
AGREES/DISAGREES WITH MERTON
agrees
deviance is a largely lower class phenomenon
results from inability to succeed through legitimate means
disagrees
only sees individual's responses to strain, not how groups or a community how lack opportunities can come together in their response to strain
focuses on utilitarian crime, and does not explain non-utilitarian crime
Summary of theory
due to the lack of opportunities and symbolic violence/ cultural deprivation experienced within schools, W/C youths experience status frustration. this is resolved through an
alternative status hierarchy
this
alternative status hierarchy
results in the mainstream values being inverted, and allows the W/C youths to succeed and gain status through deviance and crime (illegitimate opportunities)
EVAULATION
strengths
unlike
Merton
it offers an explanation of
non-utilitarian
deviance - the frustration against the mainstream can be taken out in deviance and then the W/C gain status.
explains W/C deviancy as a
group response
rather than just the individual (Merton).
weaknesses
like
Merton
, Cohen assumes that they start off sharing the same values as the M/C which is what leads them to fail in gaining traditional status.
MILLER
- W/C don't reject M/C values at they have a completely different subculture due to
focal concerns
. because of this, they do not see them selves as failures from rejecting the M/C values that they never held in the first place.
only focuses on the causes of L/C crime, and ignore why someone might commit U/C crime (
Corporate
).
Cloward and Ohlin
- It doesn't account for varied responses within the W/C
Cloward and Ohlin - Three Subcultures
agreed with
Merton
that deviance occurred due to a lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve financial success. As a result people respond to this
anomie
of not fitting into the American Dream three ways based on
unequal access to illegitimate opportunities
.
Three types of subcultures
CRIMINAL
arise only in neighbourhoods with
longstanding and stable criminal culture
. This leads to established hierarchy of professional adult crime.
allows the young to associate with adult criminals -
role models and apprenticeships
based on aptitude
acts as a
legitimate alternative to the job market.
CONFLICT
areas of
high population turnover
and low social cohesion. This prevents the establishment of a
stable adult criminal
subculture, resulting in a
socially disorganised area.
characterised by violence, gang warfare, mugging and other street crime.
This provides a release of the frustration felt by young men due to their lack of opportunities, as well as an alternative status (
Cohen
)
RETREATIST
emerge from
double failures
as both legitimate and illegitimate means of success have not worked.
because they are
double failures
they retreat into drug addiction and alcoholism, paid by petty theft, drug dealing, shop lifting and prostitution (
Merton - Retreatist strain response
)
EVALUATION
strengths
agree with
Cohen
that subcultures are the source of delinquency, however, builds as it
explains why
there are different types of W/C deviant subcultures.
gives insight to
different types of crime and responses
to strain
weaknesses
agrees with
Cohen and Merton
that most crime is W/C, therefore ignoring U/C crime.
over-predicts W/C crime
like
Merton and Cohen
they ignore the wider power structures, including who makes and enforces law
South
draws the boundaries of subcultures too sharply
- drug culture occurs in all three subcultures
Matza
most delinquents are
not committed
to their delinquent subculture and drift in and out of deviancy.
https://www.tutor2u.net/sociology/reference/theories-of-crime-deviance-matza-a-level-sociology
Miller
L/C has an independent subculture as they are
socialised into FOCAL CONCERNS
. Because of this, they are
never failures
as they never believe in the same M/C values which are not open to them due to lack of legitimate opportunities.
Messner and Rosenfeld
INSTITUTIONAL ANOMIE THEORY
its obsession with money success (American Dream) and
'winner-takes-all'
mentality that exerts a pressure to wards crime, as the
goal is worth any means
.
this
undermines institutions
, as the communities that they build are broken, and the competition for economic success leads to individual isolation - lack of community leads to
anomie
In societies based on
free-market capitalism and lacking adequate welfare provision
, high crime rates are inevitable.
supporting research
Downes and Hansen
18 countries - more welfare the lower crime rate
Savelsberg
post communist societies in Eastern Europe saw a
rapid rise in crime after the fall of communism
in 1989. Communism had collective values, which were replaced by Western capitalist goals of
individual 'money success'
GENERAL EVAULATION OF FUNCTIONALIST THEORIES
generally assume there is some form of value consensus - not always true (Miller - focal concerns)
tend to only explain W/C crime
take crime stats at face value