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Crime and Deviance
Topic 1 Crime, Deviance, Social order and Social
control
Functionalist and
subcultural theories of
crime and deviance
1
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand Durkheim’s functionalist theory
Explain the difference between strain theory and subcultural
theory
Evaluate functionalist, strain and subcultural theories of Crime
and Deviance
Develop exam technique + APPLY knowledge to AQA
examination questions
PLC ( PERSONALISED LEARNING CHECKLIST )
Understood
Tick if yes
Cross if no
FULL
Revision
notes made
Application to
AQA question
Durkheim’s
functionalist
theory +A03
Difference btw
strain and
subcultural
theory +A03
In pairs discuss;
What do Functionalists believe about how society operates?
How might these ideas apply to crime?
2
DURKHEIM’S FUNCTIONALIST THEORY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmvo68wAkqc
Durkheim believed that Sociology
is a stable system based on value
consensus. Society has two key
measurements to help bring social
solidarity
Socialisation
&
Social control
He saw crime as an inevitable, normal and even necessary part of society. Although crime
disrupts social stability, it also performs some positive functions.
1.BOUNDARY MAINTENANCE
Crime produces a reaction from society, uniting its members against the wrong-doer
and reinforcing their commitment to the value consensus.
The function of punishment is to reaffirm shared rules and reinforce social
solidarity.
Publicised legal proceedings help to remind everyone of the boundaries between right
and wrong. For example, sensationalised reporting in the media of incidents of child
abuse has the effect of reinforcing social control against child abusers and
improving the protection of vulnerable children
3
TASK: Which functions are performed by the following;
• Failure to protect a child from abuse
• Paedophilia
COHEN argued that deviance acts as a ‘warning light’ that something
isn’t working.
For example high truancy rates may indicate problems within the
education system that need changing. High rates of suicide, drug
addiction, divorce and crime point to underlying social problems that need
solving before serious threats to social order develop.
2.ADAPTATION AND CHANGE All change starts as deviance as new ideas must challenge existing
norms and values.
If this is suppressed then society will stagnate. Protests can be
supportive of deviant behaviour which eventually leads to a change in
society’s norms.
4
DAVIS also suggests that deviance can act as a safety valve.
Some deviant acts may allow people to release their urges without
harming society. For example prostitution acts to relieve men’s sexual
frustrations without threatening the nuclear family.
CRITICISMS OF DURKHEIM A03 –HOT With a partner - explain WHY this is an issue and expand the boxes
1. Durkheim fails to explain just how much deviance is required for society to function.
2. He also fails to distinguish between types of crime – some acts will be more harmful to
society than others.
3. Durkheim claims that crime has positive functions but this doesn’t explain why there is
a crime in the first place- people don’t usually commit deviant acts in order to make
society better.
4. This theory also fails to consider who crime is functional for-it may help society to
function but this does not consider the perspective of victims of crime- they would
not consider acts against them as functional.
5
MERTON’S STRAIN THEORY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fsTFx6xZ2M
Merton argues that people engage in deviant behaviour when
they cannot achieve socially approved goals by legitimate
means
Deviance is a result of the strain an individual feels when
they cannot achieve legitimately
This explanation combines 2 elements.
1. Structural factors – society’s unequal opportunity structure
2. Cultural factors- society’s greater emphasis on success goals
over using legitimate means to achieve them.
Merton uses the idea of the American dream to illustrate
The American dream emphasises money and success. Americans are expected to pursue
this through legitimate means i.e. education and hard work.
However, poverty and discrimination means that opportunities are blocked for many
individuals
The resulting strain leads people to resort to illegitimate means instead .Merton argues
that not all individuals have the same opportunity of realising these goals by approved
means because of things such as unemployment, low pay, racism or lack of educational
success. This means that they face a sense of strain and anomie (normlessness), as the
dominant rules about how to achieve success don’t meet their needs.
This pressure is increased by the culture of success in America; winning is seen as more
important than playing by their rules.
6
THERE ARE 5 RESPONSES TO STRAIN
1.CONFORMITY
Accept the means
Accept the goals
The non-deviant, non-criminal conformist citizen.
Individuals accept the culturally approved goals and strive to achieve them
legitimately.
2.INNOVATION
Accept the means
Accept the goals
Factors like poor educational qualifications or unemployment mean some can’t
achieve goals by approved means so turn to crime as an alternative. Goals of
success are accepted but individuals use illegitimate means to achieve them.
I have qualifications, a steady job
& I’m straight!
http://www.clker.com/clipart-16341.html
7
3.RITUALISM
Accept the means
Accept the goals
Give up on achieving goals but stick to means
e.g. teachers who give up caring about student
success, or office workers who have abandoned
hopes of promotion and they are just marking
time until they retire.
4.RETREATISM
Accept the means
Accept the goals
Drop outs like drug addicts or tramps who give up altogether. Individuals
rejectboth goals and legitimate means and drop out of society.
http://www.clker.com/clipart-16341.htmlhttp://www.clker.com/clipart-16341.htmlhttp://www.clker.com/clipart-16341.html
8
5.REBELLION
Accept the means
( )
Accept the goals
( )
Reject existing social goals and means,
but substitute new ones to create a new
society, like revolutionaries or members
of some religious sects.
The aim is to bring about social change.
Activity:
1. Explain ,with examples, how deviance and crime might be important as a source of
social change.
2. Classify each of the following as one of Merton’s five modes of adaptation, and
explain your reasons.
A successful banker
A drug-dealer
A monk living in a monastery
A person cheating in exams
A shoplifter
An alcoholic
An indifferent Jobcentre clerk.
http://www.clker.com/clipart-16341.htmlhttp://www.clker.com/clipart-16341.html
9
EVALUATION OF MERTON A03 -HOT
Extend each A03 point !!
1. The theory shows how both normal and deviant behaviour can arise
from the same mainstream goals.
2. Merton’s idea explains the trends shown in official statistics. For example that crime
rates tend to be higher amongst the working class as they have the least opportunity to
obtain wealth legitimately.
3. It also helps to explain why most crime in America is property crime because material
wealth is so valued by American society.
1. Merton has been criticised for taking official statistics at face
value. Interactionists would argue that crime figures are a social
construct.
2. His theory is also too deterministic. Not all working class people deviate.
3. Marxists would argue that Merton fails to consider the power of the ruling class to make
and enforce laws, oppressing the working class.
4. Merton focuses on the individual response to strain .He doesn’t consider the influence of
groups such as delinquent subcultures. He does not recognise there is a social pattern of
crime and deviance affecting whole groups of people linked to social class, age, gender
and ethnicity.
10
SUBCULTURAL STRAIN THEORIES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Gn4ibhRLM
COHEN –STATUS FRUSTRATION.
Working –class youths cannot achieve mainstream goals by legitimate
means due to being culturally deprived.
They experience strain as status frustration.
However, Cohen disagrees that this is just an individual response to
strain.
They resolved their status frustration by rejecting middle-class values
and joining/forming a subculture of others in the same position.
This gives them an alternative status hierarchy where they can win status
through delinquent action. They develop an alternative distinctive set of
values- a delinquent subculture
Mainstream values are inverted. What society praises (e.g. respect) is
condemned by the subculture and vice versa. For example stealing
replaces hard work, vandalism replaces respect for property, and
intimidation and threats replaces respect for others.
This improves Merton’s theory as it explains non-utilitarian crime such as
vandalism which has no economic gain. Cohen identifies elements of
revenge in this subculture, to get back at the society that has denied
them status. This element of revenge helps to explain why a lot of
juvenile offences, such as vandalism,joy-riding,fighting and general anti-
These ideas both criticise and build on Merton’s strain theory.
Their theories focus on the position of groups in the social structure rather than just
on individuals, and how these groups adapt in different ways to the strain facing them in
achieving social goals.
Delinquent subcultures are seen as a way for lower class members to gain status that
they can’t achieve legitimately.
11
social behaviour ,are not motivated by a desire for a financial gain, but
rather by a desire for peer group status by being
malicious,intimidating,having a laugh at the expense of others, and
generally causing trouble.
CLOWARD AND OHLIN; THREE SUBCULTURES.
Cloward and Ohlin agree with Merton that working class youths face blocked
opportunities. But they note not everyone adapts to strain in the same way.
For example:some subcultures adopt violence or drug use rather than
utilitarian crime.
They argue that this is because individuals have access to different opportunity
structures.
Different neighbourhoods can provide different illegitimate opportunities to
learn criminal skills and develop criminal careers.
Criminal subcultures provide youths with an apprenticeship in utilitarian crime.
They arise in neighbourhoods where there is an established criminal culture and
an organised hierarchy of professional crime.
HOMEWORK ; DEFINE UTILITARIAN CRIME.
12
Conflict subcultures arise in areas of high population turnover that prevent
development of a stable criminal network.
Illegitimate opportunities are found through loosely organised gangs where
violence provides a release for frustration and an alternative means of gaining
status through winning turf wars.
Retreatist subcultures are formed by those who fail in both legitimate and
illegitimate opportunity structures. They are ‘double failures’
These dropouts form a subculture based on drug addiction and alcoholism based
on petty theft, drug-dealing, shop lifting and prostitution.
13
MILLER – FOCAL CONCERNS
Subcultural theories can be criticised because they assume that deviant
behaviour is the result of a failure to achieve mainstream goals.
Walter Miller argues that deviant youths actually never share these goals.
Instead they have their own set of norms, values and goals known as focal
concerns.
Lower class youths are socialised into having a set of values including toughness,
smartness and excitement. They gain status in their peer group through showing
these characteristics through delinquent behaviour. For example fighting in
school confers status by showing toughness. It is therefore over-conformity to
lower working-class subculture, rather than the rejection of dominant values,
that explain working –class delinquency.
14
CRITICISMS OF FUNCTIONALIST BASED EXPLANATIONS OF
CRIME AND DEVIANCE
A03 - HOT
1. They assume that there is some initial value consensus but Taylor et al (1973) say that it
is wrong to assume this because not everyone is committed to mainstream goals. For
example job satisfaction may be more important to some workers than career
progression, financial success and lots of consumer goods.
2. Subcultural explanations only explain working-class delinquency ,and do not explain white
collar (middle-class) and corporate crimes
3. They rely on a pattern of crime shown in official crime statistics. However a lot of crime
is never reported and a lot of offenders are never caught. This makes it difficult to
know who the real offenders are, so subcultural explanations are inadequate as they are
based on an unrepresentative sample of offenders.
4. Matza found that delinquent behaviour is not widespread and most working class youths
don’t engage regularly in illegal acts, and those who do give it up in early adulthood.
5. Matza stresses that delinquents hold the same values as those in mainstream society and
they are not different from other people. They show feelings of outrage about crime in
general similar to other people .Techniques of neutralisation rooted in mainstream
values are used to explain away their actions as justifiable ( “I was only shoplifting
because I wanted to get my Mum a birthday present and I didn’t have any money”)
15
INVOLVEMENT
People are involved with and
kept busy with sports
teams, school activities,
community and religious
group’s .They have no time
or opportunity for crime.
CONTROL THEORY:
HIRSCHI’S SOCIAL BONDS THEORY OF CRIME AND
DEVIANCE
4 SOCIAL BONDS Hirschi identifies four social bonds which pull people
away from crime and towards conformity
COMMITMENT
People are committed to
conventional activities like
working, getting educated,
raising a family and building for
the future. They have a stake in
conformity and have no wish to
risk this through crime and
delinquency.
BELIEFS
People share moral beliefs such
as respect for rights of others
and need for obedience to the
law.
CRIME
Social bonds pull
people away from
crime they would
otherwise commit ATTACHMENT
People are attached to those
around them like family,
friends and those in their
local community and sensitive
to and interested in their
needs and wishes
Control theory takes the opposite approach from other theories in criminology.
Instead of asking what drives people to commit crime, Hirschi asks why most people do not
commit crime.
Control theorists argue that all humans suffer from weaknesses which make them unable to resist
temptation and turn to crime, but there are social bonds with other people that encourage them
to exercise self-control .if these social bonds with other people are weakened or broken, their
self-control is weakened and they will turn to crime.
16
Some functionalist sociologists argue that crime and deviance are caused by the
inability of some people to gain the rewards of society, for example because of educational
underachievement. Those members of society whose opportunities are blocked cannot
achieve the goals of society by socially approved means.
Item B
In pairs;
Think of a film or TV show about crime in which the offender is caught and brought to
justice, or suffers an early death – how would functionalists explain this?
Can you think of any programmes where this doesn’t happen – where the police are
often shown as unsuccessful, or the criminals usually get away with their crime?
According to functionalists, why would this make viewers uncomfortable?
Homework
Read Item B below and answer the question that follows.
Applying material from Item B and your knowledge, evaluate the usefulness of
functionalist approaches in understanding crime and deviance’ (30 marks).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2PiZ-vNp-0
EVALUATION OF CONTROL THEORY A03 –HOT 1. It recognises the importance of socialisation and social control in maintaining a
cohesive society and the idea of social integration through social bonds is well
established in functionalist theory.
2. It doesn’t explain why some have weaker bonds than others and why ALL those
with weaker bonds don’t turn to crime.
3. It doesn’t recognise that it is possible to be deviant and have tight social bonds, as
for example among well –integrated middle-class drug users or white-collar
criminals with successful careers.
You tube – Hirschi’s theory of social control (social bonds theory)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq25tRL0Iqw