Topic 1: Functionalist, strain and subcultural theories

Functionalists believe in value consensus which means that members of society share a common culture, norm, value, beliefs and goals

Culture by definition is the ideas, customs and social behaviour of a particular person or society

Two key mechanisms that society uses to achieve solidarity:

• socialisation - through primary or secondary socialisation which ensures individuals internalise the same norms and values as society and acts in the way society requires them to behave
• social control - rewards for people who conform to social norms and values and punishments for people who deviate from the social norms - this ensures that people behave in the same society wants them to behave

Two reasons why crime is found in all societies:

• Not all societies share the same norms and values therefore what they class as devient may be different 
• people have diverse lifestyles and values because different people have their own subculture where they share different norms and values from other people in other subcultures

Durkheim suggests that modern societies are more likely to experience crime because we now produce anomie (normlessness) which leads to a more complex society as a result of rules governing behaviour has become weaker. People are part of a specialised division of labour which leads to increasing diversion between people in terms of not sharing the same norms and culture

Durkheim's positive functions of crime: 

• Boundary maintenance - the reaction to crime unites people in condemnation of the wrongdoer which reinforces their commitment to share the same values and norms. Also, punishment reinforces social solidarity
• Adaption and change - people with new ideas and ways of living are non-conformists to social control which brings in new culture and morality. If these new ideas are suppressed then society will not be able to make any adaptive changes. 

Other sociologists opinion to the functions of crime:

• Davis - argues that prostitutions acts as a safety value for the release of men's sexual frustrations which results in less **** crimes and inhibits threatening the family. (Evaluation point: if this is the case then why does **** crimes still exist and to what extent is it not the same as adultary which does threaten the family)
• Polsky - argues that *********** channels a sexual desires away from alternatives such as adultary which would be more threatening to the family (Evaluation point: what type of *********** because if it was child ***********, in todays society its seen as being a **********)

• does not provide an explanation to why crimes are commited just the function is stated e.g. boundary maintence
• ignores how it might effect other individuals and groups within society e.g. ethnic minorities share different norms and values
• crime does not always promote solidarity because it may lead to some people feeling isolated or trapped

According to strain theorists they believe that people engage in devient behaviour because they are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means

Two elements of Merton's explanation:

• Structural factors - societys unequal opportunity structure (meritocracy)
• cultural factors - strong emphasis on success goals and weaker emphasis on using legitimate means to achieve them

Merton established two factors which causes strain for individuals:

• The goals that a culture encourages individuals to achieve
• what the institutional structure of society allows them to achieve legitimately (education)

• The American dream puts emphasis on achieving goals through legitimate means e.g.studying, educational qualifications and hard work 

• Many disadvantaged groups are denied opportunities to achieve their goals legitimately e.g. poverty

• People who feel disadvantaged may resort to illegitimate means to make money because they feel they have no other way such as selling drugs or prostitution

• There is pressure to deviate in American culture because emphasis is put on achieving sucess at any price than upon doing so by legitimate means

Merton's five adaptations to strain:

• Conformity - people who accept their culturally approved goals and thrive to achieve them legititmately e.g. middle-class people
• Innovation - accept the goals of money success but use new legitimate means to achieve them such as theft or fraud
• Ritualism - giving up on trying to achieve the goals but have internalised the legitimate means and so they follow the rules for their own sake
• Retreatism - reject both culturally accepted goals and legitimate means to achieve them and become dropouts e.g. drug addicts or drunkards
• Rebellion - reject societies goals and means but replace them with new ones in a desire to bring about change and create a new kind of society such as hippies

USE MNEMONIC to remember: CATS ITCH, RUN, RACE, and READ

Merton outlines two patterns of crime:

• Most crime is poverty crime because American society value material wealth
• Lower-class crime rates are higher because they have the least ambition to achieve wealth legitimately 

5 criticisms of Merton's theory:

• crime statistics over represent working-class crime so Merton sees crime as mainly a working-class phenomenon but not all deviate
• ignores the power of the ruling class to make and enfore the laws in ways that criminalise the poor but not the rich
• assumes value consensus meaning that he assumes everyone wants money success
• only accounts for utilitarian crime for money gain and not non-utilitarian crimes
• ignores the role of group devience such as delinquent subcultures

A subculture is a group of people in society who share norms, values, beliefs and attitudes that re in some ways different from the mainstream culture. E.g. devient subcultures is a reaction to a failure of not achieving mainstream goals through legitimate means

Subcultres offer a solution to a problem and therefore functional for their members meaning its a group where they feel accepted as they have been denied by wider society

Cohen believes that crime is a lower-class occurrence because they lack cultural deprivation and lack skills to achieve goals which leads them to be at the bottom of the division of labour

Cohen suggests that working-class boys face anomie because they lack cultural deprivation. They face anomie because they are put in a middle-class dominated education system. 

Cohen identifies values in a subculture:

• rejecting middle-class values
• suffer status frustration
• adjustment to lower status

Cohen says that subcultures offer an alternative status hierarchy by creating their own illegitimate opportunity structure in which they can win status from their peers through their delinquent actions

This view only assumes that working class boys start of sharing middle-class success goals but then to only reject them then they fail; therefore ignoring the fact that they may have not shared the same goals in the first place

Cloward and Ohlin's three deviant subcultures:

• Criminal subcultures - youths having a career in utilitarian crimes. This subculture only arises in neighbourhoods with a longstanding criminal culture therefore youths are associated with adult criminals and start to learn their beliefs and values
• Conflict subcultures - In areas with high population this results in a high level of social disorganisation and prevents a stable professional crime network from developing
• Retreatist subcultures - In any neighbourhood not everyone who aspires to be a professional criminal or gang leader actually succeeds. Those who aren't are called double failures becuase they failed at legitimate and illegitimate means of achieving their goals.

Cultural transmission theory:

• some neighbourhoods develop a criminal tradition or culture that is transmitted from generation to generation

Differential association theory:

• deviant behaviour is learnt through social interaction with others who are deviant by learning criminal values and skills

Social disorganisation theory:

• devience is the product of social disorganisation because of rapid increase in population and migration create instability, disrupting family and community structures. This then results in a lack of social control over individuals which causes more deviance

• Cloward and Ohlin ignore crimes committed by people who are wealthy

• Fails to consider the power structure in terms of who makes and enforces these laws which disadvantages the poor but enables the rich to thrive

• South identifies that people can have two subcultures e.g. drug trades is a mixture of conflict subculture and criminal subculture

• Miller established a independant subculture where people do not value success goals but at the same time are not frustrated with failure which then leads to crime

• Middle-class youths turn to deviance because achieving such high goals can cause them stress therefore turn to other goals
• Messner and Rosenfeld's institutional anomie theory: obsession with money and its 'winner takes it all' mentality causes crimes by encouraging an anomie cultural environment in which people are encouraged to adopt an 'anything goes' mentality to achieve wealth
• Downes and Hansen's evidence to institutional anomie theory: In a survey of crime rates and welfare spending in 18 countires shows that societies who spent more money on welfare has lower rates of imprisonment which backs up Messner and Rosenfeld's claim that societies who protect the poor from the worst implications of the free market have less crime
• There has been a rise in crime in post-communist societies such as Eastern Europe because communism was being replaced by western capitalist goals which values money success