Unit 1: Functionalism & Crime

Unit 1: Functionalism & Crime

1. Similarities of Functionalism

   • Value Consensus
   • Durkheim & Merton use anomie
   • Safety Valve explored by Polsky & Davis
   • Cohen's warning signal, links to Durkheim's adaption and change
   • Messner and Roshenheld & Merton emphasise material wealth

2. Control Theory, Travis Hirschi

   • Why do people not commit crime? What makes people conform?
   • All humans suffer from weakness which makes them unable to resist temptation
   • 4 bonds of attachment
     • Attachment: psychological affection one has for not upsetting others
     • Commitment: personal investment in life, less likely to commit crime if you've got something to lose
     • Involvement: how integral you are in society, no time commit crime
     • Belief: adhering to values that associate with good behaviour

3. Durkheim

   • Boundary maintenance: reaffirms social values & norms; media condemns wrongdoing
   • Adaption & change: change derives from criminal acts; challenges existing norms in order to progress
   • Crime is integral to society
   • Evaluating Durkheim: doesn't define what too much crime is, is crime beneficial?, is there a purpose in everything, why do some people commit crime?

4. Davis, 1961

   • Crime acts as a safety valve
   • Prostitution = men's sexual frustration is released so no crime is committed

5. Polsky

   • Crime is a safety valve
   • Porn channels men's actions away from threatening behaviour

6. A. Cohen

   • Crime acts as warning signal
   • Informs that a particular institution is not functioning properly

7. Merton

   • USA society socialises individuals to gain American Dream
   • Capitalist societies suffer from anomie, confict between the goals set by society and the means of achieving them
   • 2 reasons for deviance: culture & structure
   • 5 strains to anomie
     • Conformity: individuals continue to adhere
     • Innovation: accepts goals of society but gains in alternative way
     • Ritualism: means are used by goal is lost
     • Retreatism: rejects both goals & means, dependent on drugs&drink
     • Rebellion: goals & means substituted, eg. political activist
   • Evaluating Merton: difficult to understand anomies, where have goals come from, individual choice, 61 years ago, written after Great Depression, heavy emphasis on money

8. Messner & Rosenheld, 1994

   • High crime rate in USA due to value placed on material wealth