Chapter 1 - Functionalist, strain and subcultural theories - Durkheim's functionalist theory

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The inevitability of crime

Functionalist's ee crime as positive and negative. Too much - destabilises society. However, crime also inevitable and universal. A crime-free society is a contradiction in terms. 

At least 2 reasons why crime and deviance universal: 
 - not everyone is equally effectively socialised into shared norms and values - some individuals prone to deviate
 - diversity of lifestyles and values. Different groups develop their own subcultures with distinctive norms and values - what the members of the subculture regard as normal, mainstream society may deem deviant

Durkheim's view, modern societies tent towards anomie (normlessness) - rules governing behaviour become weaker and less clear-cut, due to the fact that modern societies have a complex, specialised division of labour, leads individuals to become more different from one another - weakens collective conscience (shared culture), resulting in higher levels of deviance

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The positive functions of crime

1) Boundary maintenance
 - crime produces a reaction from society, uniting members and reinfircing commitment to shared norms and values
 - For Durkheim, this explans the function of punishment - to reaffirm society's shared rules and reinforce social solidarity rather than to remove crime from society
 - May be done through rituals in courtroom, which publically shames offender - reaffirms values of law-abiding majority and deters others from rule-breaking. 

2) Adaptation and change
 - Durkheim - all change starts with act of deviance
 - Individuals have new ideas and values, meaning they deviate from the norms and values of mainstream society, which will appear as deviance
 - eg gay people getting married - originally seen as act of deviance, however others followed and it became legal for homosexuals to marry in some countries and states

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Other functions of crime

Others developed Durkheim's positive view - eg Davis (1937;1961) argues prostitution acts as a 'safety valve' for release of men's sexual frustrations w/o threatening monogamous nuclear family. 

Cohen identifies another function of deviance: a warning that an institution is not functioning correctly - eg, high levels of truancy would suggest a problem within the education system that needs to be resolved. 

Functionalists have also developed Durkheim's idea of normality/inevitability of deviance - Erikson (1966) argues if deviance performs positive functions, perhaps society is organised to promote deviance. True function of agencies of social control eg police to sustain certain level of crime rather than to rid society of it

Societies sometime also manage to regulate deviance rather than seeking to eliminate it entirely, eg festivals, sporting events and student rag weeks all license misbheaviour than in other contexts, would be punished. Functionalists also may argue that deviance is younger males offers a way for them to cope with the transition to adulthood, therefore performing a positive function. Functionalism shows ways in which deviance is integral to society

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Criticisms

Functionalists explain existence of crime in terms of supposed function, but doesn't mean society actually creates crime in advance with the intention of strenghtening solidarity - jsut because crime does these things, does not mean that this is the reason for its initial existence

Crime doesn't always promote solidarity - may have opposite effect, leading people to become more isolated, eg forcing women to stay indoors for fear of attack

For Durkheim, society requires a certain amount of deviance to function successfully, but he offers no way of knowing how much is the correct amount

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