Functionalism

• Reinforcing norms and values:

- Crime and deviance generates and sustains morality because of the existence of undesirable vaulues and behaviours reinforces the preference of the desirable values and norms. 

• Boundary maintenance:

- Crime and deviance reaffirms and clariffies boundaries and punishment reminds people of acceptable social boundaries and behaviour.

• Social solidairty:

- Crime and deviance promorted social unity as it produces a reaction form society  and unites peope in condemtion. this shares public outrage reifornces community solidarity against offenders, 

• Adaption:

- Crime and deviance encourages social change higlighting aspects of the social structure that are inadequent. 

Cohen- supports the functionalist view on cirme and deviance outlined by Durkheim, He argues hat crima has two important functions;

• Deviance can act as a safety valve: 

- It provides harmess expression which doesn't harm society

- Example, prostitution

• Deviance can act as a warning device:

- It can indicate that an aspect of society has gone wrong abd this may draw attention to the problem and measures can be taken to solve it. 

Hirschi- was influenced by the ideas of Durkeim ,however he asked the question "Why don't people commit crime?" 

• he was concerned with what hols people's behaviour in check rather than what propels people into crime. 

Social control

• He argued that conformity happens when people's attachment to society has weakened
• Commitment
• Belief

Criticism:

• Fails to explain crimes committed by the rich and powerful

Merton- critical of the traditional functionalist expplanations of crime. He argued that many functionlaists placed too much emphasis on shard norms and values and ingnored the inequalities that exist in society. He also argues that Durkheim's concept on anomie was to vague so he developed the strain theory,

• He argues that crime occurs when there is a strain between the socially approved goals an individual is encouraged to achieve and the institutional structure allowing the indiviual to obtain those goals. 
• Strain towards anomie- when an individual discovers what no matter how hard they try, they cannot achieve what they aspire. Deviant behaviour is encourage as result of this. 
• Conformity- individual accept culturally approved goals and strive to achieve it legitmately.
• Innovation- indivuals accept goals but use illegitmately means to achieve it
• Ritualism- Individual gives up on achieving goals but have internalised the legitimately means to achieve it
• Retreatism- individuals reject bot the goals and legitimate means and become dropouts
• Rebellion- individuals reject the goals and the means ans replace them with new ones in an aim to bring about revolution. 

• Provide an interesting insight into the idea of deviqance as beneficial arguing that not everything that is badd, is bad for society. 

Cohen- views deviance largely as lower-class phenomena and result of the inability to achieve mainstream goals legitimately. 

• He was critical of the Strain Theory for seeing deviance as an individual respnse rather than a group response and also for falling to explain crimes that are not linked to the success goals of American society such as vandalism and crimes committed for the hell of it without economic motive. 
• Ethnographic study- Corner boys he argues that working class males commit acts of adelinquency as a resut of status frustration.
• working class boys were judged by 'middle class meassuring rod' of academic success yet they suffered from material and cultural deprivation and they found school life alienating and frustrating. 

Miller- disagrees that all individuals are committed to the idea of 'success'. he takes a different perspective argueing that worki ng class male culutre is problematic and deviant in nature. this is because as he believes that the working class males are socialised into deviant subcultural values called focal concerns, 

Focal concerns:

• Toughness
• Excitement
• Smartness
• Fate
• Autonomy
• Trouble

Cloward and Ohlin- they were influenced by the Strain Theory but they argued that Merton failed to appreciate that there was a parallel opportunity structure to the legal one- Illegitimatem opportunirt structure. they tried to explain why there were different types of subcultures by looking at the different ways in which wokring class males could gain status. 

• Criminal subculture

- Achieve financial success through robbery, theft and burglary

• Conflict/violent subculture

- Working class have access to illegitimate and legitmate opportunity structure. 

- Gaining prestige through acts for the release of anger and frustration. ( gang membership in inner-London)

• Retreatist subculture

- Dropouts as they dont have access to previous subculutres and turn to drinking and drugs.

• **** Hebdige;

Argued that working-class youths don't share the same values as mainstream society. Rather, they form subcultures as a way of resisting domination; working-class subcultures are cultures of resistance. 

• Hall and Jefferson;

- Argued that working-class subcultures used 'style' and rituals to create a sense of identity and to oppose mainstream society in a form of symbolic resistance. 

- Subcultures; Teddy boys, mods, rockers, skinheads and punks

• Brake;

- Clothes that working-class subcultures wear and the language they use show their resistance to capitalism. However, he refers this resitance as 'magical' as it appears to solve their problems, but in reality the exploitation continues

• They have made a greater contribution to our understanding of crime and deviance, especially for explaining the patterns shown in Official statistics that highlight that young working-class males commit the highest levels of crime and deviance. 
• Subcultural theories have been influencial and other sociological theories and have incorporated subcultures into their analysis of crime

- Neo- Marxism, Left Realism