Functionalist, strain and subcultural theories

Value consensus - agreement among members about importance of values (shared culture)

Culture - set of shared norms, values, beliefs and goals

Socialisation - instils shared culture into members - helps ensure internalise same norms/values - feel right to act in ways that is required

Social control - rewards for conformity - punishments for deviance - behave way society expects

• Not everyone equally effectively socialised - some will be prone to deviate

• Diversity of lifestyles/values - different groups develop own subcultures (mainstream culture may see as deviant)

• Modern societies likely experience crime - complex, specialised division of labour - lead to differentiation - weakens shared culture/collective conscience - higher levels deviance. 

• Boundary maintenance - reinforce community solidarity against anger for offenders - unites members/reinforces value consensus. Reminders about acceptable social boundaries/reassures people society is functioning well by punishments.

• Minor crime = safety values - prevents serious crimes

• Adaptation and change - brings about positive social change - challenges inadequate norms etc of social structure

• DAVIS - prostitution acts as safety value for release of men’s sexual frustrations without threatening monogamous nuclear family.

• POLSKY - *********** channels desires from alternative e.g. adultery - threatens family.

• A.K.COHEN - (deviance) - warnings that institution not functioning properly - Truancy (problems and solutions)

• ERIKSON - (deviance) - performs positive functions - society organised to promote deviance - true functions sustain levels of crime rather than rid society of it (labelling theory)

• FUNCTIONALISM provides important/interesting analysis that directs attention to ways that can have hidden/latent functions for society.

• Explanations doesn’t mean society creates crime - crime can be seen as positive doesn’t mean why it exists.

• Focuses on how it serves society as a whole - ignores how it affects groups/individuals

• Doesn’t always promote social solidarity - may have opposite effect (more isolated)

• Unable to achieve socially approved by goals by legitimate means

• Structural factors - society’s unequal opportunity structure

• Cultural factors - strong emphasis on success goals and the weaker emphasis on using legitimate means to achieve them

• 2 factors cause strain - the goals culture encourages to achieve; what the institutional structure of society allows them to achieve legitimately

• Pursue goals by legitimate means: self-discipline, study, educational qualification and hardwork in career - meritocratic

• Disadvantaged denied opportunities to achieve legitimately

• Strain to anomie = strain between cultural goals and lack of legitimate opportunities produce frustration/creates pressure to resort to illegitimate means

• More emphasis of achieving success at any price than upon doing so by legitimate means

• Property crime - American society values material wealth highly

• L/C high crime rates - least opportunity to obtain wealth legitimately

• Takes statistic at face value - over represent W/C crime - too deterministic - W/C strain most yet don’t all deviate

• Marxists - ignore power of ruling class - enforcement laws criminalise poor not rich

• Assumes value consensus - everyone strives for ‘money success’ - ignores different goals

• Only accounts for utilitarian crime not all crimes - difficult to see how applied to state crimes

• Explains individual deviance adaptation to strain to anomie - ignores group deviance e.g. delinquent subcultures

• Subculture = different values from mainstream culture
• Alternative opportunity structure for those denied chances of legitimate achievement 
• Functional = provide solution from problems

• Inability of L/C to achieve legitimately

• Criticised Merton - deviance - ignores deviance committed in groups; focused on utilitarian crime - ignores economic motivated crimes

• Anomie - suffer cultural deprivation/lack skills to achieve

• Values = spite, malice, hostility, contempt - invert mainstream values

• Alternative status hierarchy - achieve - create own illegitimate opportunity structure (capital from peers)

• Criticised = ignores possibility that they didn’t share goals - never seen as failures

• Attempt to explain why different subculture responses occur

• Criminal subcultures = youths have apprenticeship for utilitarian crime (longstanding/stable criminal culture) - hierarchy of pro adult crime (young/adult mix ‘training and role models’) - criminal career leader employment

• Conflict subcultures = high population, high social disorganisation - prevents stable network develop, illegitimacy available only (loosely organised gangs = violence release for young at blocked opportunities) - alternative status source earned by winning territory

• Retreatist subcultures = not everyone who aspires to be a pro-criminal success - failure in both legitimate/illegitimate means may turn to illegal drug use.

• Cultural transmission theory = develop criminal tradition/culture - transmitted between generations - others remain relatively crime-free over same period

• Differential association theory = deviance = behaviour learned through social interaction with others who’re deviant - skills/values

• Social disorganisation theory = deviance - product of social disorganisation. Rapid population turnover/migration create instability (disrupt family/community) - unable to exercise social control resulting in deviance

• Crimes of wealthy aren't covered

• Fail to consider wider power structures - those who make/enforce law

• Strain theories criticised - reactive - assume everyone shares same goal

• MILLER - independent subcultures = L/C subculture separate from mainstream with own values

• MATZA - not strongly committed - drift in and out of delinquency

• Other goals influencing youth - popularity with peers, autonomy from adults, desires to be treated like ‘real men’

• M/C youths delinquent - fail to achieve - juveniles may have problems achieving goals

• MESSNER & ROSENFELD - focus on AD - obsession with money success/’winner takes all’ attitude exerts pressure towards crime (encourage anomie culture - adopt ‘anything goes’ mentality in pursuit of wealth

• DOWNES & HANSEN - survey of crime rates (welfare spending - 18 countries) - spend more on welfare = lower rates of imprisonment - support - society protection poor from worst excesses of free market have less crime

• SAVELSBERG - rise to communism’s collective values being replaced by new Western Capitalist goals of individual ‘money success’