FUNCTIONALIST, STRAIN AND SUBCULTURAL THEORIES

INEVITABILITY OF CRIME...

• functionalists see crime as inevitable.
• Durkheim (1893)- 'crime is normal...an integral part of all healthy societies'.

Why is crime and deviance found in all societies?

• not everyone is equally effectively socialised into the shared norms and values- some people are prone to deviate.
• particularly in complex modern societies, there is a diversity of lifestyles and values.

Durkheim- moderrn societies tend towards anomie (normlessness)- rules governing behaviour beome weaker.

This is because modern societies have a complex, socialised division of labour- individuals becoming increasingly different.

This weakens the collective conscience- results in higher levels of deviance.

THE POSITIVE FUNCTIONS OF CRIME...

• Boundary maintenance... 

Crime produces reaction from society- uniting members in condemnation of wrongdoer. For Durkheim- this explains function of punishment- to reaffirm society's shared rules and reinforce social solidarity.

• Adaptation and change...

For Durkheim, all change starts with an act of deviance. Individuals with new ideas, values and ways of living must not be completely stifled by the weight of social control- must be some scope for them to challenge norms and values- deviance.

Albert Cohen idnetifies another function of deviance: a warning that an institution is not functioning properly.

CRITICISMS...

• Durkheim believes that society requires a certain amount if deviance to function successfully, but he doesn;t offer no way of knowing how much is the right amount.
• Functionalists explain crime in terms of its supposed function- e.g. to strengthen solidarity. BUT this doesn't mean that society actually creates crime with the intention of strengthening solidarity.
• Functionalism looks at what functions crime serves for society as a whole and ignores how it might affect different groups or individuals in society.
• Crime doesn't always promote solidarity- it may have the opposite effect.

Strain theories argue that people engage in deviant behaviour when they are unable to achieve socially approved goals by legitimate means.

1st strain theory was developed by Merton who adapted Durkheim's concept of anomie to explain deviance.

Merton's explanation combines 2 elements...

• structural factors- society's unequal opportunity structure
• cultural factors- strong emphasis on success goals and weaker emphasis on using legitimate means to achieve them.

For Merton, deviance is the result of a strain between 2 things:

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

THE AMERICAN DREAM...

Merton begins from Parsons view that everyone in society conforms to the CVS… because this is the only way to succeed and achieve the American Dream.

However, reality is different...

many disadvantaged groups are denied opportunities to achieve legitimately.

The resulting strain between the cultural goals of money success and lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve it produces frustration- creates a pressure to resort to crime.

Merton calls this pressure to deviate, 'the strain to anomie'.

• CONFORMITY... accept goals and means- most likely among M/C- possible to achieve.
• INNOVATION... accept goal of money success but use 'new' illegitimate means such as theft/fraud to achieve it- W/C.
• RITUALISM... give up on trying to achieve goals but have internalisd legitimate means so follow them- lower M/C.
• RETREATISM... reject goals and legitimate means- Merton inc. examples such as 'tramps, chronic drunkards and drug addicts'.
• REBELLION... reject goals and means but replace them with new ones in desire to bring about revolutionary change- top of W/C

• the theory takes official crime stats at face value- these over represent W/C crime, so Merton sees crime as mainly W/C.
• too deterministic- W/C experience is the most strain, yet they don't all deviate.
• marxists argue that it ignores the power of the R/C to make and enforce the laws in ways that criminalise the poor but not the rich.
• assumes there is a value consensus- that everyone strives for 'money success'- not everyone shares this goal.
• it explains how deviance results from individuals adapting to the strain to anomie but ignores the role of group deviance such as delinquent subcultures.

• See deviance as the product of a delinquent subculture with diff values from those of mainstream society.
• See subcultures as providing an alternative opportunity for those who are denied chance to achieve legitimately.

• Albert Cohen agrees with Merton that deviance is largely a lower class phenomenon.
• HOWEVER... Cohen criticises Merton's explanation of deviance:

Merton sees deviacne as an individual response to strain- ignoring that most deivance is committed in groups.

Merton focuses on utilitarian crime committed for material gain e.g. theft/fraud-largely ignores crimes such as assault.

COHEN... focuses on deviance among W/C BOYS.--- argues that they face anomie in M/C dominated school system, suffer from cultural deprivation and lack of skills to achieve.

As a result of not being able to achieve status by legitimate means, the boys suffer status frustration... in Cohen's view, they resolve this by rejecting mainstream M/C values and turning to other boys in the same situation-forming/joining a delinquent subculture.

The delinquent subculture INVERTS the values of mainstream society-turns them upside down.

For Cohen, the function of the subculture is that it offers the boys an alternative status hierarchy in which they can achieve.

Having failed the legitimate opportunity structure, they create their own illegitimate one in which they can win status from their peers through their delinquent actions.

ONE STRENGTH OF COHEN'S THEORY... offers explanation for non-utilitarian deviance. His ideas of status frustration and alternative status hierarchy help to explain non-economic delinquency such as truancy.

HOWEVER... like Merton, Cohen assumes that W/C boys start off sharing M/C success goals, only to reject these when they fail- ignores the possibility that they didn't share the goals in the first place so never saw themselves as failures.

• Sees delinquency as arising from male adolescents.
• Lower W/C have diff norms and value to mainstream society.
• Reject CVS.
• Have 3 unique focal concerns- toughness, smartness and excitement.
• Have a desire to escape from boredom and to gain prestige from peers.

• New Right but does believe the underclass have diff norms and values.
• Argues they are permanently reliant on welfare benefits.
• Have their own distinct subculture with their own values.
• Reject mainstream values that hard work leads to material success replacing it with a culture of dependency on the state. 

• Like Cohen, Cloward and Ohlin take Merton's view as a starting point.
• They agree that W/C youths are denied legitimate opportunities to achieve 'money success' and that their deviance stems from the way they respond to this situation.
• They note that diff subcultures respond in diff ways to the lack of legitimate opportunities.
• They attempt to explain why diff subcultural responses occur- the key reason is unequal access to illegitimate opportunity structures.

Identify 3 types of deviant subcultures:

• Criminal subcultures - provide youths with an apprenticeship for a career in utilitarian crime- allows the young to associate with adult criminals.
• Conflict subcultures- in areas of high population turnover- disorganisation of society- only illegitimate opportunities available within loosely organised gangs.
  
• Retreatist subcultures- not everyone who aspires to be a professional criminal or a gang leader actually succeeds.

• They agree with Merton and Cohen that most crime is W/C- ignores crimes of wealthy.
• Their theory over predicts the amount of W/C crime- ignore wider power structure including who makes and enforces the law.
• Agree with Cohen that delinquent subcultures are the source of much deviance- they provide explanation for diff types of W/C deviance.
• However, they draw the boundaries too sharply between these.

• Have argued that young people may pursue a variety of goals other than money success e.g. popularity with peers.
• Like earlier strain theories, they argue that failure to achieve goals may result in delinquency.

• Messner and Rosenfeld's (2001) institutional anomie theory focuses on the American Dream.
• Argue that its obsession with money success and its 'winner-takes-all' mentality, exert 'pressure towards crime by encouraging an anomic cultural environment in which people are encouraged to adopt an 'anything goes' mentality in pursuit of wealth.
• In American, economic goals are valued above all- this undermines other instituions.
• Downes and Hansen (2006) offer evidence for this view- survey of crime rates and welfare spending in 18 countries- societies that spent more on welfare had lower rates of imprisonment.