Functionalist theories of crime

Functionalist theories of crime

Functionalists say crime and deviance are useful and neccesary in society

• Crime and deviance reinforce the consensus of values, norms and behaviour of the majority of the non-deviant population
• differences between the deviant and non deviant are reinforce - boundary maintenance
• Durkheim (1897) - deviance allows for social change to occur
• He argues that all societies need some change to remain healthy and stable
• However, Durkheim said crime becomes dysfunctional when the level of crime is either too high or too low: - too high and it threatens social order, too low and theres no social change

Cohen Identified two ways that deviance maintained social order:

• Cohen argued that forms of deviance such as prositutuion provide a safety valve for releasing tension without threatening social stability.
• secondly, he argued that deviant behaviour e.g.…