Functionalist, Strain and Subcultural Sociologists

Cesare Lombroso (1876)

BIOLOGICAL explanations of crime:
-early sociologist
-physical criminal characteristics
-e.g sloping foreheads or long arms
-'born-bad' determinist now seen as dangerous

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Kingsley Davis (1967)

FUNCTIONALIST:
-Crime acts as a safety valve
-Some deviance reduces more serious crimes
-e.g prostitution is a positive outlet for male sexual frustration

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Durkheim

FUNCTIONALIST:
-5 positive functions of crime
-Crime is inevitable and necessary in society
-The perfect amount of crime will keep society healthy and avoid anomie (normlessness)

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Durkheim's 5 positive functions of crime

1. Remarking social boundaires (affirms norms and values by highlihgting what isn't acceptable)
2. Media coverage (warning by shunning)
3. Social bonds strengthened (uniting in disapproval)
4. Safety valve (reduces more serious crimes)
5. Malfunctioning s

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Merton

FUNCTIONALIST
-Strain theory
-strain between socially approved goals and legitimate means of achieving
-strain to anomie (strain produces frustration which creates pressure to deviate)

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Merton's 5 deviant adaptations

FUNCTIONALIST
1. Conformist (accept both)
2. Innovator (accept goals but use illegitimate means)
3. Ritualist (accept legitimate means but not goals)
4. Retreatist (reject both)
5. Rebellion (reject both, but create their own goals)

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Albert Cohen

SUBCULTURAL STRAIN THEORIST
-Status frustration
-lower class frustrated by lack of success
-solve frustration by rejecting society's norms & values
-subcultures w/ their own new norms & values
-gain status through non-utilitarian crimes

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Cloward and Ohlin

SUBCULTURAL STRAIN THEORY
-Opportunity structures
-Different types of crime each community commits
-Where you live affects the type of crime available to you

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Cloward and Ohlin's 3 subcultures

SUBCULTURAL STRAIN THEORY
-Criminal subculture (where there's criminal hierarchy)
-Conflict subcultures (where there's low social cohesion & high population turnover)
-Retreatist subculture (failure in society, conflict and criminal subcultures)

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Walter Miller

SUBCULTURAL THEORY
-Lower class don't feel strain
-each subculture has different focal concerns/values
-some values lead to criminal behaviour
-e.g w/c lack excitement from work so seek it through joyriding

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Society of saints

-w/o crime, the slightest slip up would become criminal
-e.g coughing w/o covering your mouth

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Criticisms of FUNCTIONALISM

-Doesn't explain non-utilitarian crime
-Doesn't say exactly how much crime is the perfect amount
-Doesn't explain the causes of crime/why people commit it
-Ignores individual victims

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Criticisms of STRAIN THEORY

-only explains utilitarian crime
-why don't all lower class commit crime
-ignores other factors like gender, race, class and sexuality

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Functionalist, Strain and Subcultural Sociologists

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