Functionalist Perspective on Deviance

Emile Durkheim-Function of Deviance

• Most people are upset by deviance, especially crime and assume that society would be better off without it

• He said that deviance (including crime) is functional for society because it contributes to social order

Functions of crime continued• 3 main functions of crime:– Clarifies moral boundaries and affirms norms• Moral boundaries- a group’s idea about how people

should think and act• Deviant acts challenge the boundaries and punishment

affirms the groups norms – Promotes social unity• Fosters a “we” mentality• In saying “you cant get away with that” affirms the

rightness of the groups own way– Promotes social change• Boundary violations that gain enough support become

new, acceptable behaviors– Example: Civil Rights Movement

Merton’s Strain Theory

• Some mainstream values actually generate crime

• Most people have strong desires to reach cultural goals like wealth or high states

• Not everyone has equal access to legitimate means of achieving those goals– These people experience strain or frustration

which may motivate they to take a deviant path

Strain Theory continued

• People who experience strain are likely to feel anomie (a sense of normlessness) – Mainstream norms s/a working hard and pursuing

higher education don’t seem to get them anywhere

– Some may feel wronged by the system

5 responses to goal-means inconsistency

1. Conformity- using socially acceptable means to try and reach cultural goals– Example: don’t understand calculus, need it for

college applications, then get a tutor

2. innovators- people who accept the goals of society but use illegitimate means to reach them– Example: don’t understand calculus, need it for

college, cheat on the test

5 responses continued3. ritualism- people get discouraged and give up on

achieving cultural goals yet still cling to conventional rules– Example: don’t understand calculus, need it for college, give

up on ever understanding it, go through the motions and maybe pass with a “D”

4. retreatism- rejects both cultural goals and acceptable means of achieving them– Example: drop out of school and maybe pursue GED

5. rebellion- Convinced that their society is corrupt and reject society’s goals and means.– Seek to give society new goals

• Example: Drop out and get a job

Social Class and Crime

• Social classes have distinct styles of crime• Unequal access to the acceptable means to

success can explain this

Street Crime• Industrialized societies socialize the poor into

wanting to own thing– The poor are bombarded with advertisements and

images on TV of middle-class people enjoying luxurious lives• These images reinforce the myth that all full-fledged

Americans can afford society’s goods and services

• School Systems (acceptable means to success) often fail the poor– Run by middle class and clashes with their background– More likely to drop out of school, closing the door to

legitimate avenues to financial success

Street Crime continued

• Other doors open to the poor- illegitimate opportunity structures– Robbery, drug dealing, prostitution, gambling, etc.

• For many in poor neighborhoods the “hustler”- or person succeeding through these avenues are role models– “easy money” bring them closest to the cultural

goal of success

White-Collar Crime

• The more privileged social classes are not crime-free

• They find other forms of crime to be functional– Physicians who cheat Medicare, embezzlement,

manipulating stock prices, evading income tax.

Corporate Crime

• Special form of white-collar crime• Committed by executives in order to benefit

their corporation• Corporate crime is rarely taken seriously

(more so nowadays with Enron, etc.) and few people end up in jail

Gender and Crime

• There is a growing number of female offenders

• Reason: women's changed social location – As more women work in factories, corporations,

etc., their opportunities for crime increase