OUTLINE AND ASSESS FUNCTIONALIST EXPLANATIONS OF CRIME AND DEVIANCE (50)

INTRODUCTION * Structural theory * Believe that society is good and order is necessary * Therefore at first glance crime appears to be negative, but functionalists believe crime can be beneficial to social system

PARAGRAPH 1 - DURKHEIM * Believed in consensus and need for social order + that crime was inevitable * He believed crime and deviance were product of lack of attachment to prevailing consensus over collective values * Durkheim believed the speed of change in modern societies was likely to generate deviance and crime as the modern world rapidly reinvents itself * Intro of new economic process and technology combined with social/geographical mobility leave people feeling unsure about their place in the world, so people lose a sense of what it is to be normal and develop sense of anomie (normlessness) * Crime and deviance are bound to increase now * After fall of Soviet Union crime increased rapidly in Russia as whole social fabric was transformed * Durkheim said crime was necessary for society and he notes 3 main benefits of crime: 1. Reaffirming the Boundaries – when someone is taken to court, the sanction and the publicity reaffirm existing values 2. Changing Values – sometimes when someone is charged with a crime, a degree of sympathy occurs for the person prosecuted leading to a change in values, which can lead to change in law to reflect changing values e.g. gay marriage 3. Social Cohesion – when particularly awful crimes are committed, community comes together in shared outrage e.g. London Underground Bombings 2005
EVALUATION
* Merton agreed that crime is the result of people’s different attachments to collective values * HOWEVER he never explains why certain social groups commit crime * He neglects fact that