Crime and Deviance in a Nutshell
—————— ( Topic 1 - Functionalism/Subculture ) ——————
Durkheim:
○ Crime is inevitable in society; poor socialisation and inequality result in the absence of norms and
values being taught.
○ Crime is positive - Boundary Maintenance is the concept that crime is functional in society when
there is the right amount.
i) When people are punished for committing crimes, it teaches the rest of society not to
go against norms and values, in turn strengthening boundaries and preventing further
crime.
○ Adaptation and change - some crime can be functional for society because it allows social adoption
and change, this means that for society to have norms and values that change as a form of
rationalism, a criminal act must take place.
○ Davis agrees with Durkheim in that crime can be positive, but in a different way. He believes
prostitution provides positive functions because it allows men to express sexual frustration without
threatening the nuclear family.
i) Ignores the women who were illegally sex trafficked to fit the men’s needs.
Merton:
● The ideology of the ‘American Dream’ tells Americans that their society is meritocratic where social
mobility and success can happen with hard work.
○ However, many disadvantaged groups are denied opportunities to achieve legitimately.
■ Poverty, inadequate schools and discrimination may block opportunities.
○ The resulting strain between the cultural goal of money success and lack of legitimate
opportunity to achieve it produces frustration which results in crime.
● There are 5 different responses to the American dream:
○ Conformism: Accepting the goals and legitimate means to achieve them.
○ Innovation: Subscribe to the goals of the American dream but use illegitimate means.
○ Ritualism: Reject the goals but conform to the means.
○ Retreatism: Reject both the goals of the American dream and subscribe to illegitimate means.
○ Rebellion: Replace the goals and means with their own.
● However, he over-represents working class crime, so Merton sees crime as mainly a WC
phenomenon.
● Marxists argue that it ignores the power of the ruling class to make and enforce the laws in ways
that criminalise the poor but not the rich.
Cohen:
1
@ishroot on tiktok
, Crime and Deviance in a Nutshell
● He argues that working class boys face status frustration as they fail to succeed in middle-class
environments such as school.
○ In turn, they form delinquent subcultures to go against the middle-class habitus.
○ Subsequently, WC boys try to succeed within subcultures by trying to rise in the hierarchy,
where they have more chance of succeeding in.
■ This explains non-utilitarian crimes.
Cloward and Ohlin:
● They develop Cohen’s status frustration theory by suggesting there are 3 types of subcultures:
○ Criminal subcultures provide ‘apprenticeships’ for utilitarian crime. They exist in areas with
stable criminal cultures, with hierarchies of professional criminals e.g drug dealers.
○ Conflict subcultures exist in areas of high population turnover. There is social
disorganisation and only loosely organised gangs e.g postcode/turf wars.
○ Retreatist subcultures are formed of people who fail in both legitimate AND illegitimate
means and may turn to illegal drug use e.g junkies.
2
@ishroot on tiktok
—————— ( Topic 1 - Functionalism/Subculture ) ——————
Durkheim:
○ Crime is inevitable in society; poor socialisation and inequality result in the absence of norms and
values being taught.
○ Crime is positive - Boundary Maintenance is the concept that crime is functional in society when
there is the right amount.
i) When people are punished for committing crimes, it teaches the rest of society not to
go against norms and values, in turn strengthening boundaries and preventing further
crime.
○ Adaptation and change - some crime can be functional for society because it allows social adoption
and change, this means that for society to have norms and values that change as a form of
rationalism, a criminal act must take place.
○ Davis agrees with Durkheim in that crime can be positive, but in a different way. He believes
prostitution provides positive functions because it allows men to express sexual frustration without
threatening the nuclear family.
i) Ignores the women who were illegally sex trafficked to fit the men’s needs.
Merton:
● The ideology of the ‘American Dream’ tells Americans that their society is meritocratic where social
mobility and success can happen with hard work.
○ However, many disadvantaged groups are denied opportunities to achieve legitimately.
■ Poverty, inadequate schools and discrimination may block opportunities.
○ The resulting strain between the cultural goal of money success and lack of legitimate
opportunity to achieve it produces frustration which results in crime.
● There are 5 different responses to the American dream:
○ Conformism: Accepting the goals and legitimate means to achieve them.
○ Innovation: Subscribe to the goals of the American dream but use illegitimate means.
○ Ritualism: Reject the goals but conform to the means.
○ Retreatism: Reject both the goals of the American dream and subscribe to illegitimate means.
○ Rebellion: Replace the goals and means with their own.
● However, he over-represents working class crime, so Merton sees crime as mainly a WC
phenomenon.
● Marxists argue that it ignores the power of the ruling class to make and enforce the laws in ways
that criminalise the poor but not the rich.
Cohen:
1
@ishroot on tiktok
, Crime and Deviance in a Nutshell
● He argues that working class boys face status frustration as they fail to succeed in middle-class
environments such as school.
○ In turn, they form delinquent subcultures to go against the middle-class habitus.
○ Subsequently, WC boys try to succeed within subcultures by trying to rise in the hierarchy,
where they have more chance of succeeding in.
■ This explains non-utilitarian crimes.
Cloward and Ohlin:
● They develop Cohen’s status frustration theory by suggesting there are 3 types of subcultures:
○ Criminal subcultures provide ‘apprenticeships’ for utilitarian crime. They exist in areas with
stable criminal cultures, with hierarchies of professional criminals e.g drug dealers.
○ Conflict subcultures exist in areas of high population turnover. There is social
disorganisation and only loosely organised gangs e.g postcode/turf wars.
○ Retreatist subcultures are formed of people who fail in both legitimate AND illegitimate
means and may turn to illegal drug use e.g junkies.
2
@ishroot on tiktok
