Functionalist Perspective on Crime & Deviance | Sociology for GCSE/IGCSE - Year 11 PDF Download

The Functionalist Approach to Crime and Deviance

Durkheim (1858-1917)

Émile Durkheim argued that since crime is present in all societies, it must serve a purpose. He rejected the idea that crimes are simply harmful acts, as definitions of crime vary across societies. Instead, Durkheim proposed that crime fulfills essential functions in healthy societies, such as:

• Clarifying boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
• Reinforcing shared values and beliefs held by the majority.
• Promoting social cohesion by uniting people around common norms.

However, Durkheim noted that excessive or insufficient crime can harm society. In modern contexts, serious crimes gain significant media attention through outlets like newspapers and television news. Coverage of trials and punishments reinforces societal moral boundaries.

Criticisms of Durkheim

• Critics argue that Durkheim’s theory is more relevant to small-scale societies than complex, modern ones. 
• Many crimes, rather than reinforcing shared values, cause harm to victims and communities. 
• Marxists criticize Durkheim for ignoring power inequalities, asserting that laws primarily serve powerful groups. 
• Interactionists contend that labeling individuals as deviant can lead to a "deviant career," destabilizing social order and increasing societal costs, such as policing and incarceration.

Key Thinker: Merton’s (1968) Anomie Theory of Crime

• From a functionalist perspective, Robert Merton’s structural theory posits that crime and deviance arise from societal structure and cultural values. 
• He argued that cultural aspirations, like the American Dream’s emphasis on financial success through hard work, shape people’s goals. However, unequal social structures limit opportunities, particularly for the working class, who may lack access to education, employment, wealth, status, or social connections.
• This disparity creates a strain between culturally approved goals and the legitimate means to achieve them, leading to anomie—a state of normlessness where societal norms weaken. 
• In this state, individuals may resort to illegitimate means, such as theft or fraud, to achieve material success, resulting in higher crime and delinquency rates, especially among the working class.

Merton’s Five Responses to Success Goals

Merton identified five ways individuals respond to the strain of societal success goals:

1. Conformity: Pursuing success through legitimate means, such as education, talent, and hard work.
2. Innovation: Turning to deviant means, often crime, due to limited access to legitimate opportunities (common among the working class).
3. Ritualism: Middle-class individuals abandon ambitious goals but remain in low-status, respectable jobs.
4. Retreatism: Individuals from any class reject both success goals and legitimate means, opting out of society (e.g., vagrants or drug addicts).
5. Rebellion: Individuals reject societal goals and means, seeking to replace them with new ones to create a different social order.

Criticisms of Merton

• Albert Cohen, another functionalist, argued that juvenile delinquency stems from status frustration, not just anomie, as working-class individuals fail to achieve societal goals due to educational shortcomings. 
• Critics note that Merton’s theory does not explain why some people facing anomie conform while others deviate. 
• Conflict theorists, such as Marxists and feminists, reject Merton’s assumption of societal consensus, arguing that he overlooks power inequalities and who benefits from laws. Additionally, Merton’s theory fails to account for lower recorded crime rates among women compared to men.