Durkheim - crime is
inevitable and necessary
to society. Too much
crime threatens the
bonds of society, too little
means society becomes
too rigid and controlling.
Positive functions of
crime: Boundary
maintenance - society
bands together in
condemnation of the
wrongdoer = strengthens
collective conscience.
Adaptation and change -
All change starts with an
act of deviance, i.e. the
civil rights movement
was originally seen as
deviant but has driven
positive change
Merton - strain theory - his theory of
crime combines structural factors
and cultural factors. The American
Dream culture values money and
material wealth and tells Americans
there are opportunities of all.
Reality is that disadvantaged
groups are denied the
opportunities and results in
frustration and a pressure to resort
to illegitimate means. Merton calls
this the pressure to deviate the
strain to anomie. Different
approaches to the strain -
Conformity, Innovation, Ritualism,
Retreatism, Rebellion.
Subcultural strain theories -
Cohen:status frustration -
focuses on deviance among
working class boys who suffer
from cultural deprivation and the
skills to achieve. They suffer
from status frustration. They
resolve this by rejecting and
inverting middle class values
forming a delinquent subculture
with other boys in the same
situation. i.e. vandalising
property to gain status. The
subculture offers boys an
alternative status hierachy in
which they can achieve.
Cloward and Ohlin - They identify 3 different
subcultures that result: Criminal subcultures: -
Provide youths with an apprenticeship for a
career in utilitarian crime - These arise in
neighbourhoods with a longstanding criminal
culture of professional adult criminals, Conflict
subcultures: - Loosely organised violent gangs
- Arise in areas of high population turnover –
prevents stable criminal network developing -
Violence provides a release for frustration as
well as an alternative source of status that they
can earn by winning territory from rival gangs
Retreatist subcultures: § Those who double fail,
fail in legitimate and illegitimate opportunity
structures § Form subcultures based on illegal
drug use