Evaluate Functionalist Theories of Crime and Deviance

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Evaluate Functionalist Theories on Crime and Deviance

Crime is defined as behaviour that breaks laws and is punished by the legal system. Deviance, on the other hand, can be considered to be banned or controlled behaviour which is likely to attract either punishment, disapproval or both (Downes & Rock, 1988). Functionalists view society as based on shared consensus and the proliferation of this shared consensus through socialization by institutions. This makes it particularly difficult for them to deal with the concept of crime and deviance- because in a perfect Functionalist society, crime and deviance would not occur. While some Functionalist theorists, notably Durkheim, regard crime as having a social function, others, including Merton, who point to the strain between socialized aims and reality as the true cause of crime.

Durkheim (1897) argues that crime and deviance are useful and necessary in society. It helps to reinforce the consensus of values, norms and behaviour of the majority non-deviant population, through the idea of outrage at crime which strengthens social solidarity. It also acts as a social dynamic which allows for social changes to occur and for social boundaries to be tested, ensuring that a society, its norms and