OUTLINE, ILLUSTRATE AND EVALUATE FUNCTIONALIST THEORIES OF CRIME AND DEVIANCE

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OUTLINE, ILLUSTRATE AND EVALUATE FUNCTIONALIST THEORIES OF CRIME AND DEVIANCE

Some may get confused with the difference in concept between crime and deviance. Crime refers to those activities that break the law of the land and are subject to official punishment. Deviance consists of those acts which do not follow the norms and expectations of a particular social group.

Deviance may be positively sanctioned (rewarded), negatively sanctioned (punished), or simply accepted without reward or punishment. Deviance is not necessarily criminal and criminal behaviour is not necessarily deviant for example, alcoholism and attempted suicide are not illegal today, it is even the case that some criminal acts are not typically seen as deviant. In the past it has been considered deviant for a woman to smoke, however now is perfectly acceptable. In the same way definitions of crime can change over time e.g. homosexuality used to be criminal offence in Britain and now is perfectly acceptable in society.

Different theories have different perspectives on crime. Some say it can have positive effects on society and some say these effects are negative. I will be focusing on the functionalists ideas on crime. The main