Evaluate the functionalist approach to understanding crime in society.

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EVALUATE THE FUNCTIONALIST APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING CRIME IN SOCIETY

Functionalism is the sociological theory of how or why society functions and how it remains in a state of stability. Theoretically it tries to explain the role all people within society have, from children to criminals, in order to maintain stability. It is a control theory where boundaries are set for people to adhere. The point at which a crime is commited or a boundery is crossed would be determined by the culture of each individual society. In different countries there would have to be variations of these bounderies, this would be inevitable because of the different culture within each society.

 For a functionalist society to work several key aspects have to be in place. Society as a whole must agree to the way society is structured and ordered, this is known as a ‘structural consensus’ theory. Functionalism is a ‘macro’ theory. In general it attempts to understand society as whole using large systems. Functionalists  view society like the human body. This could be called a ‘body of society’ or ‘organic analogy’. For the ‘body of society’ to function all of the internal organs or social structures must work effectively and efficiently. These social structures are law and order, parliament and government, religion, the economy and employment, family, mass media, and education.

Functionalist believe that humans are born naturally selfish, with their own desires and impulses to be fulfilled at the expense of everyone else, this can be seen in its raw state during childhood. According to Durkheim there are ‘two stages in childhood: the first, taking place almost entirely within the family or the nursery school-a substitute for the family, as its name suggests; the second, in elementary school, when the child, beginning to leave the family circle, is initiated into a larger environment.’ (Durkheim.1961.p.17). Furthermore, human nature also desires order, co-operation, stability, routine and familiarity, and for this reason a complex inter-linked network of institutions work as checking systems and denature the selfish acts and promote discipline, order and stability. The family is the first institution to provide discipline, followed by the education system. The child learns through discipline that barriers cannot be crossed at an early stage of its development, this checking system enables the child to conform to the values of its society. These values, along with discipline and rules of behaviour, are dictated to society by the institutions that try to keep the status quo, for example the mass media. Functionalists argue that if the rules of behaviour, morals and routines aren’t rigorously enforced a state of egoism and anomie would develop rendering society into chaos. They think that traditions, such as marriage, should be upheld in order for society to remain stable and intact.

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Functionalism developed significantly through the early works of the French sociologist and criminologist Emile Durkheim (1858-1917). He argued that the human psyche is split in two, this forms the ‘Homo Duplex’. One side is selfishness and the other side co-operation. Crimes would be commited either because there is a weakness of the integrative forces of society, so there is a collapse in the co-operative side; or there is failure of the regulatory forces in society, which would not be able to keep a check on the egoistic side of human nature. He rebelled against the traditional view that crime ...

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