Assess the Functionalist View of Crime & Deviance (21 Marks)

Assess the functionalist view of crime and deviance. [21 marks]

This essay will detail the functionalist perspective of crime and deviance. Functionalist theories began to emerge after the industrial revolution in the 18th century. This period was called the enlightenment, and brought about scientific belief as opposed to the feudalist beliefs of religion. Religion no longer had such a powerful impact on peoples’ lives. The aim of sociological theories such as functionalism is to cure social ills, such as poverty and disease, and possibly even create the perfect society.

Emile Durkheim, the ‘father’ of functionalism believed that crime played an important role in society. He described the organic analogy of society which describes that all parts of society are interdependent on each other. In order for any society to function properly, all parts of society must come together in a value consensus. This means that all individuals in society share the same norms and values. Durkheim also believed that crime is inevitable and a big part of any functioning society. He outlined two functions that crime performs in everyday society; these are boundary maintenance, and adaptation and social change.

Boundary maintenance refers to crime being functional as it allows members of society to know what is acceptable. It also reaffirms norms and values within society, for example after the 9/11 terrorist attacks united society in the sheer horror of what had happened. The media plays an important role in dramatizing such events, and creating moral panics, to deter other individuals from potentially straying. Durkheim fails to answer the question ‘functional for whom?’ Crime isn’t functional for victims and their families. Granted, it may be functional for reaffirming norms and values, but it isn’t functional for all. Boundary maintenance is one function of crime; another is adaptation and social change.

Adaptation and social change, for Durkheim, refers to all change...