It also claims that deviance serves a beneficial function to society as a whole.įig.
The functionalist view on crime explains the existence of crime as being the result of the structure of society (rather than as a result of individuals themselves). Now that we've reminded ourselves about functionalism, we will specifically look at the functionalist view on crime. Structural functionalism’s premise is that society is made up of necessary interdependent parts which bring about social order and consensus within society. Instead, they see society as a system of interdependent structures which shape human behaviour. Structuralists, when examining human behaviour, tend not to acknowledge individual factors like biology or psychology. In sociology, functionalism is a consensus structuralist theory. Let us start with a refresher on functionalism generally. Lastly, we will also take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of functionalist theories of crime.We’ll also be exploring how Durkheim’s ideas have been extended by the likes of Merton, Cohen, Cloward and Ohlin, and Hirschi.We'll follow that by looking at the functionalist view on crime as both unpreventable and beneficial, as argued by Émile Durkheim.We’ll begin by defining functionalism as a theory under the branch of structuralism.To that end, we’ll be diving into functionalist theories of crime or functionalist criminology. Does crime have a function in society? Some people certainly think so.
