Functionalist theory of crime and deviance Essay

Many people everyplace the years have tried to explain why there is nuisance in our fraternity. Functionalists focus on the source of diversion in the genius of fellowship rather than biological and psychological explanations. Every failalist agrees that social chasteness mechanisms e. g. the police are requisite to keep deviance in rub and therefore protecting social recount. A main contributor to the functionalist hypothesis of villainy is Durkheim. He believed that society is based on a cherish consensus and that every members of society share a common glossiness that is a set of overlap values, norms, beliefs and goals.Durkheim suggested that by society sharing the same culture created social solidarity, thereby binding individuals together and telling them what to strive for and how to canalize themselves. According to Durkheim crime has 4 functions in society, the first being that crime and deviance is inevitable and normal. He suggested that crime is inevitab le, normal and necessary for life. He tell crime is inevitable because not everyone in society is going to be equally committed to the shared values and moral philosophy as we are all exposed to different influences.Durkheim gave the example of until now in a society of saints with no crime at all, much(prenominal) high standards of behaviour would make even the smallest deviant act e. g. pass off stand out, this backs up his suggestion of deviance is inevitable and it leave behind always be present in society. The second function that Durkheim outline is that crime helps society to evolve. He state yesterdays deviance must give-up the ghost todays normality, Durkheim believed the crime helps society to review the way it does things so we can learn from the deviance and mistakes. thirdly Durkheim outlined that crime is functional. He proposed that crime could be functional and except becomes dysfunctional when its level is unusually high or low. He said very low pass judgm ent lead to stagnation, while high rates lead to social disorganisation and chaos. Durkheim believed that exchange was healthy and in order for society to change yesterdays deviance must become todays norm. Durkheim also stated that shared values and moral philosophy must be in moderate for their influence not to be strong on the population or deviance would occur as people would object.We can see this with the actions of Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King who have all objected to the shared values and morals that have been too strong. The last function Durkheim believed crime gave to society is crime can be positive. He came up with two features, boundary maintenance and adaptation and change. Durkheim said crime produces a reaction for society, uniting its members in condemnation of the wrongdoers and reinforcing their fealty to the shared norms and values.This is Durkheims way of describing punishment, which for him is to reaffirm societys shared draw reins and reinforce social solidarity. Durkheim said this could be done though the court fashion which dramatises wrongdoing and publicly stigmatises the offender which reaffirms the values of the law-abiding majority and discourages others from rule breaking. The second feature is influenced by Durkheims belief that all change starts with an act of deviance. Durkheim believed there much be some wiggle room for individuals with new ideas, values and ways of living as way to argufy and change existing norms and values.