CRIM1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Tumulus, Juvenile Delinquency, Expulsion Of The Acadians
Lecture 9: Anomie and Strain
1. Durkheim’s Anomie
Durkeim is a functionalist. Collective consciousness.
Crime is normal. Crime is important for society to grow.
Crime has 2 functions:
1) adaptive functions = introduces new ideas and practices into society thereby ensuring that there is change rather
than stagnation
2) Boundary maintenance function = reinforcing society value and norms
Durkheim’s theory came during massive change in French society where there was a breakdown in the usual ties that
bind people together (solidarity)
His main question: How could society hold together during a period of fundamental, rapid, social economic change? It
is crime and how we punish it.
Primitive society (aka Mechanical Solidarity) vs Modern society (aka Organic solidarity)
Mechanical solidarity: People feel connected through similar work, similar value, social ties are strong
Organic solidarity: Comes from dependence individuals have on each other in advanced societies. A reliance
on each other to perform their specific tasks.
Durkheim: What is Crime?
- Simply that which is punished…
- Crime cannot be conceived as matters that are particularly harmful to the wider community. Rather they are best
understood as violations of a moral code- the collective conscience.
“We must not say that an action shocks the conscience collective because it is criminal, but rather that it is criminal
because it shocks the conscience collective. We do not condemn it because it is a crime, but it is a crime because we
condemn it.”
Durkheim: The function of Punishment
-Punishment is linked to social solidarity
-We come together and punish the offender for breaking collectively shared norms.
-Punishment allows us (the collective) to express outrage, and come together as an imagined community.
-The process of punishment is cathartic (feels good) and emotional.
-It is to reinstate the collectively agreed upon moral order.
Durkeim: Reproducing Solidarity
Punishment reproduces social order/solidarity.
-Crime occurs —> leads to outrage, emotional responses from collective —> people come together (maybe protest).
“COLLECTIVE ACTION” —> punishment is invoked. There is satisfaction because solidarity is reproduced.
Crime is necessary to produce social order. If there is no crime, we will invent crime.
The pathological levels of crime:
Too little crime is a signal of:
Social control is too excessive
Social stagnation – can’t deal with change or advance.
Too much crime is a signal of:
Society’s capacity to regulate is being swamped – anarchy – social solidarity is at risk, failure of social control.
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Document Summary
Lecture 9: anomie and strain: durkheim"s anomie. Crime has 2 functions: adaptive functions = introduces new ideas and practices into society thereby ensuring that there is change rather than stagnation, boundary maintenance function = reinforcing society value and norms. Durkheim"s theory came during massive change in french society where there was a breakdown in the usual ties that bind people together (solidarity) It is crime and how we punish it. Primitive society (aka mechanical solidarity) vs modern society (aka organic solidarity) Mechanical solidarity: people feel connected through similar work, similar value, social ties are strong. Organic solidarity: comes from dependence individuals have on each other in advanced societies. A reliance on each other to perform their speci c tasks. Crime cannot be conceived as matters that are particularly harmful to the wider community. Rather they are best understood as violations of a moral code- the collective conscience.
