SOCI 250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: High Crime, Theft, Deindustrialization
8 Jun 2018
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Lecture 19 (November 16th, 2017)
Crime (cont.)
! Social theories of crime: functionalism – Durkheim and crime
•!Durkheim really talks about crime more directly than other major social theorists
o!Particularly, the control of crime – what is crime? What are we doing about it? What
should we do about it? He’s trying to define crime in a particular way
o!He changes the question just a little bit – he changes the way we think about crime
and the criminal
•!Crime: “an act is criminal when it offends strong and defined states of the collective
conscience” – definition of crime according to Durkheim
o!What is normative behavior – crime is anything that offends that
o!For him, and this is critical about Durkheim, is that it is a tool and one of a view
critical of society to hold us together – one of the primary sources of solidarity
o!This idea that there are criminals and non-criminals is what the source of solidarity is
o!The law buyers and the law breakers is the notion that holds us together
"!The law buyers, we are one; we share this sense of solidarity together
"!The law breakers make us (law buyers) feel better about ourselves
•!One of the most prominent theme in television is crime: finding and punishing the “bad
guys”
•!Important source of social solidarity
•!More importantly-rules are constructed so that inevitably a certain number of people will not
fulfill demands.
•!This allows the majority to feel a sense of moral superiority-identifying themselves as good
and righteous, and opposing themselves to the morally inferior who fail to meet the demands.
•!It is this sense of moral superiority that Durkheim saw as the primary source of social
solidarity.
•!Thus, crime plays an important role in maintaining social solidarity. In other words, crime is
part of the glue that holds us together.
•!Since present in all societies, crime is “normal”.
o!He goes around identifying “social facts”, which is something that exists in every
society, therefore, it must be “normal” because anything that’s not “normal” will be
purged – we wouldn’t do it and we wouldn’t see it
o!So the fact that we see crime everywhere, it must serve a broader function in society,
which is, according to him, a notion of solidarity
•!A society without crime would be abnormal.
o!This is powerful
o!It’s really turning the tables
o!Compare this to Beccaria, which says that if we can adjust proportionality, swiftness,
and certainty, we can illuminate crime. Durkheim says hell no, you could never live
without crime and if you did, it would become an oppressive society and you would
see huge social problems – we will never eliminate crime, nor should we try
•!Durkheim and the law:
o!Law outlines obligations that must be met by all members of the collective.
o!Law provides sanctions for not fulfilling these obligations
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o!Law is a symbol of social solidarity (i.e. the collective is defining moral boundaries –
those who comply feel sense of solidarity with others who fulfill obligations.
o!Law, according to Durkheim, is the written form of the collective conscious – the
normative boundaries established by the members of society
o!The law defines unacceptable behavior
•!Durkheim and punishment:
o!If crime is normal “the object of punishment can not be to cure it, and its true function
must be sought elsewhere.”
"!We have to look for something else
"!And so for him, that something else is social solidarity
"!Most social theories of punishment point to other things beside social
solidarity, but for Durkheim, it’s all about that – crime and the sanctioning of
crime is one of the major ones, religion being another one
•!2 of the most important aspects of social solidarity central to his theory
"!for Durkheim, everything is collective
o!Crime will persist regardless of crime control strategies used because crime is
“normal”.
•!Strain theory is one of the most major theories coming out of Durkheim
! Social theories of crime: strain theory
•!Strain Theory: Assumes that people are law-abiding but when under pressure will resort to
crime. Disparity between goals and means is the source of the pressure to commit crime.
•!According to strain theorists, the cultural force is for us to strive to go higher on the
economic spectrum (carrot drawing) – particulary, acquiring material wealth
o!We are driving for more and more things, which increase our status, increase our
sense of self-worth, and so we fight to get more and more
o!Strain theory says that everybody’s got this (^) moto, but some people get stuck at the
bottom regardless of how much they work, and they have different access to the
means of moving up
"!Typical mean of moving up this system: education
"!There is an unequal access to the means of moving up this system
•!Robert Merton (1910-2003) -argued that social structure that holds out the same goals to all
its members without giving them equal means to achieve them is the cause of crime.
o!According to Merton, there are a couple of forms of innovation
•!Merton argued that in class societies, opportunities to gain desirable resources are not equally
distributed. Disparity between goals and means fosters frustration, which leads to strain,
which may lead some to resort to illegitimate means (such as crime) to acquire ends that are
otherwise inaccessible.
•!Modes of adaptation: Merton suggests there are 5 ways in which people can respond to
society’s goals and means.
o!1) Conformity: (most common) accept the goals of society and the means by which
it approves of achieving them. They follow the rules, go to school, work etc.
"!They go to school, get a job, get money, and they end up somewhere along the
carrot drawing
o!2) Innovation: accept society’s goals but, with few legitimate means, design their
own means for getting ahead (steal, embezzle). Not restricted to the lower class.
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"!“I need to attain this wealth” but they pursue alternative ways of getting it:
crime
"!“I might not have access to this place, but I can sell dope” – that’s my
alternative
"!But, the goal is to innovate and find a new way to move up
"!Could also be white corporate crime
"!It re-labels the criminal and the innovator
o!3) Ritualism: people abandon the goals that suggest they can reach any goals and
proceed with a life in which they play by the rules. They work on assembly lines,
middle management jobs or some other safe path.
"!People who affectively stop
"!They don’t continue to go up, they stay where they are at and accept a
stagnant position
o!4) Retreatism: give up on both the goals and the means. “Drop out” of society.
Some may enter the world of drug/alcohol addiction. Live nonproductive non-
striving lifestyles. Do not “innovate” because they have internalized goals.
o!5) Rebellion: reject both goals and means. Often substitute new goals and means.
Example – Militias
"!Reject the goals and means, and find themselves washing out of life
"!Street people
•!Strain theory explains criminal involvement
o!I am a criminal because I am innovating in ways to get the same means as people
because I don’t have the same access as the rest of the population
•!POLICY
o!Who solves the crime problem? Policy makers, and they kind of pick theories that
they like – they might not use the labels, but they use the ideas even if they don’t
know what the theory is called or who the authors are
o!What is the policy solution if I want to do something about crime – what do I do to
reduce this crime problem?
"!Make it easier to have access to things they desire – especially when it comes
to education. Because if I can get access to education, which is the legitimate
way of moving up, I am less likely to innovate
"!More people in the higher education is the answer
"!Give more people the opportunity to legitimately rather than illicitly moving
up this hierarchy
"!A lot of social theorists of strain theory use this notion of the “American
Dream”
! Social theories of crime: control theories
•!The most widely accepted amongst criminologists: control theories (strain theory comes in
second place)
•!The control theory of delinquency assumes delinquent acts will result when one's bond, or
connection to society is weak or broken.
•!Hirschi (1969) contended that no motivational factors were necessary for one to become
delinquent; the only requirement was the absence of control that allows the individual to be
free to weigh the benefits of crime over the costs of those same delinquent acts.
