SOC212H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Reaction Formation, Social Forces, Parricide
Document Summary
Lecture #6 - strain theory and cultural deviance. Social disorganization and culture contribute to strain theory: the roots of strain theory: durkheim"s functionalism. Functionalists look at all aspects of society and how they maintain equilibrium in society. From a functionalist theory, family, poverty would be part of the social system and the ideal is balance. If they say change occurs, it happens gradually since it"s a adaptive. Society isn"t opposed to change but it"s a system that adapts to change. Durkheim took this perspective in his book the rules of sociological method . In the book, he looked at how society ensures solidarity and the functions of our legal sanctions. He acknowledged that what we see as illegal can vary in society, but in every society, there is something labelled deviant, no society is crime free. Ex if family starts producing lots of kids, society will adapt by having more schools.
