SOCA03Y3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14.4: Anomie, Homeostasis, Edwin Sutherland
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SOCA03Y3 Full Course Notes
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Functionalists stress the ways in which the many groups in society coexist. Although there are bound to be tensions between and among these groups, functionalists argue that the balancing of these tensions produces society. When a particular group or individual threatens this balance, efforts are made to ensure that everything returns to a state of homeostasis (meaning balance, or the status quo ) Durkheim believed that as societies evolved from the pre-industrial model to the industrial model, rules governing behaviour broke down; as a result, people no longer knew what to expect from one another. Anomie: a state of normlessness in which norms are confused, unclear, or absent. Durkheim felt that such normlessness leads to deviant behaviour. Strain theory: anomic conditions are produced through a relationship between two cultural elements. Drawing on durkheim"s assertion that societal structure can produce particular social pressures that may result in deviant or criminal behaviour.
