1. Functionalist perspective of deviance
Chapter 7 – Deviance and Social Conformity

2. Functionalism Refresher
Society is a complex unit, made up of interrelated parts
Each part has a function
When each part of society performs its function, society is in a “normal” state

3. Can Deviance Be Functional?
Emile Durkheim stated deviance is functional for society:
Deviance clarifies moral boundaries and affirms social norms
Deviance encourages social unity
Deviance promotes social change
Emile Durkheim

4. Strain Theory
Cultural Goals: The objectives held out as legitimate or desirable for the members of a society to achieve (Ex: wealth or prestige)
Institutionalized Means: Approved ways of reaching cultural goals

5. Strain Theory Strain Theory:
Strain created when society socializes a large number of people to desire a cultural goal (Ex: wealth) but withholds from some the approved means of reaching that goal
Anomie: Feelings of being disconnected from society
Strain Theory is credited to Robert Merton

6. Strain Theory How do people match their goals to their means?
Conformity: Using socially acceptable means to try to reach cultural goals
Innovation: Accept the goals of society, but use illegitimate goals to accomplish them (Ex: crack dealers, con artists)
Ritualism: Give up on achieving the cultural goals but still follow society’s rules (Ex: Teachers suffering from “burnout”)

7. Strain Theory How do people match their goals to their means?
Retreatism: Reject both cultural goals and society’s rules (Ex: People who stop pursuing success and become drug addicts, women who enter a convent)
Rebellion: Reject society’s goals and institutionalized means, but seek to give society new goals, as well as new means for reaching them.

8. Social Class and Crime
Society conditions the poor to want success, but many routes to success are at odds with lower-class backgrounds:
Schools-
Non-Standard Grammar
Poor Preparation in Reading
Punctuality
The poor may be more conditioned, then, to drop out of school and seek illegitimate opportunities
Hustling, Gambling, Pimping

9. Social Class and Crime White Collar Crime
Crimes that people of respectable and high social status commit in the course of their occupations
Ex:
Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme
Ford Motor Tire Scandal
Bernie Madoff ran a scheme that defrauded investors of nearly $65 billon

10. Social Class and Crime
The cost of white-collar crime is ten times than that of street crime
Northern states are considered safer, southern states more dangerous