1.  Emile Durkheim

2. ◦ The problem of solidarity  Modern societies  Urban  Industrial  Bureaucratic  Pluralistic  Socialization & Intermediate Institutions  Social Integration  Moral Regulation

3.  Normal, Healthy Society ◦ Normal: Universal  Universal: Necessary  Serves some positive function  Deviance is Normal  Positive functions ◦ sets moral boundaries ◦ strengthens group solidarity for the non-deviants ◦ innovation ◦ tension reduction

4.  Society is a social system in which all parts contribute to the functioning of the system ◦ Including deviance  Robert Merton

5.  Merton: things to avoid ◦ Assuming harmonious integration of all parts of social system ◦ Assuming a phenomenon's existence means it is functional for the system  Tautology ◦ Assuming there is only one structural way of accomplishing societal needs  and that way is the one that is in existence

6.  Implications (Merton) ◦ Deviance may be functional for some but dysfunctional for others ◦ Not all forms of deviance may be positive ◦ Distinguish between manifest & latent functions ◦ There may be alternative and better means to accomplish the same purposes

7.  Robert Dentler & Kai Erikson ◦ Quaker work groups & Boot camps  Groups induce, permit, and maintain deviance  Deviant behavior helps to maintain group balance  Groups will resist alienation of any one of its members

8.  Kai Erikson: Wayward Puritans ◦ a study of the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony ◦ support for three functionalist conclusions  Deviance helps to establish and strengthen moral boundaries  Acts considered to be deviant reflect their social context  Societies routinely funnel a certain number of people into a deviant course of action

9.  Society is a self-adjusting machine ◦ Like a thermostat  Four societal mechanisms for social control ◦ Socialization ◦ Profit ◦ Persuasion ◦ Coercion

10. ◦ Deviance results from the failure of first three mechanisms  Leading to the use of coercion

11.  Strengths: ◦ Fosters rational approach to deviance and crime  A certain amount of deviance is normal and even positive ◦ Reduces scape-goating or over-reaction

12.  Weaknesses ◦ overly mechanical view of human social existence  Reification  Ignores choice  Logical fallacy ◦ Dangerous (diverts attention from, minimizes serious social problems) ◦ Eliminates social change (or its consideration)