Present an Outline of Subcultural Theories of Crime and Deviance and Asses the Values of These Theories.
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hPresent an outline of subcultural theories of crime and deviance and asses the values of these theories.
Functionalism is a consensus structuralist theory which sees the source of crime and deviance looted in the structure of the society. Social order is bases on value consensus and social control aims to protect this by controlling the threat posed by crime and deviance.
A former functionalist Merton, attempted to explain why deviance arises in the first place. He believes that the society survives because al the members of society have shared norms and values which he calls the collective conscience. Parson calls this the central value system (CVS). merton's theory of crime attempts to explain why some groups in society are forced to abandon their shared norms and values and replace them with deviant ones. He says in order to achieve the American dream (CVS) they must accept the cultural goals which is the accepted success goals of society. E.g. jobs, house, car. Merton believes that you have to accept the institutionalised means which is of legal ways of achieving that accepted success. Merton's theory is the strain theory. He believes that while some people are able to follow this patch to success, others are blocked because of their position in the social structure. Some groups have lower educational achievement so there is a tension between an individual's needs and the needs of the society. Some people are socialised into goals but enable to achieve them. Merton argues that people either show the conformity displayed by most people or adopt one of the four forms of deviance which is innovation, ritualism, retreatism and rebellion. Innovation - poor education and unemployment means that some people accept the shared goals (they want the money) yet reject the means of achieving them so they turn to crime as an alternative. In ritualism, they accept