His main argument was that ‘crime is normal’ and that it is ‘an integral part of all healthy societies’. This perspective views crime and deviance as an inevitable feature of all societies which is universal. Structural-functional perspective compares society with organism, which states that, the parts of society works together alike the parts of organism.
Emile Durkheim belong to structural-functional school of thought according to him, deviance is healthy for the functioning of society. Functionalism and conflict theory are macro theories which try to explain how societies work. Functionalism proposes that each individual contributes to the society’s overall performance and stability how long does it take for water to travel the length of the mississippi river? while conflict theory suggests that the society is in a state of perpetual conflict. Is it fair to prevent citizens from participating in such an important process? Proponents of disfranchisement laws argue that felons have a debt to pay to society. Being stripped of their right to vote is part of the punishment for criminal deeds.
When Pearson and Goring researched skeletons on their own they tested many more and found that the bone structure had no relevance in deviant behavior. The statistical study that Charles Goring published on this research is called “The English Convict”. Robert K. Merton discussed deviance in terms of goals and means as part of his strain/anomie theory. Where Durkheim states that anomie is the confounding of social norms, Merton goes further and states that anomie is the state in which social goals and the legitimate means to achieve them do not correspond.
Examines the ascribing of a deviant behavior to another person by members of society. For instance, segregation laws remained intact for nearly a century in the United States after slavery was abolished. Those who violated these norms reinforced their legitimacy for those in power, which often led to even harsher laws and sanctions, which in turn led to increased conformity or adherence to the norms.
However, it is extremely afraid of social conflicts, which is an explanation given for the political correctness movement. The late modern society easily accepts difference, but it labels those that it does not want as deviant and relentlessly punishes and persecutes. Retreatism is the rejection of both cultural goals and means, letting the person in question “drop out”. Retreatists reject the society’s goals and the legitimate means to achieve them. Merton sees them as true deviants, as they commit acts of deviance to achieve things that do not always go along with society’s values.
For example, a young person whose friends are sexually active is more likely to view sexual activity as acceptable. Sutherland developed a series of propositions to explain how deviance is learned. In proposition five, for example, he discussed how people begin to accept and participate in a behavior after learning whether it is viewed as “favorable” by those around them. In the example above, a young person may find sexual activity more acceptable once a certain number of their friends become sexually active, not after only one does so. French sociologist Émile Durkheim viewed deviance as an inevitable part of how society functions. He argued that deviance is a basis for change and innovation, and it is also a way of defining or clarifying important social norms.
When people commit crimes, they’re responding to a societal structure that they don’t feel integrated into. From a structural functionalist perspective, then, how does society change, particularly in regards to establishing norms and deviant behaviors? Deviance provides the key to understanding the disruption and re-calibration of society that occurs over time. Some traits will be stigmatized and can potentially cause social disruption. Social disorganization theory points to broad social factors as the cause of deviance.
An early proponent of this view was Dutch criminologist Willem Bonger , who said that capitalism as an economic system involves competition for profit. This competition leads to an emphasis in a capitalist society’s culture on egoism, or self-seeking behavior, and greed. Because profit becomes so important, people in a capitalist society are more likely than those in noncapitalist ones to break the law for profit and other gains, even if their behavior hurts others. Travis Hirschi’s social control theory stresses the importance of bonds to social institutions for preventing deviance. His theory emphasized the importance of attachment to one’s family in this regard. These focal concerns include a taste for trouble, toughness, cleverness, and excitement.