Functionalist Theory Essay

Out of the theories explaining deviance and crime, the functionalist theory is more appealing to me. Criminal or deviance activities are tied to the social, economic characteristics that one finds himself or herself. In the urban centres, for example, the influx of young people in an attempt to seek employment and consequently better life increase the urban population. The more the people, the lesser the basic needs and the jobs available. Such situation leads to criminal activities as the people try to survive in a hostile environment. In the case of America, there are numerous homeless people in the cities some of whom engage in criminal activities to survive. In addition, poverty creates a culture that is more inclined to deviance behaviour than conformity. The poor strives to gather wealth in order to be equal to the middle class and the rich. Unfortunately, their efforts are frustrated by the laws leading to deviance. For example, it is common in most cities for hawkers to fight the city sheriffs as they attempt to drive them out of some areas.
The functionalist theory is by far too general. The emphasis on the society having to follow a specific trend may not be applicable in all societies since humans, as well as their culture have been known are very dynamic. The needs of the societies as Durkheim suggest are not universal across a given culture. For example, in the developed countries, the social problems differ greatly to those of the developing countries. For example, the unemployment rate is much lower in developed countries than in developing countries. The virtues inherent in humans cannot be overcome entirely by the demand of material gains. From this premise then, the functions and the needs of the society ought to reinforce virtues rather than reinforce crime.