6.4.1 : Can Deviance Really Be Functional for Society? ( 6.4: The Functionalist Perspective PT )

6.4.1-The Functionalist Perspective PT 

: Can Deviance Really Be Functional for Society? 

Most of us are upset by deviance, especially crime, and assume that society would be better off without it. In contrast to this common assumption, the classic functionalist theorist Emile Durkheim (1893/1933, 1895/1964) came to a surprising conclusion.

 Deviance—including crime—contributes to the social order in these three ways: 

(1) Deviance clarifies moral boundaries and affirms norms. By moral boundaries, Durkheim referred to a group’s ideas about how people should think and act. 

Deviance challenges those boundaries. 

To call a member into account is to say, in effect, “You broke an important rule, and we cannot tolerate that.” Punishing deviants affirms the group’s norms and clarifies what it means to be a member of the group. 

(2) Deviance encourages social unity.​ To affirm the group’s moral boundaries by punishing deviants creates a “we” feeling among the group’s members. By saying, “You can’t get away with that,” the group affirms the rightness of its ways.

(3) Deviance promotes social change. 

Not everyone agrees on what to do with people who push beyond the accepted ways of doing things. 

Some group members may even approve of the rule-breaking behavior. 

Boundary violations that gain enough support become new, acceptable behaviors.

 Deviance, then, may force a group to rethink and redefine its moral boundaries, helping groups—and whole societies—to adapt to changing circumstances.