Title: 
Headings: The Normality of Crime: Durkheim and Erikson John Hamlin Department of Sociology and Anthropology UMD  The idea that crime might be a normal part of society seems untenable to many people.  Yet it is the major tenant of the functional theory of crime.  The idea found in Durkheim that the amount of deviance remains relatively stable over time, refers to a number of different but interrelated aspects of his theory of society.  To begin with a good deal of what Durkheim says in reference to deviance is found in, The Rules of Sociological Method.  One of his concerns in this work, as in his work Suicide, is to demonstrate that sociology has a unique object of study, moral life.  As he states in Suicide, there can be no sociology without societies and societies cannot exist if there are only individuals.  There is a moral reality greater than the individual.  With societies and moral order represented by the conscious collective, there exists social facts which themselves are external to the individual.  These social facts hold a moral authority over individuals in society and help keep social order stable.  According to Durkheim deviance is not a pathological aberration in the character structure of particular individuals, but rather, it is ‘an integral part of all healthy societies.’  Because crime is found in all healthy societies it must be performing some necessary, positive function or else it would disappear as societies progress and become more complex and civilized.  Crime is normal because a society without crime would be impossible.   Behaviors considered unacceptable have increased, as society progresses not decreases.

Content: Every
 
society
 
is
 
inclined
 
to
 
have
 
a
 
particular
 
suicide
 
rate
 
that
 
remains
 
constant
 
as
 
long
 
as
 
the
 
structure
 
of
 
each
 
society
 
remains
 
the
 
same. Any
 
individual
 
within
 
society
 
showing
 
inclinations
 
toward
 
suicide
 
is
 
reflecting
 
the
 
collective
 
inclination
 
toward
 
suicide,
 
which
 
exists
 
above
 
and
 
beyond
 
the
 
individual. The
 
structure
 
of
 
society
 
itself
 
determines
 
the
 
collective
 
inclination. For
 
example,
 
in
 
a
 
society
 
incapable
 
of
 
storing
 
a
 
surplus,
 
where
 
every
 
individual
 
is
 
needed
 
in
 
production
 
of
 
subsistence,
 
it
 
is
 
likely
 
there
 
will
 
be
 
an
 
inclination
 
toward
 
altruistic
 
suicide. Individuals
 
inclined
 
to
 
suicide
 
are
 
likely
 
to
 
commit
 
suicide
 
for
 
the
 
sake
 
of
 
society. There
 
have
 
been
 
a
 
number
 
of
 
studies
 
concerned
 
with
 
suicide
 
that
 
follow
 
in
 
Durkheim’s
 
footsteps. Most
 
of
 
these
 
are
 
concerned
 
with
 
the
 
relationship
 
between
 
the
 
breakdown
 
in
 
constraint
 
exerted
 
over
 
individuals. For
 
example
 
Gibbs
 
and
 
Martin
 
look
 
at
 
the
 
degree
 
of
 
status
 
integration
 
in
 
relation
 
to
 
suicide
 
rates. The
 
more
 
integrated
 
the
 
statuses
 
the
 
lower
 
the
 
rates
 
of
 
suicide. Perhaps
 
the
 
most
 
well
 
known
 
study
 
that
 
attempts
 
to
 
show
 
the
 
relative
 
stability
 
of
 
deviance
 
over
 
time
 
is
 
Kai
 
Erikson’s,
 
Wayward
 
Puritans.