Tattoos and Body Modifications as Delinquent Behaviour– Durkheim

Functionalism highlights a societal equilibrium. If an incident were to occur that could potentially disrupt the natural order and flow of the system, society, as a whole, must change and adjust to reach and return to a stable state. According to Durkheim, who focused most of his life on this theory, society should be examined and defined in terms of functions. Society is a made up system of interconnected part, where no one part can function and change without the other. These fragments make up the whole of civilization. If one part changes, it has an impact on society as a whole.

Durkheim took crime and delinquent behavior and viewed is as a natural and necessary event in a social system. He anticipated that crime and delinquent behavior would led to reactions from society about crime and that these collective reactions would be used to create a common agreements of what people believed to  be moral  and ethical norms by  which  to govern their society. These commonly held norms and values led to boundaries and rules for the society.

Body modifications, such as tattoos, can be viewed and analyzed from a functionalist’s point of view. Durkheim’s notion of social facts, which are a part of a functionalist theory can be relate to body modifications. Figurations as part of Durkheim’s social facts: External, General and Coercive. The individual is caught up in, but in some instances, resist society, whether is it unconsciously (by altering the body), or perhaps consciously (by modifying the body). A social fact is any method of acting, whether altered or not, equipped for pushing over the individual an outer imperative. Along these lines, this permits us to ask how do/have social truths characterize what changes are extreme and which ones are standard? Social facts generate a kind of "informal dress code," which body modifications occasionally disrupt and sometimes don’t.

            In today's general public, individuals are fundamentally grasping the style of body modifications. It gives the idea that regardless of where one is on the world, it is very difficult to escape the reality of body art; the presence of tattoos. It has turned into a major piece of our general public. In a society with appearance standards, where every tries to look similar and appeal to others, many people will break away from the norms, break the rules and violate appearance expectations. Some of these deviants form deviant groups. These groups are determined by the need to accomplish social attachment and incorporation. There are many within society who argue regarding why individuals change, control and ravage their bodies including tattoos.

            There are two principle reasons that a functionalist would approach to comprehend this deviant behaviour. First of all, tattoos give individuals a group membership in a deviant groups, helping advertise self-distinguishing proof. Second, tattoos likewise serve as a limit line to what is satisfactory and what is not in our general public. In spite of the fact that tattoos expand an individual's acknowledgement into a deviant group, it additionally, builds dismissal in a traditional group.

            Tattoos have always been associated with specific groups, mainly deviance groups, and their members. Tattoos have a level of set importance. For example, if a group of people have the same tattoo, or a specific arrangement of tattoos, it suggests that these people are in a common or the same group that share a commitment to a certain set of values. For this situation, the Hells Angels, make for a prime example. All Hells Angels, wear similar jackets for show when they are on their bikes, and when they are in the bar, they all have the same or similar tattoos, so everyone around them knows exactly who they are.

Tattoos deconstruct as meaningful practices that intentionally acknowledges and shows images of otherness, not like everyone else, or who society wants them to be. This is known as a homology of deviant style, a gathering of works on meeting up around an imparted set of belief systems, exercises and inclination. Tattoos are planned to suggest that adolescent needs to be connected with a trial, risk taking group.