Final answer:
Durkheim's Functional Perspective on Deviance explains that deviance serves three functions in society: it challenges people's present views, it reaffirms currently held social norms, and it affirms cultural values and norms through punishment.
Step-by-step explanation:
Durkheim's Functionalist Perspective on Deviance argues that deviance serves three functions in society. Firstly, deviance challenges people's present views and can open society's eyes to injustice in the system. For example, during the civil rights movement, Black students participating in sit-ins challenged society's notions of segregation.
Secondly, deviance is punished in order to reaffirm currently held social norms. When a student is given detention for skipping class, it reminds other high schoolers that playing hooky isn't allowed and that they could also face consequences.
Lastly, Durkheim believed that even socially deviant members of society are necessary because punishments for deviance reaffirm established cultural values and norms. Punishment reinforces society's collective conscience and contributes to social order.