Chapter 6 sociology

Violent crime

Crimes in which violence is either the objective or the means to an end, including murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery.

Property crime

Crimes that do not involve violence, including burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.

Conflict theory (on devience)

Definitions and rules of deviance are applied unequally based on power.

Structural functionalism (on devience)

Deviance clarifies moral boundaries and promotes social cohesion.

Labeling (theory)

Howard Becker's idea that deviance is a consequence of external judgments, or labels, that modify the individual's self-concept and change the way others respond to the labeled person

Retreatists

Individuals who renounce society's approved goals and means entirely and live outside conventional norms altogether.

Symbolic interactionalism (plagerism)

Plagiarism may be labeled as deviant in the United States but not in Russia or India.

Passing

Presenting yourself as a member of a different group than the stigmatized group to which you belong.

Devience avowel

Process by which an individual self-identifies as deviant and initiates her own labeling process.

Structural functionalism (plagerism)

Punishing those who plagiarize separates those who should be in college from those who aren't responsible enough.

Tertiary devience

Redefining the stigma associated with a deviant label as a positive phenomenon.

Control theory (plagerism)

Requiring incoming college students to sign an honor code on the first day of orientation pledging that they will not cheat while they are a member of their college community.

Social control (theory)

A theory of crime, proposed by Travis Hirschi, that posits that strong social bonds increase conformity and decrease deviance.

Crime

A violation of a norm that has been codified into law.

Outsiders

According to Howard Becker, those labeled deviant and subsequently segregated from "normal" society.

Positive devience

Actions considered deviant within a given context but are later reinterpreted as appropriate or even heroic.

In group (orientation)

Among stigmatized individuals, the rejection of prevailing judgments or prejudice and the development of new standards that value their group identity.

Rehabilitation

An approach to punishment that attempts to reform criminals as part of their penalty.

Retribution

An approach to punishment that emphasizes retaliation or revenge for the crime as the appropriate goal.

Deterrence

An approach to punishment that relies on the threat of harsh penalties to discourage people from committing crimes.

Incapacitation

An approach to punishment that seeks to protect society from criminals by imprisoning or executing them.

Self fulfilling prophecy

An inaccurate statement or belief that, by altering the situation, becomes accurate; a prediction that causes itself to come true.

Structural strain (on devience)

An individual's position in society determines whether she has the means to achieve her goals or must otherwise turn to deviance.

Uniform crime report (UCR)

An official measure of crime in the United States, produced by the FBI's official tabulation of every crime reported by more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies.

White collar (crime)

Crime committed by a high-status individual in the course of his occupation.

Cybercrime

Crimes committed via the Internet, including identity theft, embezzlement, fraud, sexual predation, and financial scams.

Labeling theory (on devience)

Deviance is determined by the reactions of others; applying deviant labels to an individual may lead her to further deviance.

Differential association (on devience)

Deviance is learned through interactions with others who break the rules.

Differential associtation (theory)

Edwin Sutherland's hypothesis that we learn to be deviant through our associations with deviant peers.

Stigma

Erving Goffman's term for any physical or social attribute that devalues a person or group's identity and that may exclude those who are devalued from normal social interaction.

Primary devience

In labeling theory, the initial act or attitude that causes one to be labeled deviant.

Secondary devience

In labeling theory, the subsequent deviant identity or career that develops as a result of being labeled deviant.

Innovators

Individuals who accept society's approved goals but not society's approved means to achieve them.

Ritualists

Individuals who have given up hope of achieving society's approved goals but still operate according to society's approved means.

Rebels

Individuals who reject society's approved goals and means and instead create and work toward their own (sometimes revolutionary) goals using new means.

Control theory (on devience)

Strong social bonds increase conformity and decrease deviance.

Differential association (plagerism)

Students learn to cheat because they hang out with other students who plagiarize.

Conflict theory (plagerism)

Students with fewer resources are punished harshly and have fewer options afterward; students with more money or connections can either transfer to another school or rely on their parents for help.

Capital punishment

The death penalty.

Symbolic interactionalism (on devience

The definition of deviance is relative and depends on the culture, time period, and situation.

Social control

The formal and informal mechanisms used to elicit conformity to values and norms and thus promote social cohesion.

Criminology

The systematic scientific study of crime, criminals, and criminal justice.

Structural strain (theory)

The theory that the devience of a society in it's structure pressures people to commit crimes.

Devience

A behavior, trait, belief, or other characteristic that violates a norm and causes a negative reaction.

Criminal justice (system)

A collection of social institutions, such as legislatures, police, courts, and prisons, that creates and enforces laws.

Stereotype promise

A kind of self-fulfilling prophecy in which positive stereotypes, such as the "model minority" label applied to Asian Americans, lead to positive performance outcomes.

Stereotype threat

A kind of self-fulfilling prophecy in which the fear of performing poorly— and confirming stereotypes about their social groups—causes students to perform poorly.

Labeling (plagerism)

A student who is caught plagiarizing may come to believe she is unable to write without cheating.

Structural strain (plagerism)

A student's attitude about plagiarizing depends on whether she has the means to write the paper.