Sociology Ch 6

How does the FBI's Uniform Crime Report measure crime?

Every crime reported by over 17,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States is tabulated.

What is one of the principal reasons people turn to deviant behavior in the United States according to the structural strain theory of deviance as articulated by Robert Merton?

The goal of success is shared by a majority of people, but not everyone has equal means for achieving that goal.

Criminology consists of the study of crime, criminals, and criminal justice.

True

A gay man joins a dating website. He tells his friends that he is frustrated when other men on the website describe themselves as "straight-acting, straight-appearing." He believes that these men are treating gay identity as a stigmatized identity by

passing

Martin Luther King Jr. went to jail many times for acts of civil disobedience, such as ignoring court orders prohibiting marches and boycotts. Some people, even those who agreed with him, criticized him for disobeying the law. Today, however, most people view these actions as a form of

positive deviance

What must behavior, trait, or belief do in order to be considered deviant?

depart from a norm and generate a negative reaction

What theory argues that punishments for rule violators are unequally distributed, with those near the top of society subject to more lenient rules and sanctions than those at the bottom?

conflict theory

Which theory suggests crimes committed by the upper classes are typically treated more leniently than crimes committed by the lower classes because laws represent the interests of those in power?

conflict theory

After a woman's teenage son engages in deviant behavior, she says the reason for her son's behavior is that "he fell in with a bad crowd." Which symbolic interactionist theory of deviance does this explanation MOST closely resemble?

differential association

Today, using the wrong fork to eat a salad at a dinner party would NOT usually qualify as deviance because

it is not a serious enough norm violation to provoke sanctions.