Deviance and Crime

Rebellion

A handful of people rebel and replace a society's goals and means with their own. Terrorists or freedom fighters look to overthrow a society's goals through socially unacceptable means.

Functionalism

A school of psychology that focused on how our mental and behavioral processes function - how they enable us to adapt, survive, and flourish.

Anomie theory of deviance

A theory developed by Robert Merton that explains deviance as an adaptation either of socially prescribed goals or of the norms governing their attainment, or both.

Innovation

Innovators pursue goals they cannot reach through legitimate means by instead using criminal or deviant means.

According to ________, the more powerful people in a society decide what is criminal and what is not, and this inequality affects those who have little power.

Karl Marx

Retreatism

Others retreat and reject society's goals and means. For example, some beggars and street people have withdrawn from society's normative goal of financial success.

Ritualism

People who ritualize lower their goals until they can reach them through socially acceptable ways. These members of society focus on conformity rather than pursuing an unrealistic dream.

Which theorist(s) suggested that access to socially acceptable goals plays a part in determining whether a person conforms or deviates?

Robert Merton

Conformity

Those who conform choose not to deviate. Conformists pursue their goals to the extent that they can through socially accepted means. This is the most common option.

Crime

a behavior that violates official law and is punishable through formal sanctions

Police

a civil force in charge of regulating laws and public order at a federal, state, or community level

Self report study

a collection of data acquired using voluntary response methods, such as questionnaires or telephone interviews

According to social disorganization theory, crime is most likely to occur where?

a community where neighbors don't know each other

Master status

a label that describes the chief characteristic of an individual

Symbolic Interactionism

a micro-level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people's actions

Power elite

a small group of wealthy and influential people at the top of society who hold the power and resources

Court

a system that has the authority to make decisions based on law

Doubly deviant

a term used to refer to females who have broken the law and gender norms about appropriate female behavior

Strain theory

a theory that addresses the relationship between having socially acceptable goals and having socially acceptable means to reach those goals

Social Disorganization Theory

a theory that asserts crime occurs in communities with weak social ties and the absence of social control

Conflict theory

a theory that examines social and economic factors as the causes of criminal deviance

Differential Association Theory

a theory that states individuals learn deviant behavior from those close to them who provide models of and opportunities for deviance

Social control theory

a theory that states social control is directly affected by the strength of social bonds and that deviance results from a feeling of disconnection from society

Primary deviance

a violation of norms that does not result in any long-term effects on the individual's self-image or interactions with others

During the civil rights movement, Rosa Parks and other black protestors spoke out against segregation by refusing to sit at the back of the bus. This is an example of ________.

act of deviance

Victimless crime

activities against the law, but that do not result in injury to any individual other than the person who engages in them

Social order

an arrangement of practices and behaviors on which society's members base their daily lives

Criminal justice system

an organization that exists to enforce a legal code

According to the concept of the power elite, why would a celebrity such as Charlie Sheen commit a crime?

because his fame protects him from retribution

Crime rates in the United States have ________ since the 1990s.

been on the decline

Émile Durkheim: The Essential Nature of Deviance

believed that deviance is a necessary part of a successful society and that it serves three functions: 1) it clarifies norms and increases conformity, 2) it strengthens social bonds among the people reacting to the deviant, and 3) it can help lead to positive social change and challenges to people's present views (1893).

Legal code

codes that maintain formal social control through laws

Sociologists have pointed out that "white collar crime" often has a racial component when compared to street-level crime, and that discrepancies in causes and punishments between these categories are related to one's economic and social resources. The school of sociological inquiry that takes up such questions is called ________.

conflict theory

An individual who has been charged, tried, and found guilty of a crime that is punishable by incarceration may be sentenced and then moved into what part of the criminal justice system?

corrections

Which group has the duty to supervise and confine those who have been arrested, convicted, and sentenced for a criminal offense?

corrections

Street crime

crime committed by average people against other people or organizations, usually in public spaces

White-collar crime

crime committed by people of high social position in the course of their occupations

Corporate crime

crime committed by white-collar workers in a business environment

Nonviolent crimes are exclusively ________ .

crimes against property

Violent crimes

crimes based on the use of force or the threat of force

Nonviolent crimes

crimes that involve the destruction or theft of property, but do not use force or the threat of force

Which of the following best describes how deviance is defined?

deviance is socially defined

Secondary deviance

deviance that occurs when a person's self-concept and behavior begin to change after his or her actions are labeled as deviant by members of society

Blake grew up in a community where he observed crime and was encouraged to participate in deviant behavior by those who are close to him. This is an example of ________ , a subcategory of symbolic interactionism.

differential association theory

Recidivist young offender Lars is twenty years old, and has already been in contact with the criminal justice system on a number of occasions. Raised by a single father who is himself a multiply-convicted burglar and car thief, Lars has been socialized both within his family home and in his immediate community by peers and mentors who routinely engage in and casually regard deviant acts such as property crimes. The sociological concept that addresses his upbringing and socialization is called ________ .

differential association theory

Which symbolic interactionist theory suggests that individuals learn deviant behavior from those close to them who provide models of and opportunities for deviance?

differential association theory

Which of the following is an example of corporate crime?

embezzlement

Official punishments for illegal deviance are called ________ .

formal sanctions

The National Crime Victimization Report (NCVR) reports a/an ________ rate of crime than the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), because of crimes never reported to the police.

higher

A student has a habit of talking on her cell phone during class. One day, the professor stops his lecture and asks her to respect the other students in the class by turning off her phone. In this situation, the professor used ________ to maintain social control.

informal negative sanctions

Disapproving punishments for day-to-day social encounters are called ________ .

informal sanctions

One day, you decide to wear pajamas to the grocery store. While you shop, you notice people giving you strange looks and whispering to each other. In this case, the grocery store patrons are demonstrating ________.

informal sanctions

Deviance

is a violation of established contextual, cultural, or social norms, whether folkways, mores, or codified law (1906).

Secondary victimization

occurs when the women's own sexual history and her willingness to consent are questioned in the process of laying charges and reaching a conviction

At the end of her sophomore year in high school, Sophia, historically a C-average student, realizes that she wishes to apply to several selective colleges upon graduation. With this goal in mind she re-focuses her efforts, requests extra help and tutoring, and transforms herself into a steady A student throughout her junior year, ultimately receiving acceptance letters from her first and second choice colleges. Throughout this process her teachers, parents and peers verbally praise her work, encouraging her along her path. These responses are examples of ________ .

positive sanctions

A student wakes up late and realizes her sociology exam starts in five minutes. She jumps into her car and speeds down the road, where she is pulled over by a police officer. The student explains that she is running late, and the officer lets her off with a warning. The student's actions are an example of ________.

primary deviacne

________ deviance is a violation of norms that ________result in a person being labeled a deviant.

primary, does not

Negative sanctions

punishments for violating norms

Which of the following situations best describes crime trends in the United States?

rates of violent and nonviolent crimes are decreasing

Positive sanctions

rewards given for conforming to norms

Sutherland's Nine Points

riminal behavior is learned. Criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons in a process of communication. The principal part of the learning of criminal behavior occurs within intimate personal groups. When criminal behavior is learned, the learning includes techniques of committing the crime (which are sometimes very complicated, sometimes simple) and the specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes. The specific direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal codes as favorable or unfavorable. A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of law over definitions unfavorable to violation of the law. Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity. The process of learning criminal behavior by association with criminal and anti-criminal patterns involves all of the mechanisms that are involved in any other learning. While criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those needs and values, since non-criminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and values.

The owner of an auto repair shop has the socially acceptable goal of providing a nice home and other material comforts for his family, but increasingly lacks enough business income to make this a reality. Eventually an acquaintance makes him aware that he could supplement his legitimate income by trafficking in stolen car parts through his shop. This discrepancy between socially approved goals and potentially deviant means of attaining them can be explained by________.

robert merton's strain theory

Formal Sanctions

sanctions that are officially recognized and enforced

Informal sanctions

sanctions that occur in face-to-face interactions

According to C. Wright Mills, which of the following people is most likely to be a member of the power elite?

senator

Deviant Subcultures

several theories that posit poverty and other community conditions give rise to certain subcultures through which adolescents acquire values that promote deviant behavior

Which theory indicates that those individuals who believe they are a part of society are less likely to commit crimes against it?

social control theory

Societies practice social control to maintain ________.

social order

________ focus less on deviant behavior itself, and more on society's reaction to it.

symbolic interactionists

What is a disadvantage of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)?

the NCVS may be unable to reach important groups, such as those without phones

Twin myths of rape

the first myth is that women are untrustworthy and tend to lie about assault out of malice toward men, as a way of getting back at them for personal grievances and the second myth is that women will say "no" to sexual relations when they really mean "yes"

Labeling theory

the idea that the ascribing of a deviant behavior to another person by members of society affects how a person self-identifies and behaves; related to self-fulfilling prophecy

Sanctions

the means of enforcing rules

A convicted sex offender is released on parole and arrested two weeks later for repeated sexual crimes. How would labeling theory explain this?

the offender has been labeled deviant by society and has accepted a new master status

Sociologist C. Wright Mills argued that ________ was a small group of wealthy and influential people at the top of society who disproportionately control power and resources. For example wealthy executives, politicians, celebrities, and military leaders often go unpunished for deviant acts.

the power elite

The fact that many prominent celebrities accused of sexual assault are not prosecuted or held responsible for their behavior is supported by C. Wright Mills' concept that they are members of the ________, who disproportionately control power and resources.

the power elite

Social control

the regulation and enforcement of norms

Correction system

the system tasked with supervising individuals who have been arrested for, convicted of, or sentenced for criminal offenses

Spousal abuse is an example of a ________.

violent crime

Corporate crimes are ________ .

white collar crimes committed in a business environment