Sociology Exam 2
Cybercrime
crime committed via the internet, including identity theft, embezzlement, fraud, sexual predation, and financial scams
Asch experiment
experimented how people would rather conform than state their own individual answer even though they know the group's answer is wrong
Group think
in very cohesive groups, the tendency to enforce a high degree of conformity among members, creating a demand for unanimous agreement
Nature vs. Nurture
name for a controversy in which it is debated whether genetics or environment is responsible for driving behavior - "Heredity gives us basic potential, but it's primarily our social environment that determines whether we realize or fall short of that potential" - "Genetics are conditioned by social experiences"
Total institutions
institutions in which individuals are cut off from the rest of society so that they can be controlled and regulated for the purpose of systematically stripping away previous roles and identities in order to create new ones (mental asylums, concentration camps, etc.)
Role-taking emotions
Able to see things from someone else's point of view
Conformity
Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard, Accepts Institutional means and cultural goals
Consequential stranger
An acquaintance who is not a friend but still has an impact on an adult's life is called a(n):
Innovation
An improvement of an existing technological product, system, or method of doing something, Accepts Cultural goals
Differential association
An interpretation of the development of criminal behavior proposed by Edwin H. Sutherland, according to whom criminal behavior is learned through association with others who regularly engage in crime
Stigma
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
Group
Collection of at least 2 people; share some attribute, identify with one another, have ongoing social relationships
Aggregate
Collections of people who share a physical location but do not have lasting social relations
Merton's strain theory
Conflict between cultural goals and means
White collar crime
Crime committed by a high status individual during their occupation (benefits the corporation= corporate crime)
Specilization
Devolopment of skills in a specific kind of work
formal written communication
Documents such as memos are the heart of the organization and the most effective way to communicate.
Functionalism in deviance(Durkheim)
Dysfunction: tension and insecurity, erode trust, costly Functions: affirms cultural norms and values, social unity, improves economy, triggers social change
Why isn't corporate crime punished?
Employers don't want scandal, crimes go undetected, complex in nature
Emotional labor
Evoking, suppressing, or otherwise managing feelings to create a publicly observable display of emotions
Most common type of property crime
Larceny, burglary, motor vehicle theft
Bureaucracies
Large administrative agencies reflecting a hierarchical authority, job specialization, and rules and regulations that drive them
Secondary groups
Larger than primary groups; less intimate/more formal; specific goal; temporary
Gendered nature of crime
Men tend to commit more crime
Primary groups
Most important to our sense of self; face to face interaction; cooperation; belonging
Consequences of social isolation
Neglect can cause irreversible damage, feral children
Organized crime
Organizations that provide illegal goods and services
Status
Positions that comes with a set of expectations
Feeling rules
Socially constructed norms regarding appropriate feelings and displays of emotions
Written rules of conduct
Specified and explicit rules
McDonaldization (Ritzer)
Spread of bureaucratic rationalization and the accompanying increase in efficacy and dehumanization
Crowd
Temporary gathering of people in a public place; members might interact but do not identify with each other and will not remain in contact
Ritualism
The rejection of cultural goals but a rigid adherence to the legitimate means of achieving them, accepts institutional means
technical competence
The term to describe how bureaucracies expect officials to be able to carry out their official duties; bureaucracies regularly monitor the performance of their staff members.
Social disorganization theory
The theory that attributes increases in crime and deviance to the absence or breakdown of communal relationships and social institutions, such as the family, school, church, and local government
Weak ties
Ties characterized by less frequent interaction and often do not have as much emotional attachment, but they are also easier to maintain, and therefore people can have more of them.
UCR
Uniform Crime Report
Effects of social media
Your personal social media can help or hurt your career, some people are harassed or can feel isolated as a result
hierarchy of authority
a clear chain of command found in a bureaucracy
hate crimes
a crime motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice, typically one involving violence.
Stereotype threat
a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype
Out group
a social group toward which a person feels a sense of competition or opposition, feel hostility towards
Looking glass self
a term coined by Charles Horton Cooley to refer to the process by which our self develops through internalizing others' reactions to us
Positive deviance
actions considered deviant within a given context but are later reinterpreted as appropriate or even heroic
War on drugs
actions taken by U.S. state and federal governments that are intended to curb the illegal drug trade and reduce drug use
victimless crime
activities against the law, but that do not result in injury to any individual other than the person who engages in them
self-fulfilling prophecy
an expectation that causes you to act in ways that make that expectation come true.
Back stage
area of social interaction away from the view of an audience, where people can rehearse and rehash their behavior
Front stage
area of social interaction where people perform and work to maintain appropriate impressions
Rebellion
open defiance of authority, Can reject and accept institutional means and cultural goals
Impression management
people's efforts to control the impressions that others receive of them
agents of socialization
social institutions, including families and schools, that help to shape individuals' basic political beliefs and values (peers, media, etc.)
Social networks
social relationships among people with common interests; Ties connecting people to one another; most are homogenous
Deterrence
the attempt to discourage criminality through the use of punishment
Primary deviance
the first act of rule breaking that may incur a label of "deviant" and thus influence how people think about and act toward you
Labeling theory
the idea that deviance and conformity result not so much from what people do as from how others respond to those actions
Personal front
the performance tactics we use to present ourselves to others, including appearance, costume, and manner
Resocialization
the process of learning new norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors
Impersonality
the removal of personal feelings from a professional situation
Bureaucratic organization traits
- specialization - technical competence - hierarchy of authority - impersonality - written rules of conduct - formal written of communication
Reasons for crime decreases in the 90s
3 strikes laws, mandatory sentencing and plea bargaining, war on drugs
mandatory sentencing
A structured sentencing scheme that allows no leeway in the nature of the sentence required and under which clearly enumerated punishments are mandated for specific offenses or for habitual offenders convicted of a series of crimes.
In group
Feel loyalty towards
Social influence
Group impact on others' decisions
Conflict theory
Powerful groups create laws; those at the top are subject to different rules and sanctions
Retreatism
Rejects institutional means and cultural goals
tertiary deviance
Rejects the notion of deviance and redefines their deviance attributes as normal
Deviance avowal
Self identifies as deviant and initiates their own labeling process; helps avoid the pressure of adopting conventional norms
Role
Set of behaviors expected from a particular status
Expressions
Small actions that serve as an intersectional tool to help project our definition of the situation (eye roll, head nod, etc.)
Stereotype promise
a phenomenon where being viewed through the lens of a positive stereotype may lead one to perform in such a way that confirms the positive stereotype, thereby enhancing performance
Role conflict
conflict among the roles connected to two or more statuses
Role strain
conflicts that someone feels within a role
Reference groups
groups of people with whom one compares oneself; standards of evaluation
3 strikes laws
significantly increases the prison sentences of persons convicted of a felony who have been previously convicted of two or more violent crimes or serious felonies, and limits the ability of these offenders to receive a punishment other than a life sentence.
Secondary deviance
subsequent acts of rule breaking that occur after primary deviance and as a result of your new deviant label and people's expectations of you