SOC CH 6
What is a criticism of for-profit, privately-owned prisons?
The rate of incarceration rates overlaps with an increase in private prisons.
What might a conflict theorist conclude about deviance if an upper-middle-class, white college student is sentenced to rehab for the same drug crime that a lower-class, black man is sentenced to jail for committing?
The rules are applied unequally and those with power or influence are punished much less harshly.
Which of the following statements helps describe how Jack Katz's book Seductions of Crime explained deviance in a new way?
The social science literature contains only scattered evidence of what it means, feels, sounds, tastes, or looks like to commit a particular crime.
Robert Merton's structural strain theory sees deviance as the result of a person's position in a social structure. What do you think Jack Katz, author of Seductions of Crime, would say about structural strain theory?
A focus on social position fails to consider the emotional appeal that a deviant act has for an individual.
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
_____ is/are the violation of a norm that has been codified into law.
Crime
Which of the following describes how deviance can be explained from the functionalist perspective?
Deviance clarifies moral boundaries and affirms norms.
What is one reason imprisonment was such a rare type of punishment before the nineteenth century?
Earlier societies did not have sufficient resources to operate prisons.
What evidence shows that the number of women who commit crimes is related to social structure?
Female arrest rates have increased as women have more presence in the labor market
According to labeling theory, why were none of the pseudo-patients in David Rosenhan's "On Being Sane in Insane Places" discovered?
It is difficult for anyone to see past the label once a person has been labeled "mentally ill."
The Amish have neither the resources nor the desire to use prison as a sanction against members of their community who violate the rules. What sanction do they use instead?
Meidung or shunning is used, which is a process whereby community members will not associate with a rule breaker for a set period of time.
Which of the following is true regarding prison as a mechanism for punishing crime?
Prison was rarely used before the nineteenth century.
What does a Padaung woman who uses brass rings to stretch her neck illustrate about deviance?
The definition of deviance is relative and varies according to culture.
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.
When studying deviance, sociologists often focus on the most obvious and extreme forms of deviant behavior. What are the consequences of this approach?
The values and norms of the powerful are left unexamined while the deviance of the poor is scrutinized.
Why might teenagers shoplift according to Jack Katz's Seductions of Crime?
They want the thrill of getting away with breaking the rules.
What happened to the pseudo-patients in David Rosenhan's "On Being Sane in Insane Places"?
They were all finally released, but their "illnesses" were considered "in remission."
Who proposed social control theory, which suggests that individuals who have stronger bonds are LESS likely to commit crime?
Travis Hirschi
The vast majority of crimes come to the attention of the police in response to citizen complaints. Citizens do not usually bother to inform the authorities if they do not think a crime is serious enough or feel that nothing can be done. This means that there might be serious bias in the
Uniform Crime Report.
Which factor makes sociologists question the relationship between youth and crime?
Young people may commit crimes that are more visible and, therefore, are arrested more often.
What did Robert Merton call a prediction that came true only because the prediction was made?
a self-fulfilling prophecy
Which of the following actions would be an example of in-group orientation?
a woman writes on her social media, "I am black, trans, and proud!"
What is the Uniform Crime Report (UCR)?
an official measure of crime in the United States
Stealing avocados or almost any other agricultural product is a felony in California if the product is worth more than $100. A ________ would say that such laws target homeless people who have little power in society and are simply trying to eat.
conflict theorist
Which kind of theory would say that the rules are different for the rich than they are for the poor, making deviant behavior almost unavoidable for people in the poor and working classes?
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
Traditionally, most of the sociological literature on deviance focuses on
crime.
What do we call norm violations that are codified into law?
crimes
Some people utilize social media as an enhanced form of condescending attacks known a
cyberbullying
Almost any ________ can have a stigmatizing effect, including a physical disability or a battle with addiction or mental illness.
departure from the norm
The idea that individuals learn to be deviant by interacting with others who are already deviant is called
differential association theory.
When a crime targets people based on race, sexual orientation, religion, gender, national origin, or disability status, it is classified as a(n)
hate crime
There are several ways in which gays and lesbians in the United States have chosen to manage their stigma. When gay rights activists chant the slogan, "We're here, we're queer, get used to it," what strategy are they using?
in-group orientation
According to Erving Goffman, stigmatized individuals who do not believe that they should have to change or conceal their identities to make "normal" people more comfortable have
in-group orientation.
Robert Merton's typology of deviance outlines the strain that people experience as they attempt to access cultural goals through legitimate, institutionalized means. In which of the following categories would gangsters and con artists be found?
innovation
Rosa Parks broke a law by refusing to give up her seat on a bus for a white man. Ultimately, this act was a pivotal moment in the launch of the civil rights movement. Rosa Parks's refusal to move to the back of the bus is an example of
positive deviance
Some Americans are angry about the number of immigrants who enter the country every year. An adherent of structural functionalism would argue that this anger
promotes social cohesion among nonimmigrants as they come together and label immigrants as outsiders.
Conflict theorists assert that it is the imbalance of power that leads to deviance, and the more powerful in a society are able to criminalize behavior through the use of norms, rules, and laws. This process is a form of what?
social control
When sociologists refer to an act as deviant, they are making a _____ judgment, not a _____ judgment.
social; moral
W. I. Thomas famously argued that if people define situations as real, then
they are real in their consequences.
Which of the following would sociologists consider the best definition of deviance?
violations of social norms
Some subcultures have adopted branding as a form of body art, though it is no longer used as a form of punishment in the United States. This demonstrates that
what is considered deviant changes over time.
Under what circumstances does a deviant label transition from primary to secondary deviance?
when the deviant label is internalized
What kind of person investigates the following questions: Who makes laws? Who breaks laws? Who benefits from designing and enforcing laws? How do individuals begin committing crimes? What are the intentions of law enforcement institutions?
criminologist
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.
