Soci 100 - Homework - Chapter 6. Social Control and Deviance

An educator, disgusted with standardized testing and teaching methods, decides to start a charter school that doesn't give students grades and encourages creative thinking over rote learning. How would Robert Merton's strain theory of deviance classify this character?

as a rebel

rehabilitative

to transform the wrongdoer into a productive member of society

Place the events of The Stanford Prison Experiment (Zimbardo, 1971) in chronological order.

1. volunteers were assigned roles as guards or prisoners and given corresponding uniforms and duties 2. a day pass without incident 3. the prisoners staged a revolt that lasted several days 4. guards subjected prisoners to various forms of humiliation and abuse 5. the experiment was ended after less than half its planned duration

Egoistic

Albert has no friends and does not feel any emotional connection with his coworkers or even with his own family members. He kills himself because he does not see any point in continuing with his life.

Fatalistic

Carlotta, sentenced to life in prison for a crime she did not commit, and unable to stand the unvarying daily routine of prison life, hangs herself with a bed sheet.

Altruistic

Dan, a lieutenant in the Marines, is disciplined and then discharged for leadership mistakes in battle that led to the death of two soldiers in his platoon. Despondent about the deaths of the soldiers and the loss of his military career, he kills himself a few months after his discharge.

Identify the examples of what Durkheim hypothesizes will happen over time as a society becomes more and more fully modern in character.

Examples: -one may expect the death penalty to entirely disappear -the ratio of organic to mechanical social sanctions will increase Not Examples: -the pendulum will swing back toward more use of mechanical social sanctions -a formal system of courts will be replaced by a system of information mediation -mechanical social sanctions will be eliminated.

Identify what urban theorist Jane Jacobs includes as part of the eyes and ears of the street.

Included: -kids playing on the sidewalk, keeping watch for a parent's return from work -a shopkeeper writing down the license plate numbers of cars driving too fast Not Included: -a gang member acting as lookout while someone else conducts a drug deal -a surveillance camera monitoring the alley behind a hardware store

A psychology experiment (Rosenhan, 1973) applied labeling theory to the diagnosis of schizophrenia in a psychiatric setting. Identify the results of this experiment.

Results: -an initial diagnosis of schizophrenia tended to color the medical staff's interpretation of patients' later behaviors -patients initially diagnosed with schizophrenia were kept under observation for an average of almost 3 weeks, despite behaving normally all that time Not Results: -patients diagnosed with schizophrenia tended to be treated with suspicion and hostility by both medical staff and other patients -after an initial diagnosis of schizophrenia, a change in behavior did not lead to any change in the official diagnosis

retreatist

rejects both socially acceptable goals and the means to achieve the goals, and does not participate in society

rebel

rejects both socially acceptable goals and the means to achieve the goals, and wants to change or destroy the social order

Which of the following is a good example of a total institution?

the military

innovator

embraces socially acceptable goals but rejects the means to achieve those goals

ritualist

embraces socially acceptable means but rejects the goal

What, in broad terms, is the definition of social deviance?

modes of action that do not conform to the norms or values held by most members of the group or society

Emile Durkheim

offered a functionalist theory of the causes of suicide

In labeling theory, what is the difference between primary and secondary deviance?

secondary deviance is an eventual effect of primary deviance, where deviance begins

In 1757, Robert-François Damien was put to death for trying to assassinate Louis XV. What, for Foucault, is especially significant about the manner of Damien's execution?

the torture inflicted on Damien's body, especially his right hand with which he tried to stab the king

Using labeling theory, place in order from first to last the stages by which a student, named Evan, might come to assume the role of social deviant.

1. Evan is late for school twice in one week. 2. The school principal publicly calls Evan a truant. 3. Evan's teachers and friends start to treat him as a troublemaker. 4. Evan comes to think of himself as a rule breaker. 5. Evan's behavior reflects his view of himself as a rule breaker.

Foucault draws several contrasts between premodern and modern penal practices: where premodern practice targets the _____1_____, modern practice targets the _____2_____; where premodern practice is _____3_____, modern practice is _____4_____; and where premodern practice is about _____5_____, modern practice is about _____6_____.

1. body 2. soul 3. punitive 4. reformative 5. spectacle 6. surveillance

According to deterrence theory, crime occurs because people make a(n) _____1_____ regarding the _____2_____ and _____3_____ of crime. Based on this theory, programs that monitor former _____4_____ are meant to prevent _____5_____.

1. rational calculation 2. costs 3. benefits 4.criminals 5. recidivism

Identify the likely applications of the broken windows theory of social deviance.

Applications: -graffiti-proofing walls with a wash-off coating -a crackdown on petty crime, like drinking in public Not Applications: -long mandatory prison terms for violent felonies -additional community centers with activities for at-risk youth

Anomic

Bernice became wealthy almost overnight as a result of extremely lucky financial investments. She quit her job, spent lavishly on gifts for friends, family, and associates, but finds it impossible to settle into a new, happy, routine. Instead, feeling increasingly disoriented and adrift, she deliberately overdoses on sedatives.

Identify the examples of how the deviant member of a society ends up contributing to the strengthening of the social fabric, according to Conley.

Examples: -the deviant member publicly reminds everyone of the line between what is acceptable and what is not -the other members of the group join together in order to punish and/or rehabilitate the offender Not Examples: -by challenging the establish order, the deviant member stimulates other to think creatively and to break out of settled routines

Identify the factors that make someone a social deviant, according to Robert Merton.

Factors: -not recognizing or not accepting socially approved goals -failure to recognize and accept socially approved means of achieving one's goals Not Factors: -being either much less or much more successful at achieving one's goals than the average person -having unusual or atypical beliefs about how society should operate

Identify the distinguishing features of a symbolic interactionist theory of social deviance.

Features: -a recognition of the impact of assigning labels to behaviors and to people -a focus on individual psychology rather than the social dynamics of large populations Not Features: -a search for the functional importance of a person's behavior in relation to the rest of the social group

Identify each behavioral sanction as either formal or informal.

Formal: -a parent explains to a child that the law requires kids to go to school -a police officer directs traffic near the venue of a major sporting event Informal: -an adult scowls and shakes her head at a child, not hers, playing roughly in a store aisle with toys pulled off the shelves -a paramedic shouts at a patient to slow down in the hospital parking lot

Identify the functions of the Youth Control Complex, according to sociologist Victor Rios in the video interview with Dalton Conley.

Functions: -to punish young people -to stigmatize young people -to criminalize young people Not Functions: -to nurture young people -to indoctrinate young people

The graph shows the number of persons executed in the United States each year from 1976 to 2015, and also the racial breakdown. Based on this information, what can be said about Durkheim's views on modern versus premodern punishment?

The graph suggests that the death penalty has more staying power than Durkheim would have expected.

Howard S. Becker

applied labeling theory to the question how deviance begins

Erving Goffman

applied social interactionist theory to the dynamics of total institutions

Robert Merton

developed strain theory as a functionalist account of social deviance

conformist

embraces socially acceptable goals and the means to achieve those goals

punitive

to enact vengeance on the wrongdoer

restitutive

to restore the status quo that existed before the offense