Sociology Chpt. 6 Quiz

India and Michael are neighbors in a run-down area of Sun City. Vandalism and burglaries are pretty common in their neighborhood. They are also college classmates working toward a criminal justice degree. In one of their sociology classes they learn about a theory of deviance and crime that motivates them to try and clean up their own community in an effort to deter criminal activity. India and Michael come up with a plan to present to their city alderman to ask for city council support and - hopefully - funding. They then set to work to schedule a community clean-up day with a goal to clean up garbage in the area, fix broken playground equipment, and clean graffiti off of public spaces. They are also asking the city to enforce the ordinance that any abandoned and/or unlicensed vehicles must be removed from properties. Which theory is most likely the theory motivating their ideas?

Broken windows theory

Research on suicide in the U.S. shows that African Americans have the highest suicide rates, likely due to the oppression they have experienced for generations.

False

Warren grew up in a poor neighborhood in Detroit. The school system in his area was poorly funded and had a high drop-out rate, with fewer than 50% of students successfully graduating from high school. Even though he lived in a high poverty area, Warren was socialized to want the American Dream and all that it stood for - money, success, nice cars, beautiful home - but could not see himself achieving those dreams through education and work. None of his friends made it past the 8th grade. Everyone he knew was unemployed because there just weren't enough jobs available, and those that were available paid barely minimum wage, not enough to survive let alone allow someone to climb the ladder of success. Warren made the choice to join a local gang to earn money stealing cars and car parts, seeing it as a much more viable path to success and achieving his goals. Warren's decision can best be explained by

Merton's strain theory.

______________ refers to deviant acts one commits after adopting a deviant label as a result of a primary deviant act.

Secondary deviance

White collar crime has a greater financial impact than street crime.

T

Any violation of an established social norm is known as

a crime.

Janice completed her college degree and got a new job at a corporation in accounts receivable after working for years at a fast-food restaurant. In her new entry-level position, she learned she had access to cash coming into the company that was not closely monitored by any other employee. As her employer put it, they trusted Janice and did not see a need for checks and balances because she seemed very dependable. Janice, however, saw this as an opportunity to embezzle funds - a little at first, but as she learned she could get away with it, it became more and more over time. When she was finally caught, she had embezzled over $800,000. Janice committed

a white-collar crime

Angelo had to write an essay for his criminology class that analyzed, among other things, the crime rates in Texas, his home state. When Angelo began searching for data and statistics to discuss the crime rates in Texas, he learned that

crime rate statistics are difficult to determine for sure because exact crime rate statistics are nearly impossible to gather.

Robert was short on cash and had bills due in a week. If he didn't make up the difference between the money he had and the money he needed to pay his bills, he was going to be evicted from his apartment and would have nowhere to live. His friend Fred offered to bring him on a deal to transport drugs to make extra money, enough to not only pay his bills but enough extra to pay next month's bills too. It was a lot of cash, but he also had to weigh the costs of what would happen if he got caught. Robert decided not to transport the drugs because being evicted was not nearly as bad as ending up in prison for years of his life. Robert's actions could best be described by

deterrence theory.

American women in the 1950s and 1960s were at a higher risk of _________ suicide due to too much social regulation and control.

fatalistic

Tess, Jerry, and Elizabeth went to lunch at an upscale café in Chicago. They would typically lunch at Subway or Jimmy John's but decided they wanted a new experience. While at lunch, Elizabeth let out a loud curse word when she burnt her mouth on the soup, which sent Tess and Jerry into a fit of laughter. The other patrons of the café glared at the trio of friends and their server quickly came over and asked them to quiet down and be respectful of the other guests. These actions by the server and others at the café would be considered

informal social sanctions.

Janetta was a sophomore in high school when she was caught stealing money from vending machines in the school cafeteria. Janetta's punishment included a five-day suspension, and it wasn't long before everyone in the school knew what had happened. Most of the teachers and many of the students were whispering behind Janetta's back and spreading even more rumors. Janetta had hoped that the summer break would end the rumors and suspicion and she could start her junior year with a clean slate, but unfortunately for Janetta the rumors continued bigger than before. Even though Janetta knew she had only stolen the money to help her family because they had not been able to buy groceries for a week, she began to think of herself as a bad person. To cope, Janetta started smoking weed. We can best understand Janetta's progression from one criminal activity to the next through the perspective of

labeling theory, because her action of primary deviance (stealing) led to negative labels which then led to secondary deviance (drugs).

The _________ rate is the best statistic we have available to indicate the rate of crime in general.

murder

According to the labeling theory of deviance, who creates deviance?

social groups

A negative social label that can alter a person's self-concept as well as others' behaviors toward that person is known as _________.

stigma

Sociologist Devah Pager's research revealed that the __________ of race and a criminal history can interfere in one's employment opportunities.

stigma