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