SOC 100 Ch 6
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 Merton's strain theory of deviance classify this character?
A rebel
Identify examples of general crime deterrence.
A state legislature passes a law turning a certain crime that was a misdemeanor into a felony; technology to remotely deactivate a stolen smartphone is made widely available
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
What are the likely applications of the broken windows theory of social deviance?
A crackdown on petty crime, like drinking in public; graffiti-proofing walls with a wash-off coating
Identify examples of specific crime deterrence.
A drunk driver is required to tell her parole officer where she will be on the weekend; a professional burglar is sentenced to eight years in prison after his second conviction
What are the distinguishing features of a symbolic interactionist theory of social deviance?
A focus on individual psychology rather than the social dynamics of large populations; a recognition of the impact of assigning labels to behaviors and to people
According to Durkheim, altruistic suicide would be most likely in...
A new age cult in which members live, work, and socialize only with one another
Examples of informal behavioral sanctions
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 parametic shouts at a patient to slow down in the hospital parking lot.
According to Durkheim, egoistic suicide would be most likely in...
An urban setting with few community or religious institutions and little contact between neighbors
Howard S Becker
Applied labeling theory to the question how deviance begins
Erving Goffman
Applied social interactionist theory to the dynamics of total institutions
Foucault draws several contrasts between premodern and modern penal practices: where premodern practice targets the ___, modern practice targets the ___; where premodern practice is ___, modern practice is ___; and where premodern practice is about ___, modern practice is about ___.
Body; soul; punitive; reformative; spectacle; surveillance
Robert Merton
Developed strain theory as a functionalist account of social deviance
Merton's conformist
Embraces socially acceptable goals and the means to achieve those goals
Merton's ritualist
Embraces socially acceptable means but rejects the goals
Merton's innovator
Embrances socially acceptable goals but rejects the means to achieve those goals
Using labeling theory, place in order from first to last the stages by which a student might come to assume the role of social deviant.
Evan is late for school twice in one week; the school principal publicly calls Evan a truant; Evan's teachers and friends start to treat him as a troublemaker; Evan comes to think of himself as a rule breaker; Evan's behavior reflects his view of himself as a rule breaker
Identify examples of mechanical solidarity.
Exiling a lawbreaker from the community; having a lawbreaker physically punished in a public forum
Based on Marc Ramirez's criticism of the criminal justice system, identify examples of prison reforms he would likely approve.
Expanding visiting hours in prisons; providing job training programs; providing greater access to counseling programs, before and after release from prison
What, according to Rios, is the effect of having police officers on duty in schools and community centers?
It increases the number of kids that become criminals
What is the order of the chain of events that results from increased police presence in areas?
More police are sent to troubled areas; the arrest rate rises; more members of the neighborhood are convicted and incarcerated; convicts released from prison have a hard time finding jobs; unable to find legitimate employment, ex-convicts return to crime; again, the corresponding statistics go up
Identify the factors that make someone a social deviant, according to Robert Merton.
Not recognizing or not accepting socially approved goals, failure to recognize and accept socially approved means of achieving one's goals
Emile Durkheim
Offered a functionalist theory to the causes of suicide
Identify principles of modern schemes of social cohesion.
Organic solidarity; interdependence of parts; specialization of function
A psychology experiment applied labeling theory to the diagnosis of schizophrenia in a psychiatric setting. Identify the results of this experiment.
Patients initially diagnosed with schizophrenia were kept under observation for an average of almost 3 weeks, despite behaving normally all that time; an initial diagnosis of schizophrenia tended to color the medical staff's interpretation of patients' later behaviors
According to deterrence theory, crime occurs because people make a ___ regarding the ___ and ___ of crime. Based on this theory, programs that monitor former ___ are meant to prevent ___.
Rational calculation; costs; benefits; criminals; recidivism
Merton's retreatist
Rejects both socially acceptable goals and the means to achieve the goals, and does not participate in society
Merton's rebel
Rejects both socially acceptable goals and the means to achieve the goals, and wants to change or destroy the social order
What is the difference between primary and secondary deviance?
Secondary deviance is an eventual effect of primary deviance, where deviance begins
Identify examples of organic solidarity.
Sentencing a lawbreaker to a mental health facility; forcing a lawbreaker to perform community service
Identify principles of premodern schemes of social cohesion.
Similarity of parts; mechanical or segmental solidarity; sameness of function
Identify the functions of social sanctions according to Durkheim.
Social sanctions bring people together as they act to deal with offenders; social sanctions reinforce the boundaries of acceptable behavior.
Identify the circumstances in which crimes are more likely to be reported
The aftermath of a media campaign about the risk high crime rates can create for vulnerable members of society; a college campus where administrators have advertised multiple ways to report crimes and encourage community members to come forward; a quiet neighborhood where crimes rarely occur
Identify the examples of how the deviant member of a society ends up contributing to the strengthening of the social fabric, according to Conley.
The deviant member publicly reminds everyone of the line between what is acceptable and what is not; the other members
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
What are the examples of what Durkheim hypothesizes will happen over time as a society becomes more and more fully modern in character?
The ratio of organic to mechanical social sanctions will increase; one may expect the death penalty to entirely disappear
Identify the functions of the Youth Control Complex, according to Victor Rios.
To criminalize, stigmatize, and punish young people
Examples of formal behavioral sanctions.
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
Identify what urban theorist Jane Jacobs includes as part of "the eyes and ears of the street."
A shopkeeper writing down the license plate numbers of cars driving too fast; kids playing on the sidewalk, keeping watch for a parent's return from work
Identify the elements of the broken windows theory of deviance
Deviance is a self-reinforcing spiral; deviance is a response to social context and local cues
Punitive social sanction
To enact vengeance on the wrongdoer
Restitutive social sanction
To restore the status quo that existed before the offense
Rehabilitative social sanction
To transform the wrongdoer into a productive member of society
