Ch. 7: Deviance and Crime Flashcards
What is deviance?
Behavior that is recognized as violating expected rules and norms
What is the difference between formal and informal deviance?
Formal deviance is associated with laws and official rules, while informal deviance regards customary norms
How does deviance uphold social norms?
It is often publically punished in some way, confirming social standards
What is the Medicalization of Deviance?
When people think that others with deviant behavior are “sick” and must be “cured” through psychological treatment
What is the issue with medicalizing deviance?
It ignores the effects of social structures on deviant behavior.
What is deviant identity?
The definition a person has of himself or herself as a deviant.
What is a stigma?
An attribute that is socially devalued and discredited.
What is a deviant career?
Continuing to be labeled as deviant even after the initial deviance may have ceased.
What are deviant communities?
Groups that are organized around particular forms of social deviance.
What is crime?
Deviant behavior that violates laws
Define criminology.
The scientific study of crime and criminal behavior.
What are personal crimes?
Violent or nonviolent crimes directed against people
What are property crimes?
Crimes that involve theft of property without threat of bodily harm
What are hate crimes?
An assault or other malicious act motivated by various forms of bias, such as race
What is human trafficking?
Compelling or coercing a person to engage in some form of labor, service, or commercial sex
What is gender-based violence?
Various forms of violence associated with unequal power relationships between men and women.
What is cybercrime?
Illegal activites that take place through the use of computers.
What is white-collar crime?
Criminal activites by people of high social status in the context of their occupation
What is organized crime?
Crime committed by structured groups typically involving the provision of illegal goods and services to others.
What is terrorism?
The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.
What is racial profiling?
The use of race alone as a criterion for deciding whether to stop and detain someone on suspicion of having committed a crime
According to Drukheim, what are the 4 types of suicide?
Anomie, altrusistic, egoistic, and fatalistic
What is anomic suicide?
The type of suicide occurring when there are disintegrating forces in the society that make individuals feel lost or alone.
What is altruistic suicide?
The type of suicide that can occur when there is excessive regulation of individuals by social forces
What is egoistic suicide?
The type of suicide that occurs when people feel totally detached from society.
What is fatalistic suicide?
Suicide that occurs when there is complete overregulation of people in society.
Describe structural strain theory.
Deviance originates from tensions that exist in society between cultural goals and the means people have to achieve those goals.
Describe social control theory.
Deviance is the result of the weakening of social bonds.
What are the 4 dimensions of social control theory according to Hirschi?
Attachment, committment, involvement, and belief
What is an issue with the functionalism approach to crime and deviance?
It doesn’t explain how norms of deviance are first established.
What do conflict theorists have to say about crime and deviance?
Groups who have access to fewer resources are forced into crime to sustain themselves.
What are social control agents?
Those who regulate and administer the response to deviance
What is an issue with conflict theory’s approach to crime and deviance?
It has more difficulty in explaining all types of deviance.
Describe differential association theory.
Deviance is behavior one learns through interaction with others.
What is an issue with differential association theory?
It overlooks the deviance that occues in the middle-class culture and among elites.
Describe labeling theory.
The responses of others is the most significant thing in understanding deviant behavior.
What is a label?
The assignment or attachment of a deviant identity to a person by others
What is the issue with labeling theory?
It doesn’t explain why deviance occurs in the first place.
