Chapter 2

Question 1

When did the first scientific study of criminals emerge?

Answer 1

• Cesare Lombroso’s explanation of criminality on evolution
• Suggested that criminals were atavists (evolutionary throwbacks whose biology prevented them from conforming to society’s rules, heritable traits)
• Described them as people with asymmetrical faces, large jaws and ears, long arms = stigmata

Question 2

What are positivist theories? What “subtheories” does it include?

Answer 2

• Theories that attempt to explain the causes of behaviour
• Largely objective theories (rest of the chapter is objective, positivist theories)
• Seek generalizable, universally applicable laws for the SOCIAL environment
• Coupled with efforts at social control to prevent others from becoming deviant - pursue a better society
• Includes functionalist, learning, and social control theories

Question 3

What are functionalist theories? What are its assumptions? What are the five functionalist theories?

Answer 3

• Positivist theories that explain the causes of behaviour in terms of the various structures that fulfill important functions in society
  Assumptions:
• Society comprises various structures, each of which fulfills necessary functions for smooth running of social order
• Rules that make up social order are based on consensus, since these are typically functional (i.e., contribute to social order) need to understand why some people break the rules so that order can be restored
  Five functionalist theories:
• Anomie theory, anomie and strain theory, differential opportunity theory, general strain theory, and status frustration theory

Question 4

What are manifest and latent (dys)functions?

Answer 4

• Manifest functions = functions that are intended to be fulfilled by society’s structures (recognized functions)
• Latent functions = Functions that are unintentionally served by society’s structures (unrecognized functions)
• Latent functions can be functional (unite people, social solidarity - e.g., through criminal justice system) or dysfunctional (unequally shared between races and classes - negative for society)

Question 5

What is anomie theory? Who is its founder?

Answer 5

• Emile Durkheim
• Anomie theory states that a certain amount of deviance is functional for society (increases social solidarity, helps determine moral boundaries - see rules and consequences for breaking, tests society’s boundaries - helps change rules that no longer work, reduces societal tensions - blame scapegoat for societal problem to remove pressure from society at large OR defuse societal tension by engaging in minor deviant acts to let off steam)
• Beyond optimal level, deviance becomes dysfunctional and anomie (normlessness) emerges
• Rapid social change creates anomie
• The structure of society creates deviance

Question 6

In anomie theory, how does letting off steam through minor acts of deviance cause individuals to return to acceptable roles in society?

Answer 6

• Socialization (deviant actors who are letting off steam have internalized society’s rules enough to return to legitimate social roles)
• Profit (teaches citizens that there is payoff/benefit accorded to those who follow rules)
• Coercion (punishment for those who do not return to legitimate social roles)

Question 7

What is the difference between mechanical and organic solidarity in anomie theory?

Answer 7

• Mechanical solidarity = People are bonded together through their similarities to one another, a collective commitment to conformity)
• Organic solidarity = Society is bonded together by difference or interdependence through highly specialized division of labour, causing more impersonal interactions

Question 8

What did Durkheim notice about deviance and industrialization in 19th century? What is social integration and moral regulation? What do these have to do with anomie theory?

Answer 8

• Industrialization and urbanization were causing more deviance, due to increased emphasis on individuality
• Social integration = Level of cohesion or social bonds in society
• Moral regulation = Enforcement of society’s norms
• Less social integration and less moral regulation led to increased deviance

Question 9

What is Merton’s anomie and strain theory? What are institutionalized goals and legitimate means?

Answer 9

• Suggested that deviance originates not just from the individual, but also from the structure of society, which propels some people into deviance
• Institutionalized goals: Goals that are culturally exalted, including wealth, power, and prestige
• Legitimate means: Socially acceptable ways of attaining legitimate goals in society
• Anomie results when there society’s institutionalized goals are emphasized more than the legitimate means of attaining them (“deinstitutionalization of the means”)

Question 10

What are anomie and strain in Merton’s anomie strain theory?

Answer 10

• Anomie: Results when goals become more important than means
• Strain: Structural gap between the goals and the means

Question 11

What are the modes of adaptation in anomie and strain theory?

Answer 11

• Conformity: Acceptance of goals and means
• Innovation: Acceptance of goals but rejection of means (deviant)
• Ritualism: Reject goals but accept means
• Retreatism: Reject goals and means (withdraw from society - deviant)
• Rebellion: Rejection and substitution of goals and means (sometimes deviant)

Question 12

What is differential opportunity theory?

Answer 12

• Suggest society is structured in differential access to legitimate opportunities
• But way society is structured also results in differential access to illegitimate opportunities - some people have more access to illegitimate opportunities than other people do by living in certain neighbourhoods
• Illegitimate opportunities are more easily available

Question 13

What are the three types of gangs that lower-class neighbourhoods may become a part of?

Answer 13

• Criminal gangs: Gangs whose activities are economic in nature (e.g., selling drugs)
• Retreatist gangs: Gangs whose activities revolve around substance use
• Conflict gangs: Gangs who engage in violent conflict with other gangs in pursuit of status and power

Question 14

What is Agnew’s general strain theory?

Answer 14

• Proposes that strain produced by a variety of processes, rather than just social structures placing limitations on means of achieving positively valued goals
• Processes are inability to achieve goals, valued stimuli are removed (e.g., job loss), negative stimuli are presented (e.g., being teased)
• Strain must be accompanied by negative affect (negative emotions such as anger, depression, or anxiety)

Question 15

When is strain especially likely to create negative affect?

Answer 15

• Strain is severe, perceived as unjust, and uncontrollable

Question 16

How has Agnew recently modified his general strain theory?

Answer 16

• Incorporated structural factors, suggesting that deviance is more likely in certain locations within social structure

Question 17

What is status frustration theory? What is it also known as?

Answer 17

• The middle-class classroom
• Inequalities in structure of society are reproduced in classroom, resulting in delinquent subcultures among lower class boys

Question 18

What is the middle-class measuring rod?

Answer 18

• Middle-class norms that permeate the school system and against which all students are compared
• Lower class boys find these hard to live up to
• May not see value of delayed gratification etc.

Question 19

What is status frustration?
What is mutual conversion?
What is reaction formation?

Answer 19

• Status frustration: Strain experienced by lower class boys who are unable to live up to middle-class standards of school system
• Mutual conversion: The way in which lower class boys join with similar other in response to status frustration
• Reaction formation: The oppositional standards that are developed by lower-class boys in school system - are able to succeed at these (non-utilitarian, malicious gangs result)

Question 20

What are the main limitations of functionalist theories of deviance?

Answer 20

• Logic criticisms: teleological (proposes existence of a phenomenon lies in functions it serves - i.e., related goals - institution of family emerged so that children could be socialized, but family is not necessary for this); tautological (circular reasoning)
• Ideology/politics: conservative bias (justify racism, anti-feminism etc.), androcentric bias, assumes deviance is low-class phenomenon (rely on crime stats, which ignore upper-class and their deviant behaviours)
• Merton’s anomie and strain theory is criticized for failing to recognize individual differences, including gender and cultural differences

Question 21

What is microanomie?

Answer 21

• State wherein an individual’s self-transcendence values (values placed on qualities like honesty, helpfulness, equality, and social justice) are exceeded by self-enhancement values (authority, ambition, competition, beating the system, power)
• Males are more socialized into self-enhancement values, therefore are more likely to be deviant

Question 22

What are functionalist theories’ responses to criticisms?

Answer 22

• Direct attention to non-criminal forms of deviance and have explored gender and ethnic differences

Question 23

What are learning theories? What are the three learning theories?

Answer 23

• Positivist theories that explain the causes of behaviour in terms of the learning processes that people are subjected to
• Differential association theory, neutralization theory, and social learning theory

Question 24

What is differential association theory?

Answer 24

• Process by which individuals learn deviant or conforming techniques and motives
• Central to learning process is direct interaction and communication in small, intimate groups
• Deviant people act this way because that is what they learn through communication within INTIMATE groups they are a part of (learn techniques and motives for particular behaviours)
• Definitions provided by in-group members are especially important in influencing behaviour

Question 25

In differential association theory, what four characteristics have the most impact on the learning process?

Answer 25

• Frequency
• Duration
• Priority (interact earlier in life = more influence)
• Intensity (importance of group)

Question 26

What is neutralization theory?

Answer 26

• Most important motives that are learned, which subsequently open door for deviance, are techniques of neutralization (self-rationalizations for deviant behaviour - justify your own actions)
• Convince yourself that what you are doing is not really wrong
• Only when they can rationalize their behaviour do people become deviant

Question 27

What are the five techniques of neutralization?

Answer 27

• Denial of responsibility (acknowledge own behaviour but shift blame to someone else)
• Denial of injury (argue behaviour does not hurt anyone)
• Denial of victim (victim of one’s actions was deserving of behaviour)
• Condemnation of the condemners (shift focus of deviant’s behaviour to deviant behaviour of others, especially social groups that have pointed to this person’s deviance - label them as hypocrites)
• Appealing to higher loyalties (rationalize one’s behaviour as serving higher purpose)

Question 28

What is social learning theory?

Answer 28

• All behaviour can be explained in some way - it is based on instrumental conditioning (rewards and punishments and whether or not ourself or others receive these)
• All behaviour is the result of definition (own attitudes about acceptability of behaviour), differential association (impact of who you associate with), imitation, and differential reinforcement (process by which individuals experience and anticipate consequences of behaviour - rewards and punishments)
• Perception of likelihood of consequences going through

Question 29

In social learning theory, what are the first aspects to cause deviance? What causes it to continue?

Answer 29

• Deviance first emerges through differential association and imitation, then continues (or not) through differential reinforcement and definitions

Question 30

What are the recently incorporated structural factors of social learning theory?

Answer 30

• Dimensions of social structure create differential contexts in which learning occur for different people
• Dimensions include: differential social organization (community’s demographic characteristics), differential location in social structure (individual’s defining characteristics - e.g., gender, ethnicity etc.), theoretically defined structural variables (e.g., anomie, conflict, etc.), differential social location (individual’s membership in different social groups)

Question 31

What are the limitations of learning theories?

Answer 31

• Differential association theory (hard to arrive at a “tally” for deviant and non-deviant acts - methodological issues; “escape clauses” - diminish the power to predict whether frequency, duration etc. has more precedence)
• Neutralization theory fails to address normative contexts (how the techniques vary across different scenarios) and its reasoning of methodology (techniques of neutralization before they engage in behaviour but research looks at techniques after behaviour - pre-act neutralizations or post-act justifications?)

Question 32

What are social control theories?

Answer 32

• Why don’t all people become deviant?
• Deviance is exciting, and appealing
• Social bonds theory and self-control theory

Question 33

What is social bonds theory?

Answer 33

• Hirschi (1969)
• Four different social bonds restrain us from deviance:
• Attachment (bond characterized by emotional attachment to others - more attachment = more conformity; type of person attached to is unimportant, emotional attachment is the important part)
• Commitment (bond characterized by vested interest in conforming world - too much to lose if we become deviant)
• Involvement (time one spends in conventional activities - too busy to be deviant)
• Belief (propositions that an individual considers to be true, regardless of whether or not they are - norms, values, and assumptions of conventional world; bonds us to conventional world)
• These four bonds interact and intersect to determine deviance

Question 34

What is self-control theory?

Answer 34

• Also known as general theory of crime
• Self-control is factor that prevents us from engaging in deviance
• Those with lower self-control are more likely to engage in deviance
• Stable throughout lifetime
• Low self-control is characterized by impulsivity and is caused by poor parenting (attachment absent, weak supervision, poor discipline)
• Can either engage in anti-social deviant behaviours (e.g., risky sex) OR thrill-seeking behaviours (e.g., rock climbing) but not both (Theory can’t explain this!)

Question 35

What are the limitations to social control theories?

Answer 35

• Self-control theory criticized for definitions and measurements of self-control (tautological measure of self-control - look to criminal behaviour to define poor self-control)
• Self-control theory and social bonds theory criticized for ignoring peer associations
• Some success in integrating theories with other theories