Chapter 2, textbook

Question 1

What was Lombroso’s main idea regarding crime

Answer 1

• he suggested that criminals were atavists

- >that there were evolutionary throwbacks whose biology prevented them from conforming to society’s rules

Question 2

What are positivist sociological theories concentrated on

Answer 2

• fundamentally interested in explaining why people act a particular way
• they seek generalizable, universally applicable laws
• > seek cause and effect relationships in the form of statistical relationships
• > look for those variable that are associated with a particular behaviour or outcome

Question 3

How is positivist theories and social control related

Answer 3

-positivist theories lay the groundwork for those individuals who are seeking more effective social control or improvement of society

Question 4

Contrast latent functions from manifest functions

Answer 4

Latent functions
->functions that are unintended and unrecognizable

Manifest functions
->functions that are intended and recognized

Question 5

How is deviance functional according to Durkheim

Answer 5

1) he believed that a certain level of deviance enhances social order and increases social solidarity
2) deviance identifies what the moral boundaries are in a society

3) Tests societies boundaries
- >may demonstrate what rules no longer work or need improvement on

4) Deviance serves as a way of reducing social tensions
- >eg; when there is a scapegoat(takes pressure off as a whole)
- >when individuals engage in small acts of minor deviance that acts as a safety valve to let off some steam

Question 6

What kind of solidarity did Durkheim say society had before industrialization

Answer 6

• society had mechanical solidarity

- >society was bonded together by likeness or by a collective commitment to conformity

Question 7

What kind of solidarity did Durkheim say society had after industrialization

Answer 7

• society had organic solidarity
• > society was bonded together by difference or interdependence through a highly specialized division of labor
• interactions in this society are somewhat impersonal
• > based primarily on our dependence on others
• > a collective way of thinking from mechanical solidarity is replaced by individualism

Question 8

What did Merton link anomie to

Answer 8

• Merton linked anomie to strain
• > merton suggested that deviance originated not only from an individual but also from the structure of society itself
• there is an imbalance between culturally prescribed goals and legitimate means
• > resulted in a “deinstutionalization of the means”
• > attaining the institutionalized goals has become more important than how one attains them

Question 9

What are institutionalized goals

Answer 9

• they are the goals that are culturally exalted
• > the ones we are supposed to want to achieve
• > eg; in North America, we aspire to include wealth, status/power, and prestige
• > the qualities that make up “success”

Question 10

What are the five different ways to adapting to the gap between goals and the means?

Answer 10

1) Conformity
- >individual accepts instutionalized goals and the legitimate means to achieve them
- >eg; go to school find a job, work hard, etc

2) Innovation
- >individuals accepts the instutionalized goals but rejects the legitimate means to achieve them
- >eg; selling drugs

3) Ritualism
- >given up or reduced instutionalized goals but continues to engage in legitimate means
- >eg; someone who doens’t think they’ll get anywhere but continues to engage in the legitimate mans

4) Retreatism
- >people both reject the instituionalized means and the legitimate means
- >given up on goals and do not go through the motions anymore
- >eg; alcohol or drug addiction

5) Rebellion
- >reject instutionalized means and the legitimate means
- >unlike retreatists, they substitute new goals and new means
- >they have a vision of a different world and act to bring that vision to life

Question 11

What was Cloward and Ohlin’s take on deviance

Answer 11

• like Merton, they suggest the way society is structured results in differential access to legitimate opportunities
• > but it also results in differential access to illegitimate opportunities
• > some people have more access to illegitimate opportunities than others

Question 12

What does Agnew state about strain

Answer 12

• strain can be produced by a variety of processes
• strain creates a negative affect(negative emotions) such as anger, depression or anxiety
• > likely to create a negative effect if it is unjust, severe and if the individual lacks control over the situation

Question 13

What are the different coping strategies individuals can use to alleviate strain

Answer 13

1) Coping strategies
- >transforms the way they think about the strain
- >instead of thinking about one bad exam grade, they can see it as a learning experience

2) Emotional coping strategies
- >may be defivant or conforming in nature
- >eg; using alcohol or drugs or talking to a friend about it

3) Behavioural coping
- >deviant or non-deviant in nature
- >eg; plagiarizing to get a good mark after a bad one or working to get better at the craft

Question 14

What is a middle class measuring rod

Answer 14

-it is a standard set out by the school system that lower-class boys find difficult to live up to

Question 15

What is a school’s emphasis on that the lower class boys find a hard time adjusting to

Answer 15

-Delayed gratification, politeness and the value of hard work

• delayed gratification may mean their reward is taken away
• toughness is valued over politeness
• they may see their parents work hard but no progress is achieved

Question 16

What is meant by the term status frustration

Answer 16

• when lower class students are unable to succeed according to the standards in the classroom
• > they experience a situation similar to strain
• > this strain is referred to as status frustration

Question 17

Name the different functionalist theorists mentioned in this chapter

Answer 17

• Durkheim
• > deviance can be functional at a certain level
• > but too much deviance occurs when society is changing too rapidly and anomie is created

Merton
->strain created by the gap between institutionalized goals legitimate means of achieving those goals

Cloward and Ohlin

• > structure of society creates differential access to legitimate opportunities
• > but they expand to apply it to illegitimate opportunites as well

Agnew

• > strain creates negative emotions
• > coping strategies to deal with those emotions may result in deviance

Cohen

• > structural inequalities in the school system
• > serves as the impetus for deviance

Question 18

What are criticisms of the functionalist logic to deviance

Answer 18

• they are teleological(related to goals)
• > in that the emergence of social instutions is explained in terms of the functions they serve
• > for example, we know family exists to socialize children
• > but why is family needed, if there are other institutions that also exist for socialization

-they are tautological(circular)

Question 19

Do functionalists ignore the social and historical circumstances from which functions in society emerge?

Answer 19

• yes
• > they ignore some of the sociohistorical circumstances that give rise to specific family forms of particular education curricula
• note they may also have “conservative bias”
• > certain things like racial inequalities, gender inequalities and low wages for the working class can be justified on the basis of being “functional”

Question 20

What does it mean for the androcentric bias on functionalists

Answer 20

• this bias lies in the fact that functionalist theory was largely developed on the basis of the male experience
• > female experiences were either ignored or presumed to be similar

Question 21

What is the basis of the differential association theory

Answer 21

• deviant behavior is learned through the same process by which conforming behavior is learned
• > central to the learning process is the direct interaction and communication that occurs in small and intimate groups

-within these groups, individuals learn techniques(skills ) and motives(reasons) for specific behaviors

Question 22

What are the four ways that can affect what we learn through differential exposure to deviant and conforming behavior

Answer 22

• frequency
• > more frequency=more influence on our learning

duration
->longer duration have more of an influence than shorter duration

priority
->intimate groups with which we interact with earlier in our lives have a greater influence on our learning

Intensity
->the more important a group is to use the greater its influence on our learning processes

Question 23

What is the difference between kynd and unkynd

Answer 23

• kynd are prosocial behaviors

- unkynd are threatening behaviors or talking someone down

Question 24

Based on Hunt’s analysis, what are positive evaluations of kynd norms associated with

Answer 24

1)Frequency

2) Intensity
- >the extend to which an individual has close friends within that subculture

3) Priority
- duration does not impact kynd norms

Question 25

What are techniques of neutralization

Answer 25

• the most important motives that are learned

- >which open doors for deviancy or deviant behavior

Question 26

What are the different techniques for neutralization

Answer 26

• denial of responsibility
• > shifts the responsibility elsewhere
• denial of injury
• > perception that what they have done hurts or harms no one
• denial of the victim
• > victim of the deviant’s behavior was somehow deserving of her or his fate
• condemnation of the condemners
• > shifts the focus from the deviant’s own behavior to the deviant behavior of others
• > especially people from the social groups that have pointed to this person’s deviance
• appealing to higher loyalties
• > deviant behavior is justified as serving a higher purpose

Question 27

What does social learning theory suggest behavior is a result of

Answer 27

• it is a result of:
• > definitions(attitudes about the acceptability of behaviors), differential association, imitation and differential reinforcement(rewards/punishment)
• deviance starts off with differential association and imitation
• > it then continues through differential reinforcement and definitions

Question 28

What are critiques of the neutralization theory

Answer 28

• criticized for what it hasn’t explored
• > how techniques of neutralization may vary across different types of deviant behaviors
• > or across normative contexts
• also criticized on the basis of its reasoning and methodology
• > although the theory states that techniques of neutralization are used prior to committing an act, most research has looked at the act being committed post-act

Question 29

What is the main question that social control theorists ask

Answer 29

• they focus on the fact why not all people become deviant

- >through higher levels of social control, deviancy can decrease

Question 30

What are the four types of social bonds that restrain us from deviance

Answer 30

1) Attachment
- >to parents, teachers and peers
- >greater levels of emotional attachment=greater levels of conformity

2) Commitment to conformity
- >being committed to conventional activities like school, work, sport teams, etc

3) Involvement
- >being committed does not allow time for anything else

4) Belief
- >belief in norms, values, assumptions that compose the conventional world
- >holding beliefs to conventional means and not deviant ones

Question 31

Is low self control going to remain throughout an individuals life

Answer 31

• yes

- >low self control effects remain stable throughout life

Question 32

What are criticisms of the social control theories

Answer 32

-they are tautological