Crime and Society

Question 1

What is normal and universally found in all societies?

Answer 1

Crime

Question 2

What does crime represent?

Answer 2

A violation of a shared moral code as expressed through social norms

Question 3

What is boundary maintenance?

Answer 3

Helping establish collective notions of right and wrong and, by extension, group identity and membership

Question 4

What is adaption?

Answer 4

Introducing and testing new behaviours that are necessary for social change

Question 5

What is anomie in terms of crime?

Answer 5

In the absence of clear social norms, people revert to self-centredness = crime

Question 6

What was Robert Merton known for?

Answer 6

Adapted Durkheim’s ideas of anomie to develop contemporary strain theory

Question 7

What is the minimum wage in the USA?

Answer 7

Minimum wage = $7.25 (Aus - $9.90)

Question 8

What is the implication of strain theory?

Answer 8

Helps explain different levels of crime in different contexts

Question 9

What are the critiques of Merton’s strain theory?

Answer 9

Inadequate accounting for diverse values across different US communities

Overlooked other, non-economic sources of strain
Lack of generalisability – unable to account for why some people adapt positively (or at least non-criminally) to strain while others do not

Didn’t more explicitly target politics and elites responsible for white collar crime and exploitation

Question 10

What were the two additional types of strain that Agnew recognized?

Answer 10

Loss of positively valued stimuli

Actual or anticipated exposure to negative stimuli

Question 11

What are the means that allow individuals to cope with strain?

Answer 11

The presence of alternative goals

Well-developed personal coping strategies

Strong and emotionally positive personal relationships

Question 12

What type of strains are more likely to lead to crime?

Answer 12

Unjust strains

Repeated strains

High magnitude strains

Strains involving criminal victimisation

Question 13

What is one of the most widely cited and tested criminology theories?

Answer 13

General strain theory

Question 14

What does institutional anomie theory emphasize?

Answer 14

Achievement and a ‘winner takes all mentality’

Individualism that focuses on rights rather than responsibilities

Materialism that fetishises wealth

Question 15

What is universalism

Answer 15

The permeation of institutional values across all social institutions

Question 16

Why is assessing institutional anomie complicated?

Answer 16

Difficulties in assessing causal variables

Question 17

What was the practical impact of strain?

Answer 17

Provided important intellectual support for the provision of government services in:
   Housing 
   Education
   Employment opportunity
   Youth offending programs