Midterm 1

Question 1

What did the example of the Syrian refugee crisis exemplify?

Answer 1

-how people can be deemed deviant or criminal even if what they are actually facing is a humanitarian crisis

Question 2

What is red tape and what is another name of it?

Answer 2

• nightmare of the bureaucracy

- when you put effort into complying with rules and policies but you can falling short despite your best efforts

Question 3

Who called Red Tape the Nightmare of Bureaucracy?

Answer 3

• Max Weber
• he noticed people were obsessed with following rules but didn’t care about the essence of the rule
• bureaucratic thinking created rules that inevitably resulted in deviancy

Question 4

Is crime and deviance a real thing?

Answer 4

-it’s a social construct subject to interpretation

Question 5

Historically, how was crime defined?

Answer 5

-crime was behaviour in violation of law

Question 6

When does classical theory saw laws should be developed?

Answer 6

-when social harm occurs

Question 7

What does the example of differences between gay rights in Canada and Iran highlight?

Answer 7

-definitions of deviance vary across space

Question 8

Why is there a danger in using the state’s definitions of crime?

Answer 8

-if you use the state’s definition you become a representative of the state

Question 9

What is the definition we are using for deviance by Pfohl?

Answer 9

-deviance is a violation of a social norm and this is apparent because there is reaction to the behaviour in question

Question 10

What beliefs does a positivist have about crime and deviance?

Answer 10

• absolutism, crime is absolutely real
• objectivism, crime is observable
• determinism, we can identify causal mechanisms to explain the crime

Question 11

What beliefs does a constructionist have about crime and deviance?

Answer 11

• relativism, crime is a label
• subjectivism is at work in what we actually characterize as criminal or deviant
• there is a measure of free will/voluntarism in engaging and labelling crime

Question 12

Define conformity

Answer 12

• adherence to norms

- although, one that conforms to norms extremely could be considered deviant

Question 13

Define non-conformity

Answer 13

• normative violation without a strong reaction

- awkward or eccentric behaviour but not severe enough that society tries to modify it

Question 14

Define deviance

Answer 14

-a normative violation with a controlling mechanism

Question 15

Define crime

Answer 15

-a violation of codified laws

Question 16

Are all crimes deviant and all deviance crimes?

Answer 16

-No

Question 17

Why do people study crime and deviance?

Answer 17

• vicarious experience (exciting)
• reform, people want to induce change
• self-protection and sophistication, a better street sense
• understanding ones self and others
• intellectual curiosity

Question 18

Do criminologists agree that crime is real?

Answer 18

Yes

Question 19

Define synopticism

Answer 19

-how the masses observe the behaviour of the elite and take their moral cues from them