Midterm 3: deck 1

Question 1

What is the million dollar question for strain? (1)

Answer 1

Which causal sequence is accurate?

-does strain cause deviance or does deviance cause strain?

Question 2

What historical events contributed to sociologists studying strain within crime and deviance? (1)

Answer 2

• WW1 and the Spanish Flu

- after the stock market crashed during the dirty 30s

Question 3

What is the general definition of anomie? (1)

Answer 3

-without purpose or normlessness

Question 4

What two meanings did Durkheim give to anomie? (1)

Answer 4

• an anomic division of labour (societal)

- an anomic mental state of an individual

Question 5

Who was considered the father of sociology? (1)

Answer 5

-Durkheim

Question 6

What did society transition from and too according to Durkheim? (1)

Answer 6

-mechanical solidarity to organic solidarity

Question 7

What was mechanical solidarity? (1)

Answer 7

-people in the simplest societies are bonded due to their similarities

Question 8

Where was organic solidarity found and what was it? (1)

Answer 8

• a characteristic of modern industrial societies

- it is created through people feeling they must work to keep the system working for everyone

Question 9

Is the transition between mechanical and organic solidarity smooth? (1)

Answer 9

• No

- Durkheim believed all societies struggled to transition between the two

Question 10

What is the natural result of the transition from mechanical to organic solidarity? (1)

Answer 10

-anomie

Question 11

As the division of labour grows, what will cause social problems according to Durkheim? (1)

Answer 11

-human greed and desire

Question 12

What must be done to human beings to control their greed and self-interest and prevent anomie? (1)

Answer 12

• social institutions morally constrain human desires

- humans have to be regulated and controlled

Question 13

What did Durkheim believe about Marx’s causal order? (1)

Answer 13

-that Marx reversed the primary causal order

Question 14

What causal order did Durkheim believe in? (1)

Answer 14

-anomie caused class conflict

Question 15

How did Marx see causal order? (1)

Answer 15

• class conflict generated anomie

- also called alienation

Question 16

Did Durkheim believe psychology alone could explain suicide? (1)

Answer 16

• no
• he tried to explain it with sociology
• because he wanted sociology to be a separate science

Question 17

What are the four types of suicide? (1)

Answer 17

• anomic
• egoistic
• altruistic
• fatalistic

Question 18

How did Durkheim argue that suicide could not be explained with psychology only? (1)

Answer 18

-because social groups significantly impact the likelihood of suicide

Question 19

Which suicide had too strong integration? What is an example of someone? (1)

Answer 19

• altruistic

- terrorist, war hero

Question 20

Which suicide had too strong regulation? What is an example? (1)

Answer 20

• fatalistic

- slaves

Question 21

Which suicide had too little integration? What is an example? (1)

Answer 21

• egoistic
• protestant, single
• “cult of the individual”

Question 22

Which suicide had too little regulation? What is an example? (1)

Answer 22

• anomic

- Indigenous people and the absence of their culture

Question 23

What does social solidarity include? (1)

Answer 23

-integration and regulation

Question 24

What time period was Merton writing in? (1)

Answer 24

• 1930s and later

- economy was bad

Question 25

What were the categories in Merton’s strain theory? (1)

Answer 25

• conformity
• innovation
• ritualism
• retreatism
• rebellion

Question 26

What two indicators did Merton’s Strain theory look at to categorize things? (1)

Answer 26

• acceptance of culturally induced goals

- ability to achieve culturally induced goals

Question 27

Why did Merton believe cultural goals caused deviance and crime? (1)

Answer 27

• society pressured everyone into the same American dream

- however, many people couldn’t achieve this

Question 28

What was the conformist? (1)

Answer 28

• accepts societies pressures and can achieve their goals

- thus, not criminal or deviant

Question 29

What was the innovator? (1)

Answer 29

• wants the dream but can’t live it

- they innovate by deviating (selling drugs) to live a better life closer to their goal

Question 30

What was the ritualist? (1)

Answer 30

• rejects the American dream but could achieve it

- lack ambition which is somewhat deviant

Question 31

What were rebels? (1)

Answer 31

• do not accept the American dream and want to replace it (with communism for example)
• deviant

Question 32

Why did Agnew develop general strain theory? (1)

Answer 32

-to explain why males more frequently committed crime and deviance

Question 33

What did Agnew’s general strain theory argue? (2)

Answer 33

• males and females experience the same strain

- however, males respond differently to it

Question 34

How did Agnew’s general strain theory relate to Merton’s? (1)

Answer 34

-Agnew expanded on Merton’s to include biology and physiology

Question 35

What three types of strain did Agnew talk about? (1)

Answer 35

• inability to achieve positively valued goals
• removal or threat to remove positively valued stimuli
• to threaten someone with negatively valued stimuli

Question 36

What did Agnew say women were more likely to do when they couldn’t achieve their goals? (1)

Answer 36

• be self-destructive

- worry about their anger (shame)

Question 37

What did Agnew say men were more likely to do when they couldn’t achieve their goals? (1)

Answer 37

• more likely to do crime

- less likely to be concerned with hurting people

Question 38

What were the problems with strain theory? (5)

Answer 38

• Merton never looked at corporate crime
• Does everyone have unity of goals?
• capitalism is absent
• few appropriate punishments specified
• ignored the importance of labelling and learning

Question 39

Why did Durkheim believe rapid social change produced deviant behaviour? (1)

Answer 39

-because people were unregulated

Question 40

What did Merton say deviance was the result of? (1)

Answer 40

-social strain

Question 41

What was Agnews biggest contribution to strain theory? (1)

Answer 41

• strain needs to include psychological strain

- believed strain to be gendered

Question 42

What was the reatrist?

Answer 42

-rejects American dream and couldn’t get it if they wanted to