Sociology - Deviance (ch 8)

Question 0

deviance

Answer 0

The recognized violation of a cultural norm

Question 1

What did Dennis Kozlowski do? (4)

Answer 1

Lived on other people’s money

Chief exec at Tyco

Bought a bunch of new companies

Spent company money on himself

Question 2

Crime

Answer 2

The violation of a society’s formally enacted law

Question 3

What do deviant actions or attitudes - whether good or bad - have in common?

Answer 3

Some element of difference that causes us to regard another person as an “outsider”

Question 4

Social control

Answer 4

Attempts by society to regulate people’s thought and behavior

Question 5

Criminal justice system

Answer 5

A formal response by police, courts, and prison officials to alleged violations of the law

Question 6

How strong is the link between biological factors and crime? (2)

Answer 6

Real, but modest

Peoples overall genetic makeup, in combination win social influences, probably accounts for some tendency toward criminality

Question 7

Psychologists view deviance as?

Answer 7

The produce of “unsuccessful” socialization

Question 8

What are the social foundations for deviance? (3)

Answer 8

1. Deviance varies according to cultural norms
2. People become deviant as others define them that way
3. Both norms and the way people define rule-breaking involve social power

Question 9

What four essential functions does deviance place on society according to Emile Durkheim? (4)

Answer 9

1. Deviance affirms cultural values and norms
2. Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries
3. Responding to deviance promotes social unity
4. Deviance encourages social change

Question 10

Robert Merton believes…

Answer 10

That the extent and kind of deviance depends on whether a society provides the means (such as schooling and jobs) to achieve cultural goals (such as financial success)

Question 11

According to Merton, what is “innovation”? (2)

Answer 11

Using unconventional means (street crime) to achieve a culturally approved goal (wealth)

Involves accepting a cultural goal (financial success) but rejecting the conventional means (hard work at a “straight job”)

Question 12

Walter Miller states that delinquent subcultures are characterized by: (6)

Answer 12

1. Trouble - arising from frequent conflict with teachers and police
2. Toughness - the value placed on physical size and strength, esp. among males
3. Smartness - the ability to succeed on the street, to outsmart, or “con” others, and to avoid being similarly taken advantage of
4. A need for excitement - the search for thrills, risk, or danger
5. A belief in fate - sense that people lack control over their own lives
6. A desire for freedom - often expressed as hostility toward authority figures

Question 13

Labeling theory (2)

Answer 13

The assertion that deviance and conformity result not so much from people do as from how others respond to those actions

Social construction of reality is a “highly variable process of detection, definition, and response”

Question 14

Primary deviance

Answer 14

When a norm violation provokes a slight reaction from others having little effect on a person’s self concept

Question 15

Secondary deviance

Answer 15

When a person repeatedly violates a norm a begins to take on a deviant identity

Question 16

Stigma

Answer 16

A powerfully negative label that greatly changes a person’s self concept and social identity

Question 17

Retrospective labeling

Answer 17

Occurs when people interpret someone’s past in light of present deviance

Question 18

Projective labeling

Answer 18

Occurs when people use a stigmatized identity to predict further action

Question 19

How does the medicalization of deviance work?

Answer 19

The transformation of moral and legal deviance into a medical condition

Question 20

Hirschi’s control theory states that

Answer 20

Social control depends on the growing influence of psychiatry and medicine and imagining the consequences of ones behavior

Question 21

List Hirschi’s four types of social control (4)

Answer 21

1. Attachment
2. Opportunity
3. Involvement
4. Belief

Question 22

Attachment (2)

Answer 22

Strong ties encourage conformity

Weak relationships esp. in family and in school, leave people freer to engage in deviance

Question 23

Opportunity (2)

Answer 23

The greater a person’s access to legitimate opportunity, the greater the advantages of conformity

Someone with little confidence in future success is more likely to drift toward deviance

Question 24

Involvement

Answer 24

Extensive involvement in legitimate activities (holding a job, school, etc.) inhibits deviance

Question 25

Belief

Answer 25

Strong belief in conventional morality and respect for authority figures restrain tendencies toward deviance

Question 26

Can body structure predict criminality?

Answer 26

No, there is no conclusive evidence between criminality and any genetic trait

Question 27

Does personality type predict criminality or deviance? (2)

Answer 27

Slightly –> psychopaths can be serious criminals

Most serious crimes are committed by “psychologically” normal individuals

Question 28

Being “deviant” depends on (2)

Answer 28

Which category of people hold power within a society

Deviants = usually powerless

Question 29

3 explanations of the social conflict perspective

Answer 29

1. Norms/laws reflect the interests of the rich and powerful
2. Powerful have resources to resist deviant labels
3. Widespread belief that norms / laws are natural and good, mask their political character

Question 30

Deviants =

Answer 30

Those who interfere with capitalism

Question 31

Capitalism

Answer 31

Based on the private control of the wealth

Question 32

Deviance and capitalism depends on

*

Answer 32

Labor - no work = deviant

Respect for authority - no respect = deviant

*Society positively labels whatever enhances capitalism

Question 33

What do both the criminal justice system and social welfare system blame the individual for?

Answer 33

Drugs

Question 34

White collar crime

Answer 34

Crimes committed by people of high social position in the course of their occupation

Question 35

Civil law

Answer 35

Business between private parties

Question 36

Criminal law

Answer 36

Individuals moral responsibilities to society

Question 37

Corporate crime

Answer 37

The illegal actions of a corporation or people acting on its behalf

Question 38

Organized crime (2)

Answer 38

Business supplying illegal goods or services

Selling goods to a willing public

Question 39

Hate crimes (2)

Answer 39

Criminal act towards a person or persons property by an offender motivated by racial bias or other bias

• race, religion, sexual orientation, ancestry, physical disability

Question 40

Deviance and gender

Answer 40

Almost every society places stricter controls on women than on men

Question 41

Crimes against the person

Answer 41

Crimes that direct violence or the threat of violence against others

Question 42

Crimes against property

Answer 42

Crimes that involve theft of property belonging to others

Question 43

Victimless crimes

Answer 43

Violations of the law in which there are no readily apparent victims