Exam 6: Social Structure Theory

Social strata are created by the unequal distribution of wealth. While the upper class is exceptionally well-to-do, ______ people live in poverty in America.

As a result of status frustration, Cohen found that many youth join gangs and engage in behavior with three distinctive characteristics; these include behaviors that are malicious, negativistic, and ___________________.

Some of the programs developed during the Chicago School era, such as Cloward and Ohlin's views of differential opportunity, were a critical part of the Kennedy and Johnson administration's War on Poverty.

Under Merton's Social Adaptations of crime, __________ occurs when individuals embrace conventional social goals and also have the means to attain them.

Walter Miller identified the unique conduct norms that define the lower-class culture and that often clash with conventional values. Which of the following is not one of those norms?

According to the author, the most important wielder of informal social control is religion.

Differential opportunity theory is credited to Cloward and Ohlin and is a combination of strain and social disorganization principals relating to gang sustaining criminal subcultures.

Albert Cohen, in his classic 1955 book, articulated the theory of _________________, depicting the socialization of lower-class youth in society.

Sociologist Robert Merton applied the sociological concepts first identified by Durkheim to criminology in his theory of ______________.

Messner and Rosenfeld's concept of the _______________, is defined by the goal of accumulating material goods and wealth through individual competition.

Under Merton's Social Adaptations of crime, ___________ occurs when individuals gain pleasure from practicing traditional ceremonies, regardless of whether they have a real purpose or goal.

Middle-class measuring rods refer to the standards by which authority figures, such as teachers, evaluate lower-class youngsters and often prejudge them negatively.

Children who grow up in low-income homes are less likely to achieve in school and less likely to complete school than children who do not grow up in low-income households.

The lowest social stratum in any country, whose members lack the education and skills needed to function successfully in modern society.

Cultural deviance theory combines elements of relative deprivation and differential opportunity theories.

People grouped according to economic or social class who are characterized by the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and prestige are referred to as a __________________.

People grouped according to economic or social class; characterized by the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and prestige are referred to as a ______.

The major premise of this theory is that material goods pervade all aspects of American life.

Shaw and McKay explained crime and delinquency within the context of ______.

According to institutional anomie theorists, the _________ is both a goal and process to accumulate goods and wealth.