Deck 16: Crime and Social Deviance

Question 1

Sykes and Matza found that boys use to deflect society's norms and resolve themselves of responsibility for their criminal actions.

A) the looking-glass self
B) projecting
C) reverse onus
D) significant others
E) techniques of neutralization

Answer 1

E

Question 2

Sykes and Matza described various techniques of neutralization. Which technique is being used when someone explains that they had to help their friend when the friend got into a fight?

A) Denial of injury
B) Appeal to higher loyalties
C) Denial of a victim
D) Condemnation of the condemners
E) Denial of responsibility

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Why do norms make social life possible?

A) Because they force everyone to conform
B) Because they tell us what to do
C) Because they reduce social deviance
D) Because they make behaviour predictable
E) Because they eliminate social deviance

Answer 3

D

Question 4

How are sociological theories of social deviance different from psychological and biological theories?

A) They are based on facts.
B) They search for factors outside the individual.
C) They have been proven.
D) They were developed earlier.
E) Everybody now believes that they are better.

Question 5

When Chagnon was shocked by the behaviour of the Yanomamo, what does this illustrate?

A) The Yanomamo are deviant.
B) Chagnon is a prude.
C) The Yanomamo should have been more polite.
D) We need absolute standards in defining social deviance.
E) Social deviance is relative.

Question 6

When used by sociologists, what does the term social deviance refer to?

A) People who are strange
B) Criminal acts in the society
C) Actions judged harmful to society
D) A violation of norms
E) People who are mentally ill

Question 7

According to sociologist Howard S. Becker, how is social deviance defined?

A) By both the act and the reactions of others
B) By the social acceptability of certain behaviours
C) Through formal laws enacted in a society
D) In the act itself, not the reaction of others
E) By the reaction of others to the act

Question 8

Why are crime statistics not always considered to be accurate?

A) Because they are subjective
B) Because they are fluid
C) Because they are static
D) Because they are dynamic
E) Because they are objective

Question 9

What did Cloward and Ohlin identify as the crucial problem of the industrial world?

A) Increasing crime rates
B) Pollution and the greenhouse effect
C) The need to locate and train the most talented people
D) Crime and social deviance
E) The unprecedented rate of social change

Question 10

Some of the expectations of the masculine role in Canadian society to be braver, tougher, more independent, and less tolerant of insult increase the likelihood of male violence. This means that biological factors are always mediated through the environment.

A) shared
B) sociobiological
C) social
D) geographical
E) physical

Question 11

Which term refers to attributes that discredit people, including violations of norms of ability, norms of appearance, and involuntary membership in some groups?

A) Symbol
B) Social deviance
C) Prejudice
D) Bias
E) Stigma

Question 12

In Canadian society, where has violence become socially acceptable?

A) On television
B) In prisons
C) In schools
D) In sports
E) In video games

Question 13

What do biological theories focus on to explain juvenile delinquency and crime?

A) Genetic predispositions
B) The mother-child relationship
C) Personality disorders
D) Ethnicity
E) Drug use

Question 14

What do some psychologists focus on to explain social deviance?

A) Personality disorders
B) The amount of social control
C) Genetic predispositions
D) Street crimes
E) Drug use

Question 15

Which theory emphasizes that both deviance and conformity are learned behaviours?

A) Dysfunctional
B) Differential association
C) Labelling
D) Strain
E) Social control

Question 16

How do sociologists define crime?

A) Any social deviance
B) A violation of norms that have been written into law
C) An extreme form of social deviance
D) Acts committed by social deviants
E) Acts committed by primary deviants

Question 17

Which theorists argue that official deviance is defined by the elites of a society who use formal control as a tool to maintain their power?

A) Differential association
B) Functionalist
C) Conflict
D) Labelling
E) Pluralist

Question 18

The significance of names or reputations given to people when they engage in certain types of behaviour is the focus of theory.

A) differential association
B) labelling
C) control
D) strain
E) social conflict

Question 19

Sometimes people become even more deviant in response to being labelled as deviant. This occurs because:

A) the label becomes a part of the person's self-concept.
B) they were born deviant.
C) the deviance becomes trivialized.
D) deviance is functional for the society.
E) some people are naturally deviant.

Question 20

Your parents may worry about who your friends are. This illustrates which theory of social deviance?

A) Social control theory
B) Strain theory
C) Conflict theory
D) Differential association theory
E) Functionalist perspective

Question 21

To explain the relationship between social class and the types of crime committed by people in different social classes in the U.S., Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin point out that different encourage different types of crimes committed.

A) court systems
B) degradation ceremonies
C) illegitimate opportunity structures
D) informal economic systems
E) definitional systems

Question 22

Emile Durkheim felt that deviance clarified moral boundaries and affirmed norms, promoted social unity, and promoted social change. What was his conclusion regarding social deviance?

A) It is always institutionalized.
B) It is a social problem that needs to be eliminated.
C) It is a sign of innovation by members of a group.
D) It is functional for a society.
E) It is dysfunctional for a society.

Question 23

The police, courts, and prisons that deal with people who are accused of committing crimes make up the system.

A) Blue-collar
B) Felony
C) Criminal justice
D) White-collar
E) Governmental

Question 24

Ronald is a student who has not studied for a test, but he still wants to do well. He has decided to sit next to the best student in the class and copy her paper. According to Merton's description of responses to strain, which one best describes Ronald's reaction?

A) Resistance
B) Retreatism
C) Ritualism
D) Innovation
E) Rebellion

Question 25

When people begin to label themselves as deviant and it becomes part of their self- concept, they are in the stage of deviance.

A) secondary
B) major
C) tertiary
D) primary
E) marginal

Question 26

Which are formal attempts to mark an individual with the status of an outsider?

A) Rite of passage rituals
B) Degradation ceremonies
C) Stigmatization rituals
D) Graduation ceremonies
E) Dishonour ceremonies

Question 27

Rachel has been convicted of prostitution. She now considers herself as a prostitute and has started to hang around with other prostitutes. Her acts of prostitution would now be considered deviance.

A) primary
B) secondary
C) major
D) tertiary
E) severe

Question 28

Two police officers see a group of boys loitering outside of a convenience store. Based on the appearance, behaviour, and dress of the boys, the officers may or may not decide to ask them to leave. The officers are practicing .

A) criminal justice
B) differential association
C) police discretion
D) labelling
E) techniques of neutralization

Question 29

When are anti-sexist self-help groups for violent men most beneficial?

A) When the men are attending for the right reasons.
B) When the men attend along with their victims.
C) When the men attend because their wives want them to.
D) When the men attend because they were ordered to attend by a judge.
E) When the men attend all sessions.

Question 30

The process of labelling is extremely complex since it involves the self-concept and individual reactions. What is one result of negative labels?

A) They help prevent crime.
B) They increase people's self-esteem.
C) They motivate people to become conforming members of society.
D) They open or close the doors of opportunity for people.
E) They always turn people into criminals.

Question 31

Emily wants to go to the prom, but she really can't afford a new dress. While she was shopping in the mall with her friends, she shoplifted a dress for the prom. This act of deviance by Emily would be considered _ deviance by sociologist Edwin Lemert.

A) tertiary
B) teenage
C) secondary
D) minor
E) primary

Question 32

Which term is used by feminists to describe a sexual system of power in which the male possesses superior power and economic privilege?

A) Sexism
B) White-collar crime
C) Illegitimate opportunity structures
D) Gender bias
E) Patriarchy

Question 33

Which theorist would see the law as an instrument of repression and a tool designed to maintain the powerful in their privileged positions?

A) Conflict
B) Exchange
C) Feminist
D) Symbolic interactionist
E) Functionalist

Question 34

Which types of crimes have the highest economic costs?

A) Blue-collar crimes
B) Public crimes
C) White-collar crimes
D) Private crimes
E) Street crimes

Question 35

When a person commits fleeting acts that do not become part of the self-concept, what are these acts called?

A) Secondary deviance
B) Marginal deviance
C) Minor deviance
D) Primary deviance
E) Tertiary deviance

Question 36

Ed has joined an outlaw motorcycle gang and wears scruffy, dirty clothes and only shaves once a week. Ed considers his status within the group more important than any other status he holds. What is Ed doing?

A) Engaging in secondary deviance
B) Rejecting the label others have given him
C) Embracing deviance
D) Engaging in primary deviance
E) Engaging in tertiary deviance

Question 37

William was caught stealing a car and told the police and his friends he was only "borrowing" the car to have a little fun. Besides, he feels no one was really hurt by his act. Which technique of neutralization is William using?

A) Denial of a victim
B) Condemnation of the condemners
C) Denial of responsibility
D) Denial of injury
E) Appeal to higher loyalties

Question 38

Sarah is unemployed and has come to the conclusion that work and education are not helping her to reach success. Lately, Sarah has been getting intoxicated every night. This behaviour illustrates which of Merton's responses to strain?

A) Rebellion
B) Resistance
C) Retreatism
D) Innovation
E) Ritualism

Question 39

What is one of the best examples of a group that embraces deviance?

A) Fans at a rock concert
B) People in a mental hospital
C) Protesters marching at a rally
D) An outlaw biker gang
E) Children who misbehave in school

Question 40

Which theory is based on the idea that most people want to attain cultural goals, but not everyone has the legitimate ways of achieving them?

A) Strain
B) Control
C) Labelling
D) Primary deviance
E) Illegitimate opportunity

Question 41

Conflict theorists stress that the government's machinery of social control represents the interests of the wealthy and powerful.

Question 42

Virtually all feminists agree that men assault their female partners because of a lack of self-esteem.

Question 43

The sociological perspective of deviance identifies the act of deviance itself as what makes something deviant.

Question 44

Sociologists maintain that there is no possibility that biological factors contribute to deviant behaviour.

Question 45

Thomas Szasz argues that mental illness is neither mental nor an illness. According to Szasz, what is mental illness?

A) Apathy
B) Problem behaviour
C) A disease
D) A genetic condition
E) A social problem

Question 46

In Canada, who has exclusive authority over the procedures in the criminal court?

A) The Prime Minister
B) Public interest groups
C) Municipal governments
D) Each provincial government
E) The federal government

Question 47

To understand people's behaviours, their acts must be viewed from the framework of the culture in which the acts take place.

Question 48

All subcultures contain particular attitudes about social deviance and conformity learned by their members.

Question 49

Deviance is often seen as extremely threatening because it undermines predictability, which is the foundation of social life.

Question 50

Mark, in his comments to the sentencing judge in a court of law, states that "nobody has the right to judge him because everyone does illegal things." Which technique of neutralization is Mark using?

A) Condemning the condemners
B) Denial of a victim
C) Denial of responsibility
D) Projecting onto someone else
E) Appeal to higher loyalties

Question 51

Which crimes are most commonly related to unemployment?

A) White-collar
B) Blue-collar
C) Property
D) Violent
E) Personal

Question 52

Suicide is deviant in a group only if the group defines it as deviant behaviour.

Question 53

The term stigma refers to attributes that discredit people and includes violation of norms of ability, appearance, and involuntary membership in some groups.

Question 54

What is deviant in one group or culture is deviant in all groups or cultures.

Question 55

According to conflict theorists, the federal and provincial governments in a pluralistic society mediate between competing groups to restore balance in the society.

Question 56

Biological research on chromosomes has shown that most criminals have the combination.

A) XYX
B) XY
C) XXY
D) XYY
E) XX

Question 57

According to the author of your textbook, homelessness and mental illness are .

A) rebellious acts by individuals
B) not related to each other
C) more common then you know
D) survival strategies
E) reciprocal

Question 58

Disapproval of social deviance is often met with .

A) positive sanctions
B) formal sanctions
C) critical sanctions
D) negative sanctions
E) informal sanctions

Question 59

What do many postmodern analysts try to uncover?

A) The "hidden text" of oppression
B) The "real" causes of social deviance
C) The "illegitimate opportunity structures"
D) The "techniques of neutralization"
E) The function of "degradation ceremonies"

Question 60

What is an important predictor of how social deviants are treated?

A) The nature of the deviant act
B) The structure of the criminal justice system
C) Whether it is primary or secondary social deviance
D) The effect of negative sanctions
E) Social class

Question 61

A person who normalizes their deviant behaviour by relabelling it as non-deviant is in the secondary stage of social deviance.

Question 62

Degradation ceremonies refer to the formal attempts made by groups to mark an individual as deviant and an outsider to the group.

Question 63

According to strain theory, the goals of a society are accepted by most members of the society but access to the legitimate ways to achieve the goals are not equally available to all members of a society.

Question 64

Thomas Szasz maintains that all forms of mental illnesses have organic causes.

Question 65

The association between mental illness and homelessness is reciprocal; each factor can cause the other factor to occur.

Question 66

Most feminists argue that strictly enforcing arrest policies is the best way to reduce violence against women.

Question 67

According to Durkheim, social deviance can always be controlled.

Question 68

Martin Lipset (1990) explains that the differences in the rates of incarceration between the United States and Canada stem from the fundamentally different values embedded in their constitutions regarding individual versus collective rights.

Question 69

Differential association theory is based on the idea that learning to deviate or to conform to a society's norms is influenced most by the people with whom we associate.

Question 70

Postmodern theories of crime and social deviance focus on how social deviance serves some positive functions in society.

Question 71

Drug dealers accept the goal of material success but reject the legitimate avenues for achieving it. Merton would consider them to be retreatists.

Question 72

Treating young offenders as adult criminals is an effective crime-prevention measure.

Question 73

Symbolic interactionists maintain that we are prisoners of socialization and are merely pawns in the hands of others.

Question 74

Rationalizing that a gang fight was a "private quarrel" is known as denial of injury.

Question 75

While arrests for violence against women have decreased, some feminists charge that enforcing arrest policies can improve things even further.

Question 76

In terms of dollars, "crime in the suites" is considerably higher than "crime in the streets."

Question 77

Tertiary deviance occurs when a person gets arrested for breaking a law.

Question 78

According to conflict theorists, street crimes are punished more severely than crimes committed by the elite because street crimes threaten not only the sanctity of private property, but also the positions of the powerful.

Question 79

Sykes and Matza identified retreatism as a technique of neutralization.