Deck 7: Sociological Mainstream Theories

Question 1

Which of the following led to the breakdown of social controls, the rise of criminal traditions, and barriers to the American dream of success?

A) The Civil War
B) The American Revolution
C) The Depression
D) The Civil Rights Movement

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The primary theme of ______ concentrates on learning, socialization, and subcultural transmission of criminal values.

A) anomie
B) social process
C) social control
D) life course

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Social trends in modern urban-industrial societies result in changing norms, confusion, and lessened social control over the individual. This condition creates ______.

A) delinquent sub-cultures
B) drift
C) anomie
D) criminal sub-cultures

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Émile Durkheim's work on suicide identified several types. Which of the following refers to the self-centered suicide?

A) altruistic
B) egoistic
C) anomic
D) normal

Question 5

Which policy would someone who supports anomie theory as an explanation for crime suggest?

A) programs that strengthen the family
B) policies to create greater opportunities
C) neighborhood clean-up
D) eradication of slums

Question 6

Merton's adaptation of anomie became known as ______.

A) personality adaptation theory
B) the general theory of crime
C) differential association theory
D) strain theory

Question 7

A particular student wants to do well in school but never seems to be able to earn higher than a

A) conformity
B) innovation
C) rebellion
D) retreatism

Question 8

Which of the modes of personality accepts the goal of success in society and the societally approved means of achieving this status?

A) conformist
B) innovator
C) retreatist
D) rebel

Question 9

Which of the following modes of personality accepts the goal of success but rejects or sees illegitimate alternatives to the means of achieving these aims?

A) conformist
B) innovator
C) retreatist
D) rebel

Question 10

Which of the following modes of personality is illustrated by the mindless bureaucrat who becomes caught up in the riles and means to an end that he or she forgets or fails to place proper significance on the goal?

A) conformist
B) innovator
C) ritualist
D) rebel

Question 11

Which of the following modes of personality represents a rejection of both societally approved means and ends?

A) retreatist
B) innovator
C) ritualist
D) rebel

Question 12

Which of the following modes of personality rejects both means and goals, and seeks to substitute alterative ones that would represent new societal goals as well as new methods of achieving them?

A) retreatist
B) innovator
C) ritualist
D) rebel

Question 13

Which of the following theorists is credited with general strain theory, in which it was acknowledged that strain can result from a variety of negative relationships or experiences?

A) Émile Durkheim
B) Albert Cohen
C) Robert Agnew
D) Robert Merton

Question 14

The "institutional anomie theory" attributes crime to the ______.

A) American Dream
B) normlessness that results from social change
C) rejection of middle-class values
D) weakening of social bonds

Question 15

According to Cohen's ______ theory, delinquency is a lower-class reaction to middle-class values.

A) lower-class reaction
B) strain
C) anomie
D) delinquent subculture

Question 16

Generally speaking, differential opportunity theories focus on crime as the result of ______.

A) social disorganization
B) natural processes of maturation
C) lack of legitimate opportunities
D) weak social controls

Question 17

Which of the following pairs of criminologists is most strongly associated with helping us understand that forms of adaptation depend upon the availability of illegitimate opportunities to commit crime?

A) Shaw and McKay
B) Sampson and Laub
C) Cloward and Ohlin
D) Gottfredson and Hirschi

Question 18

According to Cloward and Ohlin, which type of criminal subculture does "double-failures" enter?

A) rebels
B) criminal
C) retreatist
D) conflict

Question 19

Which of the following delinquent subcultures occurs in stable neighborhoods in which a hierarchy of available criminal opportunities exists?

A) criminal
B) conflict
C) retreatist
D) rebel

Question 20

Disorganized areas are characterized by a ______ subculture.

A) criminal
B) conflict
C) retreatist
D) rebel

Question 21

Which of the following is the "Chicago School" associated with?

A) biological positivism
B) urban ecology
C) social control
D) theories of strain

Question 22

In their study of urban ecology, in which zone did Shaw and McKay find the highest crime rate?

A) Zone I-economic center
B) Zone II-zone of transition
C) Zone III-industry and working people's homes
D) Zone IV-better residential areas

Question 23

Which theoretical tradition is Shaw and McKay's social disorganization theory a part of?

A) anomie
B) social process
C) social control
D) life course

Question 24

A problem in which group rates are used in order to describe individual behavior is referred to as ______.

A) dualistic fallacy
B) ecological fallacy
C) strain
D) anomie

Question 25

A critique of social disorganization theory is that some of the studies tend to use group rates to explain individual crime. Aggregate statistics do not yield accurate estimates if the intended unit of analysis is the behavior of individuals. Consequently, researchers have committed a/an ______ fallacy.

A) global
B) human
C) dualistic
D) ecological

Question 26

An individual increases their risk of being a victim of crime by leaving for work each day at the same time, driving the same route to and from work, and returning at the same time with no variation. The crime that results would be attributed to the ______ theory.

A) social disorganization
B) routine activities
C) differential association
D) differential opportunity

Question 27

Which of the following proposes that the probability of crime varies by time, place, and social setting?

A) routine activities approach
B) social disorganization theory
C) strain theory
D) lifestyle exposure theory

Question 28

Stark identified all of the following aspects of high-deviance areas except ______.

A) density
B) poverty
C) transience
D) development

Question 29

According to Stark, density is associated with all of the following except ______.

A) higher moral cynicism
B) overcrowding
C) family conflict
D) outdoor gatherings

Question 30

Which of the following theories indicates that individuals become predisposed toward criminality because of an excess of contacts that advocate criminal behavior?

A) routine activities approach
B) differential association theory
C) social disorganization theory
D) social bond theory

Question 31

Miller's theory of crime that reflects an overemphasis on lower-class values is known as ______.

A) social disorganization
B) differential association
C) focal concerns
D) social bond

Question 32

The idea that delinquents exist "in a limbo between convention and crime" is consistent with which of the following theories?

A) techniques of neutralization
B) focal concerns theory
C) social bond theory
D) drift theory

Question 33

______ theories indicate that certain forces have an influence, but do not determine behavior.

A) focal concerns
B) delinquency
C) drift
D) soft determinism

Question 34

A group of juveniles who attend a district school commit an act of vandalism against a neighboring school district, explaining that it was necessary to defend their own mascot. This is an example of ______.

A) denial of responsibility
B) denial of harm
C) condemning the condemners
D) appeal to a higher authority

Question 35

An offender arrested for drug use states, "But I'm not hurting anyone else." This is reflective of ______.

A) denial of victim
B) condemnation of the condemners
C) denial of responsibility
D) denial of harm

Question 36

According to containment theory, which of the following would the internalization of conventional behavior constitute?

A) inner pressure
B) outer pressure
C) inner containment
D) outer containment

Question 37

An individual commits a crime because he has "nothing to lose." Which of the following social bonds does this indicate a lack of?

A) attachment
B) belief
C) commitment
D) involvement

Question 38

Which of the following refers to a bond to others, such as family and peers?

A) attachment
B) belief
C) commitment
D) involvement

Question 39

An individual commits a crime because he has "nothing better to do with his time." Which of the following social bonds does this indicate a lack of?

A) attachment
B) belief
C) commitment
D) involvement

Question 40

Which of the following theories is the proposal that crime is rooted in low self-control and the pursuit of self-interest consistent with?

A) anomie
B) containment
C) focal concerns
D) general theory of crime

Question 41

How does power control theory explain the gender difference in criminality?

A) Boys are exposed to fewer parental controls.
B) Boys have a greater desire for power and control.
C) Girls have stronger internal containments.
D) Girls have stronger social bonds.

Question 42

According to theorist David Farrington, what do situational and motivating factors contribute to?

A) long-term anti-social potential
B) short-term anti-social potential
C) social disorganization
D) techniques of neutralization

Question 43

In early criminological theories, the unit of analysis was the individual criminal.

Question 44

According to anomie/strain theory, individuals who accept traditional goals but reject the accepted means of achieving them are known as retreatists.

Question 45

According to Émile Durkheim, the development of modern urban-industrial societies has resulted in changing norms, confusion, and lessened social control over the individual.

Question 46

Émile Durkheim insisted on primacy of groups and social organizations in understanding human behavior.

Question 47

A moral confusion or breakdown in mores or a gap between goals and means in society is referred to as strain.

Question 48

One weakness of Merton's theory of anomie/strain is that it does not provide a good explanation for economic crimes.

Question 49

Durkheim viewed anomie as a condition that occurs when discrepancies exist between societal goals and the means available for their achievement.

Question 50

Merton's theory appears to dwell on lower-class criminality, thus failing to consider law breaking among the elite.

Question 51

According to Robert Merton, if a person experiences a form of strain and responds with negative emotionality without having good coping resources, they are more likely than others to engage in crime.

Question 52

General Strain Theory views strain as a more general phenomenon than the discrepancy between aspirations and expectations.

Question 53

Strain may prevent one from achieving positively valued goals.

Question 54

Theories that view the type of crime as owing to various forms of delinquent subcultures are referred to as general strain theories.

Question 55

Maliciousness is expressed in a general disdain for middle-class values or objects and a negative reaction to such values.

Question 56

Albert Cohen suggested that lower-class delinquency is shaped by the availability of both illegitimate and legitimate opportunities.

Question 57

Cohen viewed lower-class delinquency as nonutilitarian, malicious, and negativistic.

Question 58

Cloward and Ohlin's primary contribution to the field of criminology was their basic premise that some crime can be attributed to social disorganization.

Question 59

According to Cloward and Ohlin's differential opportunity theory, retreatist subcultures develop in stable slum neighborhoods in which a hierarchy of available criminal opportunities exists.

Question 60

According to the routine activities theory, working-class juveniles will choose one or another type of subcultural (gang) adjustment to their anomic situation depending on the availability of illegitimate opportunity structures in their neighborhood.

Question 61

The victim subculture occurs in stable neighborhoods in which a hierarchy of available criminal opportunities exists.

Question 62

The "Chicago School" was well-known for its armchair theorizing; few of its researchers ever ventured into the field.

Question 63

Urban ecology views the city as a growing organism.

Question 64

According to Park, natural areas are subcommunities that emerge to serve specific, specialized functions.

Question 65

The study of the interrelationship between human organisms and the physical environment is known as human ecology.

Question 66

The dualistic fallacy is a problem in which group rates are used to describe individual behavior.

Question 67

Shaw and McKay made extensive use of maps and official statistics in their studies of juvenile delinquency.

Question 68

Social disorganization theory posits that crime is due to social disorganization and social breakdown of an area.

Question 69

The looking-glass self is Cooley's theory of personality as a perceived perception of the reaction of others.

Question 70

One weakness of Edwin Sutherland's differential association theory is that he failed to account for the fact that not all associations are equal in intensity, frequency, duration, and priority.

Question 71

Differential association theory is a behavioristic theory.

Question 72

One weakness of Miller's theory of "focal concerns" is that it fails to explain middle- and upper-class criminal behavior.

Question 73

Delinquency and drift are an example of hard determinism.

Question 74

Techniques of neutralization refer to rationalizations or excuses that juveniles use to neutralize responsibility for deviant actions.

Question 75

Social process theories address the issue of how society maintains or elicits social control and the manner in which it obtains conformity or fails to obtain it in the form of deviance.

Question 76

Social control theory holds that individuals have various social controls that assist them in resisting pressures that draw them toward criminality.

Question 77

Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime is best characterized as outlining the inner and outer pushes and pulls that influence a person's likelihood of criminality.

Question 78

General theory of crime, developed by Gottfredson and Hirschi, commits a global fallacy in its efforts to explain crime as "low self-control" in pursuit of "self-interest."

Question 79

Antisocial potential posits that relatively few people have high potential to commit antisocial acts.

Question 80

List and explain two forms of adaptation from Merton's theory of anomie/strain.