Deck 3: Constructing Deviance

Question 1

Positivist theories see deviance as a type of action; constructionist theories see deviance as a type of infraction.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Feminists charge sociologists of deviance devoting their attention to a narrow range of deviant activities and ignoring the full range of female deviance.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

"Controlology" or the "new sociology of social control" emphasizes that social control is inevitable, benign, and serves to maximize freedom in modern society.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

In addition to studying the passage and enforcement of criminal laws, conflict theorists have also examined the causes of criminal behavior.

Question 5

One topic that constructionist perspectives toward deviance can investigate is the role of false accusations.

Question 6

The two intellectual enterprises-the study of causes of deviance and the social construction of deviance-are contradictory rather than complementary.

Question 7

The labeling theory of deviance grew out of the general approach known as symbolic interactionism.

Question 8

Symbolic interactionism adopts a consensus paradigm.

Question 9

Labeling or interactionist theory has focused exclusively on why certain types of people engage in deviant behavior.

Question 10

To labeling theorists, there is only one relevant audience-the general society.

Question 11

Labeling involves the process of attaching a stigmatizing definition to an activity, belief, condition, or person.

Question 12

Labeling or interactionist theorists have tended to emphasize the "stickiness" of negative labels.

Question 13

In the field of deviance studies, after the 1970s, labeling theory declined sharply in intellectual influence.

Question 14

Conflict theory is a variety of consensus theory.

Question 15

Marxism is a variety of conflict theory.

Question 16

The central concept in conflict theory is disparities in power between and among social categories in the population.

Question 17

The feminist theory of deviance and crime argues that altogether too much attention has been paid in the past to the deviance and crime of women.

Question 18

Feminists deny that females experience subordination as a result of their sex.

Question 19

Most of the time that social control is exercised, it is formal social control.

Question 20

The "major" mode of labeling theory examines the causal or etiological role of labeling as a cause of deviance.

Question 21

Theories that focus mainly on deviance from the point of view of the social construction of condemnation and punishment typically look at deviance as a type of:

A) action
B) behavior
C) condition or trait
D) infraction
E) none of the above

Question 22

A central assumption of the interactionist approach is that deviance labeling:

A) is randomly applied to violators.
B) is applied to all rule violators.
C) is applied to no rule violators.
D) tends to stigmatize rule violators.
E) none of the above.

Question 23

Which of the following theoretical or ideological approaches most strongly justifies patriarchy?

A) positivism
B) feminism
C) interactionism
D) controlology
E) androcentrism

Question 24

The spiritual father of the school of thought known as controlology or the "new" sociology of social control is:

A) Frank Tannenbaum
B) Edwin Lemert
C) Karl Marx
D) Michel Foucault
E) none of the above

Question 25

Social class is the key explanatory theory of which of the following approaches?

A) Marxism
B) feminism
C) interactionism
D) androcentrism
E) labeling theory

Question 26

Which of the following perspectives most emphasizes what the author refers to as the "stickiness of labeling"?

A) anomie theory
B) social control theory
C) self-control theory
D) differential association theory
E) the interactionist approach

Question 27

Feminist theorists of deviance have charged that the field, as a general rule and until very recently, has regarded:

A) the deviance of women as deviance in general, while the deviance of men has been seen as specialized deviance.
B) the deviance of men as deviance in general, while the deviance of women has been seen as specialized deviance.
C) both the deviance of women and the deviance of men have been seen as deviance in general.
D) both the deviance of men and the deviance of women have been seen as specialized deviance.
E) none of the above

Question 28

Interactionist theory is closest to which of the following approaches to the study of deviance:

A) labeling theory
B) anomie theory
C) social control theory
D) self-control theory
E) Marxist theory.

Question 29

Social control tends to:

A) be centralized
B) be repressive
C) entail state or state-like control
D) be largely exercised by formal rules, that is, laws.
E) be exercised interpersonally

Question 30

The interactionist theory of deviance offers an explanation of why:

A) certain people engage in deviant behavior.
B) deviant behavior tends to be enacted in certain neighborhoods or communities.
C) norms come to be constructed and sanctions applied to members of the society.
D) certain kinds of societies generate such high rates of deviant and criminal behavior.
E) none of the above

Question 31

Social class represents the central explanatory variable in which of the following theoretical approaches:

A) labeling
B) interactionism
C) feminism
D) social control theory
E) Marxism

Question 32

The causal or explanatory component of feminism argues that a major cause of crime against women is:

A) anomie
B) patriarchy
C) social disorganization
D) inadequate parenting
E) none of the above

Question 33

The theory or perspective that contradicts or contrasts most sharply with conflict theory is:

A) labeling theory
B) feminism
C) Marxism
D) consensus theory
E) symbolic interactionism

Question 34

A central argument of labeling theory as spelled out by Howard Becker, the most well-known of its proponents:

A) Persons who have broken a rule constitute a homogeneous category.
B) The process of labeling is infallible; everyone who is labeled as deviant has in fact broken a rule.
C) The degree to which people respond to a given act is dependent only on one factor-whether that act is a violation of a rule.
D) Being caught and branded as a deviant has no important consequences for further social participation and self-image; what counts is, did the person engage in the act?
E) none of the above

Question 35

Which of the following perspectives or approaches views men at the center of the universe?

A) sexism
B) patriarchy
C) androcentrism
D) male bias
E) feminism

Question 36

Which of the following questions would a labeling or interactionist theorist be most likely to ask?

A) Why are rates of deviance higher in some societies than in others?
B) Why do some people engage in deviant behavior while others don't?
C) Why don't some people engage in deviant behavior?
D) What is the social class distribution of deviant behavior?
E) What happens when after someone is condemned or stigmatized as a deviant?

Question 37

Feminists aim to eliminate:

A) female deviance
B) all punishment of women by the criminal justice system
C) all informal social control
D) patriarchy
E) sex with men

Question 38

Conflict theorists argue that the criminal law:

A) is enforced against members of all categories and classes fairly and equally.
B) is enacted mainly to protect the society from harm.
C) is supported, endorsed, and regarded as fair and legitimate by the majority of all classes and categories of the society in more or less equal proportion.
D) tends to represent the beliefs, lifestyle, and/or economic interests of the most powerful segments of the society.
E) none of the above

Question 39

Which of the following approaches contrasts most sharply with conflict theory?

A) labeling theory
B) Marxism
C) feminism
D) controlology, or the "new" sociology of social control
E) functionalism

Question 40

The central question/s among social constructionists is:

A) Why do they do it?
B) What is the cause of deviant behavior?
C) Why don't people engage in deviant behavior?
D) In what ways does deviance harm the society in which it takes place?
E) Why are rules created and enforced, and with what consequences?

Question 41

In the past two decades or so, in the study of deviance, the influence of Marxist theory has:

A) increased
B) decreased
C) remained at about the same level
D) fluctuated erratically and randomly from year to year
E) remained unknown

Question 42

Conflict theory is most likely to focus on what factor as the main cause of high rates of crime:

A) sharp inequalities in power and income
B) social disorganization
C) anomie
D) culture transmission
E) inadequate parental socialization

Question 43

One of the arguments feminists make about pre-feminist theories of deviance is that these theories ignored the deviance of women and, when they occasionally discussed it, they also tended to focus on a very narrow range of types of deviance. Two of these stereotypical female types of deviance were prostitution and shoplifting. A third was:

A) mental illness
B) illegal drug use
C) political radicalism
D) murder
E) none of the above

Question 44

Feminists argue that when women do appear in deviance research, they are often relegated to the periphery of attention, with men given center stage. What is the most appropriate term for the phenomenon of a male-centered bias?

A) sexism
B) patriarchy
C) androcentrism
D) male bias
E) feminism

Question 45

Which of the following statements would a conflict theorist be most likely to agree with?

A) Societies possess a kind of collective conscience or shared sense of morality.
B) Societies tend to have a shared community of interests.
C) Societies display a kind of unconscious wisdom in prohibiting harmful behavior.
D) Most social institutions and practices benefit the members of more powerful groups and categories at the expense of less powerful ones.
E) none of the above

Question 46

Feminists argue that, prior to the emergence of feminism as a major perspective, sociologists of deviance typically:

A) over-emphasized women's deviant behavior.
B) saw women's deviance as deviance in general.
C) over-emphasized the role and importance of women as victims of crime.
D) had a skewed view of women's deviance when they did study it, looking almost exclusively at particular, female-stereotyped types of behavior.
E) none of the above

Question 47

Controlology, or the "new sociology of social control," was influenced most by the French philosopher Michel Foucault, who argues that in the modern era, social control is:

A) necessary and positive in its impact.
B) equitable, fostering equality in modern society.
C) less powerful, less coercive than in past centuries.
D) comprised almost entirely of informal and interpersonal social control.
E) none of the above

Question 48

The central, guiding, foundational concept in all constructionist perspectives toward deviance is:

A) causality
B) social control
C) pathology
D) objectivism
E) etiology

Question 49

Controlologists tend to focus on:

A) informal social control
B) the etiology of deviant behavior
C) the deviance of women
D) the harmful consequences of criminal behavior
E) the benign impact of social control

Question 50

Why did feminists criticize all other prior perspectives toward deviance and crime? According to feminism, what were the deficiencies and flaws of these perspectives? In their estimation, what would an adequate and valid theory of deviance and crime look like?

Question 51

Why have the labeling or interactionist theorists focused mainly on "soft" forms of deviance? What would a labeling perspective of "hard" or serious crime and deviance look like?

Question 52

Marxists and other radicals have criticized the field of the sociology of deviance for concentrating overly much on the examination of "nuts, sluts, and deviated preverts"-that is, the seamy, sensationalistic forms of deviance committed by marginal, powerless street people. Instead, they argue, very different forms of behavior should be regarded and studied as deviance. What are these other forms of behavior and why, from a Marxist or radical perspective, should they be regarded as deviant? Why has the field of deviance ignored the Marxist or radical "nuts and sluts" criticisms?

Question 53

How does conflict theory as a form of constructionsm-that is, that examines inequality in the construction of the criminal laws-dovetail with conflict theory as an explanation of deviant and criminal behavior?

Question 54

The labeling or interactionist theory of deviance has been criticized for ignoring the role of power in the social construction of norms and laws. Is this a justified criticism? Why or why not?