Deck 9: Social Conflict Theory

Question 1

Which terms refers to criminologists who view crime as caused by social and economic conflict?

A) interactionist
B) functionalist
C) utilitarian
D) Marxist

Answer 1

Marxist

Question 2

What do conflict theorists view crime as the outcome of?

A) social class struggle
B) capitalistic hegemony
C) deconstructed social values
D) instrumental Marxism

Answer 2

social class struggle

Question 3

Which theory argues that crime is the outcome of social class struggle?

A) broken windows
B) social conflict
C) social disorganization
D) classical

Answer 3

social conflict

Question 4

Which type of crime would social conflict theory consider to be the "true crimes" committed in modern society?

A) abortion
B) murder
C) environmental pollution
D) drug dealing

Question 5

Which term would social conflict theory use to describe imperialism, racism, and unsafe working conditions?

A) justified wrongs
B) true crimes
C) conflict
D) capitalism

Question 6

Which branch of social conflict theory assumes that crime is caused by intergroup rivalry that exists in every society?

A) capitalist
B) feminism
C) conflict
D) advantageous

Question 7

Which branch of Social Conflict theory focuses on the role capitalism plays in fostering crime?

A) capitalist
B) feminism
C) conflict
D) Marxist

Question 8

Whose writings serve as the basis for all conflict theory?

A) Émile Durkheim
B) Karl Marx
C) Gabriel Tarde
D) Robert Parks

Question 9

Which statement best describes the societal experiences that shaped Marx's writings?

A) Society had been stable and had not undergone significant change in nearly two centuries.
B) Capitalism was just beginning to form as a viable economic model.
C) Public welfare spending was rapidly increasing, resulting in obscenely high taxes on the rich, but better working conditions for labourers.
D) The industrial revolution was driving the development of large factories that had squalid conditions for the workers.

Question 10

Who was a friend and economic patron of conflict theory's founder?

A) Ralf Dahrendorf
B) James Messerschmidt
C) Friedrich Engels
D) George Vold

Question 11

According to Karl Marx, what determines the character of every civilization?

A) the way the government runs the country
B) the way its people develop material goods and services
C) the initiative in a peacekeeping philosophy
D) the ability of all social classes to integrate themselves together

Question 12

Complete the following analogy According to Marxism, the capitalist is to proletarian as _______________?

A) Lord is to serf
B) judge is to police officer
C) police officer is to criminal
D) master is to freed slave

Question 13

According to Karl Marx, what is the most important relationship in industrial culture?

A) the relationship between the public and private spheres of corporation ownership
B) the relationship between the higher and lower classes
C) the relationship between the church and the government
D) the relationship between the owners of the means of production and the labourers

Question 14

What did Karl Marx believe about the structure of society?

A) It was rigid and unchangeable.
B) It was dictated by the government in an attempt to attain ultimate power.
C) It was a result of deserving people climbing to the top.
D) It was not stable, but could be changed when social arrangements were unacceptable to certain groups.

Question 15

How did Friederich Engels, Karl Marx's collaborator, portray crime?

A) as the result of social demoralization
B) as inevitable and unavoidable
C) as a rational choice by the offenders
D) as being caused by communist societies

Question 16

Which statement is most likely to have come from Friederich Engels' writings about the causes of crime?

A) "To be free is the nature of man, and as such only the insane would turn to criminal activity for it means certain imprisonment and the absence of our free nature."
B) "No man has ever committed a crime in the absence of intoxicating spirits."
C) "That a man would want to break free of his demoralizing position in life through barbarous acts of crime is wholly understandable."
D) "I have not yet met a man, whether wealthy or poor, who does not desire to add spice to his life through the commission of criminal acts. Such is the effect of boredom on the soul."

Question 17

According to Willem Bonger, what is the purpose of the criminal law?

A) to separate the haves from the have-nots
B) to protect the poor from the wealthy and powerful
C) to serve the interests of the dominant class
D) to provide an equitable relationship in society

Question 18

According to Willem Bonger, what holds the capitalist system together?

A) consensus
B) force
C) bribery
D) institutional Marxism

Question 19

According to Willem Bonger, what will drive upper-class individuals to crime?

A) opportunity for illegal gain
B) greedy personalities
C) the need for unlimited wealth
D) peers who worship money

Question 20

Although Willem Bonger contributed to the theoretical underpinnings of social conflict theory, who adapted the theory to criminology?

A) Langer Sythe
B) George Vold
C) Robert Seidman
D) Richard Quinney

Question 21

Which theorist believed that society is organized into imperatively coordinated associations?

A) Karl Marx
B) Willem Bonger
C) Ralf Dahrendorf
D) George Vold

Question 22

What term did Ralf Dahrendorf use to describe how societies are organized?

A) bourgeoisie
B) imperatively coordinated associations
C) social pathology
D) industrial counterparts

Question 23

What type of situation is George Vold's model limited to?

A) impulsive or irrational acts
B) one in which rival group loyalties collide
C) misdemeanours
D) felonies

Question 24

When did conflict theory come into criminological prominence?

A) 1950s
B) 1960s
C) 1970s
D) 1980s

Question 25

According to a conflict theorist, what would be an important area of research?

A) assessing the impact of sentencing practices on recidivism
B) determining the effectiveness of prison treatment programs
C) evaluating how the criminal law is used as a mechanism of social control
D) measuring the relationship between educational level and police effectiveness

Question 26

What is the name of the piece that Chambliss and Seidman wrote that documented how the justice system operates to protect the rich and powerful?

A) Law, Order, and Power
B) Political Unrest
C) Systems of the Powerful
D) The Power Siege

Question 27

What is a common objective to conflict criminology?

A) to overthrow the capitalist system in the United States
B) to study the symbolic interactionism occurring between struggling groups
C) to show how definitions of crime favour those who control the justice system
D) to free the workers, reunite them, and revolt

Question 28

What is one objective of Chambliss and Seidman's writing?

A) to show how justice is skewed so that crimes of the wealthy are being punished less than those who commit crimes out of necessity and receive stricter punishments
B) to demonstrate the need for early intervention in children whose parents were criminals
C) to prove that inequality is inherent in any society and is needed in order for society to function properly
D) to argue that rich people actually commit more crime than the poor

Question 29

Which type of criminal has the most power and is least likely to be punished according to conflict theory?

A) bank robber
B) drug dealer
C) rapist
D) white-collar fraudster

Question 30

According to conflict criminology, which type of criminal deserves to be punished the most?

A) bank robber
B) drug dealer
C) rapist
D) white-collar fraudster

Question 31

Richard Quinney integrated beliefs about power, society, and criminality into a theory. What was the theory called?

A) the social reality of crime
B) the classless state of criminal justice
C) the hegemony of crime
D) the internal state of surplus value

Question 32

Who wrote about the social reality of crime?

A) Daniel Georges-Abeyie
B) Richard Quinney
C) William Chambliss
D) Steven Spitzer

Question 33

According to Richard Quinney, what is the law?

A) an abstract body of rules
B) an immutable code of conduct
C) a representation of an absolute moral code
D) a representation of the interests held by those holding power in society

Question 34

According to Richard Quinney, what are law violations?

A) quasi-revolutionary acts
B) violations of consensually defined rules
C) acts of mercy in the war of surplus value
D) acts on behalf of public interests

Question 35

What term did Austin Turk use to refer to open conflict between authorities and subjects?

A) hegemony
B) surplus value
C) norm resistance
D) internal dialogue

Question 36

According to Austin Turk, what difference exists between authorities and those controlled by the law?

A) cultural norms
B) religious beliefs
C) moral standards
D) race

Question 37

According to conflict researchers, what are single, young, urban males members of?

A) surplus value pool
B) dangerous classes
C) proletariat hegemony
D) disenfranchised elite

Question 38

According to conflict researchers, which group is more likely to receive stricter sentences in criminal courts?

A) married, rich white women
B) middle-aged, married white men
C) single, urban-dwelling young men
D) black, rural land owners

Question 39

According to conflict-oriented research, when are both white and non-white offenders are more likely to receive stricter sentences?

A) when they have offended against businesses
B) when they have the personal characteristics of dangerous-class members
C) when they have offended against persons
D) when they are recidivists

Question 40

What factor supports conflict theory and, in some cases, may be a detriment on how offenders are treated within the criminal justice system?

A) race or ethnicity
B) age
C) gender
D) educational levels

Question 41

What does an analysis of national population trends and imprisonment rates show?

A) As the baby-boomers age, incarceration rates go up.
B) As percentages of minority groups increases, so do imprisonment rates.
C) As the proportion of whites increases, so do imprisonment rates.
D) As more females become pregnant outside marriage, imprisonment rates increase.

Question 42

What did the famous Canadian court case R. v. Gladue involve?

A) conditional release for non-violent offenders
B) alternative sentencing for female offenders
C) mandatory sentences for violent, repeat offenders
D) sentencing principles for Aboriginal offenders

Question 43

Which statement best reflects the beliefs of a conflict theorist?

A) Laws do not represent the values of the majority of the population.
B) Criminals are making a rational choice based on greed.
C) Crime is the result of poor socialization.
D) Criminal activity is the result of disorganized societies.

Question 44

Why was research conducted in Tanzania damaging to conflict theory?

A) It showed that the poor stole because they are greedy and not desperate.
B) It found that people who commit crime have low IQs.
C) It showed that the crime rate rose when a socialist government was installed.
D) It showed that the causes of crime were multicultural.

Question 45

What is Marxism a critique of?

A) patriarchy
B) anarchy
C) socialism
D) capitalism

Question 46

Which criminological theory is, at its core, a critique of capitalism?

A) social disorganization
B) Marxist
C) social process
D) choice

Question 47

What do Marxists think of laws that regulate corporate crime?

A) They are helpful in alleviating some of the social problems that cause crime.
B) There should be fewer of them since most crime is committed by the poor.
C) They are window dressing designed to impress the working class with how fair the justice system is.
D) They are an attempt by the lower class to resume some sort of control over power relations and the justice system, and they are effective.

Question 48

Which of the following newspaper headlines would a Marxist criminologist argue is just a façade to make the justice system seem fair while maintaining many of the historical conflicts of capitalism?

A) New Tougher Sentencing Laws for Drug Dealers Announced by PM Today
B) Court Sentences Activists to Prison for Environmental Protests
C) Bankers Cleared of Wrongdoing After Losing $8 Billion in Risky Investments
D) CRA Announces Increased Penalties for Tax Cheats With Net Worth Over $2 Million

Question 49

Which group would a Marxist criminologist argue deserves not just to be punished more severely, but to actually be held responsible for the damage they do to society?

A) drug dealers
B) corporations that promote unsafe working conditions
C) bank robbers who use a gun
D) rapists who drug their victim

Question 50

What organization sponsored several national symposiums that spurred the development of radical criminology?

A) Society of New Criminologists
B) Pragmatists for a New World Order
C) National Deviancy Conference
D) Society for Political Criminology

Question 51

What aspect of society do radical criminologists believe social science should try to correct?

A) criminal behaviour
B) youth anti-social behaviour
C) economic relations in society
D) immigration patterns

Question 52

In 1973, radical criminology was given a powerful boost when Taylor, Walton, and Young published their influential book. What was the book called?

A) The Social Reality of Crime
B) Law Order and Power
C) Power and Privilege
D) The New Criminology

Question 53

What is academic McCarthyism?

A) the victimization of professors for their critical views of law and society
B) the lack of objectivity regarding mainstream criminology
C) the discussion of radical theory without any supporting research
D) a movement to eradicate mainstream criminologists

Question 54

Which of the following would conflict criminologists argue is a crime just as much as burglary and robbery?

A) opinion making
B) crimes of power
C) editorialism
D) mesmerism

Question 55

Which statement best summarizes the view that capitalism and society produce criminality?

A) Each society will produce its own types and amounts of crime.
B) Each society deals with criminal behaviour in the same way.
C) Each society has special punishments that reflect its core values.
D) Each society is disrupted by crime.

Question 56

Which type of criminologist would be most likely to believe that each society gets the amount of crime it deserves?

A) positivist
B) classical
C) Marxist
D) Weberian

Question 57

How would an instrumental Marxist suggest that street crime rates be lowered?

A) increase police presence in the streets
B) provide more opportunities for working-class youth
C) end the social conditions that promote crime
D) reduce racial and class discrimination in the justice system

Question 58

What do some Marxist criminologists claim is the principal basis of power in capitalist society?

A) the ownership and control over private property
B) the allowance of corporate crimes to be committed without punishment
C) the dominance of the government over the people
D) the allocation of resources in the public school systems

Question 59

Which term refers to the value resulting from production when the cost of labour is less than the cost of the goods it produces?

A) excess value
B) surplus value
C) gain and yield
D) labour gain

Question 60

What term refers to the situation when people are thrust outside the economic mainstream?

A) structural displacement
B) surplus personnel
C) demoralization
D) marginalization

Question 61

According to Marxism, what happens once people are marginalized?

A) They conform to standards of the government in order to reap the benefits of programs and resource distribution.
B) Their commitment to the system declines, producing a weak bond to society which, in turn, may lead to crime.
C) They relocate in order to feel that they are not being relatively deprived.
D) They lose faith in police and court systems, rather than blame their situation on the government.

Question 62

According to Marxism, what is inherent about capitalism?

A) egalitarian
B) unfair
C) destabilizing
D) empowering

Question 63

Which type of conflict theorist believes the purpose of the criminal law and justice system is to control of the poor and have-not members of society?

A) critical theorist
B) instrumental Marxist
C) structural Marxist
D) left realist

Question 64

Which view argues that capitalist justice serves the powerful and rich, enabling them to impose their morality and standards of behaviour on all of society?

A) critical theory
B) instrumental Marxism
C) structural Marxism
D) left realist theory

Question 65

Which theory argues that the criminal justice system has been designed as a tool to control the poor?

A) critical
B) consensus
C) structural Marxism
D) instrumental Marxism

Question 66

How do instrumental Marxists define the purpose of "criminology"?

A) decriminalizing sexism, racism, and hate crimes
B) educating the poor and lower classes on the letter of the law so as to avoid detection and prosecution
C) unmasking the true purpose of the law by showing how it works to preserve the ruling-class's power
D) educating the poor, inmates, and indigents on legal criminal defences

Question 67

According to instrumental Marxism, which historical event could be seen as a class rebellion?

A) the sinking of the Titanic
B) the 1992 Los Angeles riots
C) the election of Stephen Harper
D) the Iranian revolution of 1979

Question 68

How does instrumental Marxism see criminal law?

A) as an instrument of the state to maintain existing social order
B) as a necessary and sufficient mechanism for controlling crime
C) as a way of fairly assessing guilt and innocence in criminal matters
D) as a potential instrument of the lower class to regain control

Question 69

What do instrumental Marxists argue is required to solve the crime problem?

A) a collapse of the capitalist system and the creation of a new society based on socialist principles
B) the replacement of social hegemony with social heterogeneity
C) the elimination of the bourgeoisie and the implementation of a peace-making agenda at a societal level
D) a total reintegration of left realism into the dialectics of power

Question 70

Which of the following is one of the core components of instrumental Marxism?

A) fairly evaluated behaviour that has been deemed unacceptable by most of society
B) conditions that reproduce the class system as a single entity
C) rigid norms that have existed and are unchanged since the implementation of the Criminal Code
D) the basic human rights that are dictated by our Charter

Question 71

According to Krisberg, the banning of panhandling and soliciting money from vehicles that are stopped of parked could be seen as an example of class discrimination. What is this type of class discrimination based on?

A) ethnicity
B) gender
C) privilege
D) background

Question 72

How does Barry Krisberg define the concept of "privileged"?

A) the possession of that which is valued by a particular social group
B) the ability to use of violence and coercion
C) the possession of an earned reward or responsibility, such as driving a car
D) a need based on the relative needs of others

Question 73

According to instrumental Marxism, what major factor determines which social group ascends to the position of defining and holding privilege?

A) the possession of private property
B) the effective use of fair play and legality
C) the effective use of violence and coercion
D) having the government behind the particular social group

Question 74

Why did some instrumental Marxists turn to structural Marxism?

A) They disagreed with the view that the relationship between law and capitalism is unit-dimensional; that is, always working for the rich and against the poor.
B) They wanted to branch off and research new areas such as humanistic definitions of crime.
C) Instrumental Marxists were unsound in their methodology.
D) They disagreed with the instrumentalists in their view that the capitalist system is what causes crime.

Question 75

"Law is not the exclusive domain of the rich but is used to maintain the long term interests of the capitalist system and control members of any class who pose a threat to its existence." Which type of theorist would adhere to this statement?

A) critical
B) instrumental Marxist
C) conflict
D) structural Marxist

Question 76

What perspective cites antitrust legislation designed to prevent a monopoly as evidence that the goal of the criminal justice and economic systems serve to legitimate the systems despite clear inequalities?

A) consumptionist
B) instrumentalist
C) structuralist
D) Marxist

Question 77

Which statement would structural Marxists agree with?

A) Laws are in place to protect only the interests of the ruling class.
B) Organized crime is discouraged by the government in order to promote legal consumption from privately owned capitalist companies.
C) One person in the system cannot get too powerful at the expense of the economic system as a whole.
D) The capitalist system works because members of the ruling class "conspire" to control society.

Question 78

Who wrote one of the most highly regarded structural Marxist approaches of a Marxian theory of deviance?

A) Ralf Dahrendorf
B) Karl Marx
C) Barry Krisberg
D) Steven Spitzer

Question 79

According to Steven Spitzer, what is one way of dealing with those who oppose capitalism?

A) normalize formerly illegal acts by absorbing them into the mainstream
B) educate on the ills of capitalism
C) institute socialized medicine
D) convert the economic system

Question 80

Which title is most likely to have come from paper written by a Marxist criminologist?

A) Rates of Crime by Young Black Men With Minimal Formal Education
B) An Empirical Analysis of Drug Use by University Students
C) A Historical Analysis of the Development of Penal Policy and Prison Systems
D) Domestic Abuse Rates in Well Educated Households