Deck 4: Deviance and Social Control

Question 1

Which term is used to refer to the techniques and strategies for regulating human behavior in any society?

A) social control
B) social promotion
C) socialization
D) techniques of neutralization

Answer 1

social control

Question 2

A high school student pierces her tongue and her belly button because three of her best friends have done the same thing. This is an example of

A) stress management.
B) a sanction.
C) conformity.
D) obedience.

Answer 2

conformity.

Question 3

Which term is used to refer to compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure?

A) norms
B) folkways
C) obedience
D) sanctions

Answer 3

obedience

Question 4

Which person examined social obedience by conducting an experiment that required student subjects to administer "painful" shocks to subjects in an analysis of "learning"?

A) Erving Goffman
B) Stanley Milgram
C) Robert Merton
D) Harry King

Question 5

Stanley Milgram

A) created the theory of differential association.
B) conducted a study of obedience that required subjects to administer "painful" shocks to other subjects in an analysis of "learning".
C) noted that punishments established within a culture help to define acceptable behavior.
D) illustrated how racism is influenced by the need to conform with peers.

Question 6

Which one of the following would be an example of an informal social control? A person

A) is arrested for speeding.
B) is fined for bringing books back to the library after the due date.
C) receives a smile for holding an elevator door for another person.
D) receives a promotion for hard work.

Question 7

Which type of informal social control is supported by 59 percent of pediatricians in spite of the risk of harmful effects to individuals?

A) capital punishment
B) institutionalization
C) spanking
D) time-outs

Question 8

Clyde is arrested for "tagging" or vandalism. The arrest is an example of a(an)

A) formal social control.
B) value.
C) informal social control.
D) norm.

Question 9

A college fraternity is found guilty of having racist recruitment policies by the college's intrafraternity council and administration, and it is forced to suspend operations on that campus. This is an example of

A) an informal sanction.
B) formal social control.
C) a victimless crime.
D) a norm.

Question 10

Law

A) emerges from social norms.
B) can be directed at all members of society.
C) can govern the behavior of social institutions.
D) all of these

Question 11

From a sociological perspective, laws are created in response to perceived needs for

A) formal social control.
B) informal social control.
C) deprivation techniques of neutralization.
D) cultural transmission.

Question 12

Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society is known as

A) deviance.
B) sanctions.
C) laws.
D) folkways.

Question 13

Which of the following statements about deviance is correct?

A) According to the sociological definition of deviance, we are all deviant from time to time.
B) Deviance involves the violation of group norms that may or may not be formalized into law.
C) Deviation from norms is not always negative, let alone criminal.
D) All of these

Question 14

Which one of the following is an example of deviance? A student

A) sits in the front row of your sociology class and picks his or her nose during lecture.
B) walks into your sociology class naked because it is hot outside.
C) cheats on his or her first sociology examination.
D) all of these

Question 15

Which of the following is a group that may be stigmatized in the United States today?

A) ugly people
B) fat people
C) anorexic people
D) all of these

Question 16

Which of the following is not true of stigma in the United States?

A) Many people with "normal" appearance have cosmetic surgery each year because of the "beauty myth".
B) People are not stigmatized for deviant behaviors in which they no longer engage.
C) A person need not be guilty of a crime to be stigmatized.
D) A recovering alcoholic might be stigmatized.

Question 17

Early explanations for deviance focused strongly on

A) supernatural and genetic causes.
B) economical factors.
C) sociological forces.
D) rational choice.

Question 18

Which sociologist noted that punishments established within a culture help to define acceptable behavior and contribute to societal stability?

A) Richard Quinney
B) Clinton Sanders
C) É mile Durkheim
D) Kai Erikson

Question 19

Which of the following would be an example of anomie? An individual

A) loses a job, a fortune, and a family during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
B) takes a shortcut to school and gets lost.
C) wins a lottery and gives a considerable amount of her winnings to several charities that are important to her.
D) all of these

Question 20

Which functionalist sociologist developed a theory of deviance that suggests that members of a society may conform or deviate from the culturally prescribed goals and the means of attaining those goals?

A) Howard Becker
B) Edwin Sutherland
C) Robert Merton
D) Richard Quinney

Question 21

The anomie theory of deviance was created by

A) É mile Durkheim
B) Robert Merton
C) Edwin Sutherland
D) Howard Becker

Question 22

In his "anomie theory of deviance", Robert Merton

A) was describing five types of deviance.
B) was creating a typology to explain the adaptation people make in accepting or rejecting the goals of a society.
C) noted that people will always follow one of the five modes of adaptation and maintain that mode for an extended period of time.
D) suggested conformists tend to ignore societal goals.

Question 23

Which sociological perspective's approach to deviance focuses on why rule violation continues to exist in societies, despite pressures to conform and obey?

A) functionalist perspective
B) conflict perspective
C) interactionist perspective
D) feminist perspective

Question 24

Which sociological perspective is reflected through the crime explanations offered in cultural transmission theory?

A) functionalist perspective
B) conflict perspective
C) interactionist perspective
D) feminist perspective

Question 25

Which of the following would illustrate cultural transmission?

A) Tammy is in the shopping mall with her friends. Her friends begin to shoplift, and she engages in this behavior for the first time in order to retain their approval.
B) Victor dresses strangely and is considered a "nerd" by his classmates.
C) Joan is depressed because she has just been fired from her job and her husband has abandoned her. She is having suicidal thoughts.
D) None of these

Question 26

Bob and Steve are brothers who have different friends. Bob's friends are the "academic type", and Bob follows in their footsteps and goes to college. Steve's friends engage in crime, and Steve follows in their footsteps and goes to prison. Which explanation of deviant behavior is illustrated by this example?

A) labeling
B) anomie
C) differential association
D) dramaturgy

Question 27

Which one of the following theories is associated with the interactionist perspective?

A) cultural transmission
B) sociobiology
C) social conflict
D) none of these

Question 28

Which of the following theories suggest that increases in crime and deviance can be attributed to the absence or breakdown of communal relationships and social institutions?

A) cultural transmission
B) differential association
C) social disorganization
D) labeling

Question 29

Which sociological theory explains Philip Zimbardo's experiment involving abandoned cars in two different neighborhoods?

A) cultural transmission theory
B) anomie theory
C) social disorganization
D) control theory

Question 30

Which sociologist examined two groups of high school males-the Saints and the Roughnecks- illustrating the importance of social class standing in the labeling process?

A) William Chambliss
B) Richard Quinney
C) Kai Erikson
D) Amitai Etzioni

Question 31

Researchers have discovered that students who are viewed as having "learning difficulties" are viewed more positively by teachers than those students who are viewed as "mentally handicapped" or "mentally subnormal", although there is no difference between people placed in each of these categories. This would be an example of

A) labeling theory.
B) the societal-reaction approach.
C) the anomie theory of deviance.
D) both labeling theory and societal-reaction approach.

Question 32

A single woman who is engaged in illegal acts of prostitution for the purpose of supporting herself and children is most likely to be considered a

A) victimless criminal.
B) corporate criminal.
C) professional criminal.
D) white-collar criminal.

Question 33

Feminist sociologists contend that the so-called victimless crime of prostitution, as well as the more disturbing aspects of pornography,

A) reinforces the misconception that women can be treated as "toys".
B) serves a vital deterrent function for all of society.
C) should be criminalized only for younger women.
D) none of these

Question 34

Which of the following statements about crime rates in the United States is correct?

A) Reported crime in the United States is high, and the public continues to regard crime as a major social problem.
B) There has been a significant decline in violent crime in the United States in recent years.
C) Crimes committed by women have increased.
D) All of these

Question 35

Underreporting of crime in the United States

A) has not been a problem in recent years.
B) has been a problem because members of racial and ethnic minority groups have not always trusted law enforcement agencies and have often refrained from contacting the police.
C) is largely the result of white males failing to report crimes because of their insistence on maintaining a macho image.
D) Two of these statements are true.

Question 36

When Stanley Milgram conducted his study of obedience, nearly two-thirds of participants refused to administer shocks to a stranger even though the researcher said that it was a necessary part of the study.

Question 37

Formal social controls are always carried out by the government.

Question 38

Socialization is the primary source of conforming, obedient behavior, and obedience to the law.

Question 39

Edwin Sutherland coined the term stigma to describe the labels society uses to devalue members of certain social groups.

Question 40

Recent sociological research supports the position that all forms of crime and deviance have genetic roots.

Question 41

According to labeling theorists, it is the response to a behavior and not the behavior itself that determines deviance.

Question 42

Labeling theory was conceived as a sole explanation for deviance, according to Howard Becker.

Question 43

Repeated protests by feminist organizations resulted in changes concerning criminal laws defining rape.

Question 44

Crimes committed by women have fallen almost 14 percent since 1993.

Question 45

In 2009, psychologist Jerry Burger repeated part of Milgram's authority experiment. The results were significantly different, suggesting a drastic reduction in obedience among participants.

Question 46

Sociologist Richard Quinny's view that the criminal justice system serves the interests of the powerful reflects an interactionist perspective on deviance.

Question 47

Discuss the various components of social control. Identify and describe how sanctions may be used to control the expectations of society regarding people's actions and behaviors?

Question 48

Describe the similarities and differences between conformity and obedience, according to Stanley Milgram. Give examples to support both concepts.

Question 49

Discuss why the definitions of deviance and social stigma are dependent on cultural variations and socially accepted norms. Give some examples of how people are stigmatized for behaviors they may no longer engage in.

Question 50

Discuss the relationship between cultural transmission and differential association in explaining deviance or criminal acts. Give an illustration of how a person would likely become criminal using the differential association process.

Question 51

Discuss the various ways that the criminal justice system uses discretionary powers to increase social inequality within a society. Why do some conflict theorists and feminists suggest laws are intentionally designed to perpetuate inequality within a society?