Deck 7: Deviance

Question 1

Select the sociological term for the recognized violation of cultural norms.

A) crime
B) law violation
C) deviance
D) juvenile delinquency
E) role conflict

Answer 1

deviance

Question 2

Select the term for the violation of a society's formally enacted criminal law.

A) crime
B) law violation
C) deviance
D) juvenile delinquency
E) subjugation

Answer 2

crime

Question 3

You have been asked by your community to join others in regulating the behaviour of individuals in the community. Sociologists would say you are engaged in:

A) crime prevention.
B) social control.
C) socialization.
D) law.
E) social conformity.

Answer 3

social control.

Question 4

Which of the following is an issue of social organization?

A) when a society defines an act as deviance
B) when individuals brand others as deviant
C) what people decide to do about conformity
D) why deviant people do what they do
E) the response of society to deviant behaviour

Question 5

Adopt Caesare Lombroso's theoretical position. With which of the following assertions would you agree?

A) Social definitions determine criminality.
B) Criminals are made by society, not born.
C) Criminals may be distinguished from non-criminals by their physical features.
D) Criminal behaviour may be extinguished, but only by medical intervention.
E) Incarceration completes the criminal socialization.

Question 6

What approach would you employ if you accepted William Sheldon's research on criminals?

A) a social view
B) a genetic view
C) a labelling view
D) a structural-functional view
E) a physiological view

Question 7

How would you reduce delinquency by applying the Gluecks' approach to body structure and delinquency?

A) Change the diet of weak children to provide more nourishment.
B) Stop society's negative labelling of both very thin and very fat people.
C) Reduce the frustration of tall and lanky people through counselling.
D) Have liposuction covered by health care.
E) Teach parents to be emotionally closer to all their children.

Question 8

Identify the FALSE statement about biology and crime.

A) Genetics combined with social influences may account for some variation in criminality.
B) There is conclusive evidence that connects criminality to a specific genetic flaw.
C) Sociobiology may provide new evidence on the causes of crime.
D) Biology probably has at least a small effect on crime.
E) The biological approach offers no insight as to how behaviours came to be defined as deviant.

Question 9

As an advocate of Reckless and Dinitz's containment theory, what would you contend?

A) Society's values have little to do with deviance.
B) Increase a child's conscience and you can limit his or her deviance.
C) "Bad boys" and "good boys" are determined by genetics.
D) Minimize the "superego" and you will reduce delinquency.
E) Teach all parents to be emotionally closer to all of their children.

Question 10

Which of the following statements is FALSE regarding psychological explanations of deviance?

A) Psychologists have demonstrated that personality patterns have some connection to some types of deviance.
B) Psychologists view deviance as an individual trait.
C) Psychologists have found that people with specific personality patterns are destined to become criminals.
D) People with normal psychological profiles commit most serious crimes.
E) Psychological explanations fail to explain how conceptions of right and wrong arise.

Question 11

Select the FALSE assertion about deviance.

A) Deviance exists only in relation to cultural norms.
B) There are some acts that are inherently deviant.
C) People become deviant as others define them that way.
D) Norms and the way people define situations involve social power.
E) Each of us violates cultural norms.

Question 12

As an advocate of the "social foundations of deviance"approach, with which of the following would you agree?

A) Definitions of deviance differ across time and space.
B) Definitions of deviance do not change much except over centuries.
C) Definitions of deviance are approximately the same across all major societies.
D) Law is a result of societal consensus, not social power.
E) The definition of deviance is constant across Canada.

Question 13

Emile Durkheim's basic insight is that deviance is:

A) a necessary element of social organization.
B) a dysfunctional element of social organization.
C) less common in modern societies.
D) defined by the rich and used against the poor.
E) unrelated to social change.

Question 14

Select the statement that reflects Durkheim's approach to deviance.

A) Crime in primitive societies was treated leniently.
B) Crime is abnormal.
C) Crime is normal, but is dysfunctional in modern industrial society.
D) Crime is normal.
E) Crime is abnormal in technologically advanced societies.

Question 15

Which of the following is one of Durkheim's functions of deviance?

A) Deviance rejects cultural values and norms.
B) Deviance provides employment for a large segment of the workforce.
C) Responding to deviance blurs moral boundaries.
D) Deviance encourages social change.
E) Responding to deviance breaks people apart.

Question 16

You have witnessed an angry mob taking the law into its own hands. As a proponent of Durkheim's theory, what is your explanation?

A) Deviance erodes cultural values and norms.
B) Deviance makes moral boundaries uncertain.
C) Deviance blocks social change.
D) Deviance is caused by role conflict.
E) Deviance brings people together.

Question 17

You have made an attempt to achieve culturally approved goals using unconventional means. Merton would call you a/an:

A) innovator.
B) retreatist.
C) ritualist.
D) rebel.
E) role model.

Question 18

What is the term Merton used in referring to the abandoning of cultural goals while compulsively conforming to cultural norms?

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

Question 19

Use Merton's paradigm to classify the deviance type illustrated by a drug addict.

A) innovation
B) retreatism
C) ritualism
D) rebellion
E) escapism

Question 20

What is the term Merton used in referring to the rejection of cultural goals and norms, and the advocation of alternatives?

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

Question 21

Merton's retreatism is best characterized by which of the following?

A) a lawyer
B) a hockey coach
C) a school teacher
D) a survivalist
E) a drug addict

Question 22

Cloward and Ohlin extend Merton's theory of deviance in asserting that:

A) for criminal deviance to result, it is necessary to have illegitimate opportunity available.
B) criminal subcultures offering illegitimate opportunity for wealth are particularly likely to spring up in the poorest neighbourhoods.
C) those who finally achieve success using criminal means become part of retreatist subcultures.
D) criminal subcultures are supported mainly by the wealthiest members of society.
E) isolated individuals are most likely to become criminals.

Question 23

Which of Walter Miller's focal concerns of delinquent subcultures is derived from the lack of control these youths feel over their own lives?

A) fate
B) trouble
C) autonomy
D) smartness
E) need for excitement

Question 24

Which of Miller's focal concerns reflects the desire for autonomy, expressed as resentment toward authority figures?

A) fate
B) trouble
C) desire for freedom
D) smartness
E) toughness

Question 25

The general argument of Cloward and Ohlin, Cohen, and Miller is that deviance reflects:

A) anomie.
B) stigma.
C) labelling.
D) misattribution.
E) the opportunity structure of society.

Question 26

Which of the following is an appropriate criticism of structural-functional theories of deviance?

A) The theories assume a diversity of cultural standards.
B) The theories imply that everyone who breaks the rules is labelled deviant.
C) The theories focus on all levels of deviance, from stock fraud to street theft.
D) The theories overplay the importance of societal definitions of deviance.
E) The theories overemphasize the importance of social class in explaining deviance.

Question 27

Which theory asserts that deviance and conformity result not only from what people do, but also from how others respond to those actions?

A) labelling
B) structural-functionalism
C) differential association
D) conflict
E) social-conflict

Question 28

You have engaged in a minor law violation that provokes only a slight reaction or no reaction from others. According to Lemert, your actions illustrate:

A) primary deviance.
B) the beginning of a deviant career.
C) secondary deviance.
D) a deviant identity.
E) tertiary deviance.

Question 29

You and your friends describe another friend as a "boozer"and leave him out of your social circle. He begins to drink even more, seems bitter, and joins new friends who are also heavy drinkers. According to Lemert, this is an illustration of:

A) primary deviance.
B) the prelude to criminal behaviour.
C) secondary deviance.
D) a deviant identity.
E) tertiary deviance.

Question 30

With which statement would a labelling theorist agree?

A) Limit the opportunity for deviance, and deviance will be reduced.
B) Everyone is a secondary deviant, so no effort will change deviance in society.
C) Reduce social strain and you will reduce labelling.
D) Change society's response to deviance and you will change the level of deviance in society.
E) Increase policing, and deviance will be reduced.

Question 31

What is the term for the interpretation of someone's past, consistent with his or her present deviance?

A) retrospective labelling
B) projective labelling
C) anticipatory labelling
D) hindsight labelling
E) proactive labelling

Question 32

What is the term for using a deviant label to predict future action?

A) retrospective labelling
B) projective labelling
C) anticipatory labelling
D) hindsight labelling
E) degradation labelling

Question 33

If you agreed with Szasz's approach to deviance, you would contend that:

A) the real level of mental illness in Canada is much lower than the psychiatric profession would suggest.
B) the real level of mental illness in Canada is much higher than the psychiatric profession would suggest.
C) the real level of mental illness in Canada is about the same as the psychiatric profession suggests.
D) mentally ill people are sick people.
E) those labelled as mentally ill should have free access to medication.

Question 34

What is the "medicalization of deviance"?

A) the recognition of the true source of deviance
B) the objective, clinical approach to deviant behaviour
C) the transformation of moral and legal deviance into medical conditions
D) the discovery of links between biochemical properties and deviance
E) the recognition of subjective definitions of deviance

Question 35

Which of the following illustrate the "medicalization of deviance"?

A) promiscuity being redefined as a "mental addiction"
B) drinking too much being redefined as "drunkenness"
C) aggression being redefined as a "social problem"
D) theft being redefined as "impulse control disorder"
E) excessive hoarding being redefined as "recessive compulsive disorder"

Question 36

The "medicalization of deviance"has led to which of the following?

A) increasingly sound judgments on the appropriate treatment of deviant behaviours
B) a stronger emphasis on sociological perspectives of deviance
C) stability over the past 50 years in labels assigned to alcoholism
D) the treatment of deviant behaviour by medical means
E) a sharp reduction in the number of people suffering from alcoholism

Question 37

A proponent of Sutherland's differential association theory would do which of the following to reduce crime?

A) increase the relative frequency of association with those who discourage norm violation
B) remove the authorities' ability to label individuals as deviant
C) overhaul peoples' deviant identities
D) change the discrepancies between society's goals and the means to attain them
E) increase contact between adults and youth

Question 38

Adopt Hirschi's approach to deviance and control. With which statement would you agree?

A) Deviance results from a poorly developed ego.
B) Deviance results from differential access to wealth.
C) Deviance is a frustration of ambition.
D) Individualism inhibits the deviance.
E) All of us are tempted to be deviant.

Question 39

You have been asked to defend Hirschi's approach to deviant behaviour. Which of the following statements would be consistent with your defence?

A) The key fact to be explained in deviant behaviour is deviance, not conformity.
B) There is strong evidence that social attachments relate only weakly to deviance.
C) Among known criminals, the majority evidenced a low stake in conformity, that is, they had little or nothing to lose.
D) Idle hands are not necessarily "the Devil's workshop."
E) There is a clear social hierarchy within the criminal community.

Question 40

Which of the following is one of Hirschi's four types of social controls?

A) sanction
B) values
C) belief
D) strategy
E) punishment

Question 41

Which of the following is NOT a reasonable criticism of the symbolic interaction theories?

A) They ignore the fact that some kinds of behaviour are condemned virtually everywhere.
B) The consequences of deviant labelling in terms of deterrence are unclear.
C) They assume that people always resist the deviant label.
D) They are overly concerned with specifying the causes of crime.
E) They are most usefully applied to less serious deviance.

Question 42

According to the social-conflict paradigm, who or what is labelled deviant is based primarily upon:

A) the severity of the deviant act.
B) labelling.
C) relative power.
D) the period in time.
E) the nature of the crime.

Question 43

Which of the following is a way in which social-conflict theory links deviance to power?

A) The powerless have resources to resist a deviant label.
B) The powerful can easily avoid deviant labels unless a violent crime is involved.
C) The norms and laws generally bolster the interests of the poor and powerless.
D) The belief that norms and laws are good masks their political character.
E) The marginalized in our society have much control over the definition of deviance.

Question 44

Which of the following is among Spitzer's social-conflict model of the likely "targets"for labelling?

A) people who threaten to take the property of others
B) people who want to be employed
C) people who enhance the operation of capitalism
D) people who accept the capitalist system
E) people who accept authority

Question 45

Regarding white-collar crime, which of the following is FALSE?

A) Most charges of white-collar crime target the organization, not the individual.
B) Most white-collar offences involve violence.
C) When there is a reaction, most white-collar cases are heard in civil court.
D) When white-collar criminals are charged and convicted, they usually go to jail.
E) Most white-collar offences end up in a civil hearing rather than in a criminal courtroom.

Question 46

________ is a business supplying illegal goods or services.

A) A pawn shop
B) Organized crime
C) A massage parlour
D) The Soprano family
E) Underground crime

Question 47

A criticism of the social-conflict view of deviance is that it:

A) underemphasizes the role that the rich play in defining deviance.
B) implies that deviance exists in all societies, whatever their economic system.
C) is an overly complex view of deviance.
D) ignores the roles of laws that serve to protect others besides the rich.
E) argues that deviance arises only when society treats its members equally.

Question 48

Which of the following is FALSE regarding the theoretical analysis of deviance?

A) The social-conflict approach argues that people with little power are at high risk for becoming deviant.
B) The structural-functional approach sees deviance as a basic part of social organization.
C) The symbolic-interaction approach views deviance as variable.
D) The structural-functional approach sees deviance as universal.
E) The symbolic-interaction approach sees deviance as being important for setting moral boundaries.

Question 49

You stand accused of a "hate crime."This means you are suspected of:

A) carrying out a crime motivated by your bias.
B) perpetrating a crime of emotion.
C) committing a crime to vent your anger.
D) committing a crime against another racial group.
E) escaping prosecution on compassionate grounds.

Question 50

Which of the following is FALSE regarding the relationship of deviance and gender?

A) Whether people define a situation as deviance depends on the gender of both the audience and the actors.
B) The major theories of deviance tend to explain male behaviours and goals to the exclusion of realities for females.
C) In almost all societies, females' behaviour is more strictly controlled.
D) Because women are judged to be of less importance than men, they can more easily escape deviant labels.
E) Much social-conflict analysis does not address the issue of gender.

Question 51

Which of the following is a legal term that translates to "guilty mind"?

A) mea culpa
B) post hoc
C) mens rea
D) habeus corpus
E) ipso facto

Question 52

A shopkeeper surrenders a television set at gun-point in a "hold-up."This is a:

A) crime against the person.
B) victimless crime.
C) crime against property.
D) misdemeanour.
E) pink-collar crime.

Question 53

Burglary is an example of what type of crime?

A) crime against the person
B) victimless crime
C) crime against property
D) misdemeanour
E) pink-collar crime

Question 54

In what category of crime is stealing a bicycle from a front yard?

A) crime against the person
B) victimless crime
C) crime against property
D) misdemeanour
E) pink-collar crime

Question 55

In what category of crime is prostitution?

A) crime against the person
B) pink-collar crime
C) crime against property
D) misdemeanour
E) victimless crime

Question 56

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A) The crime rate in Canada has been on a steady rise since 1960.
B) Crime statistics are an accurate reflection of the amount of crime committed.
C) Crime occurs at a rate three times higher than what the official reports show.
D) The statistics show that there is much more violent crime than property crime.
E) Crime statistics are unrelated to population structure.

Question 57

The likelihood of people engaging in street crime rises sharply during their:

A) adolescence.
B) middle 20s.
C) early 30s.
D) middle 30s.
E) late 30s.

Question 58

Gender and crime data suggest that:

A) women are more likely to be perpetrators than victims of crime.
B) women and men are now being arrested at an equal rate.
C) property crimes are the domain of women.
D) the crime rate for men has increased, but the crime rate for women has decreased.
E) the incidence of crime by women is low compared to that by men.

Question 59

Which of the following is true with respect to social class and crime?

A) Police assess the social class of arrested persons.
B) Research has long indicated that criminality is more widespread among people of lower social position.
C) The connection between class and crime is straightforward.
D) Most people living in the poorest areas have criminal records.
E) The connection between social standing and criminality has little to do with the type of crime.

Question 60

Which of the following is true regarding the disproportionate representation of Aboriginals in crime statistics?

A) White police are quicker to arrest Aboriginals.
B) Aboriginals are disproportionately poor, so are less likely to engage in street crime.
C) Research has shown that Aboriginals have a greater tendency to be criminal.
D) The crime statistics include white-collar crimes, which are more likely to be committed by Aboriginals.
E) Aboriginals are underrepresented in Canadian prisons.

Question 61

Which of the following is true regarding differences in reported victimization for different countries?

A) By world standards, the crime rate in Canada is not high.
B) Victimization is higher in high-income countries than in low-income countries.
C) The differences between countries are unrelated to differences in income inequality.
D) Nations with more inequality have lower victimization rates.
E) All countries use the same strategies for dealing with crime.

Question 62

Police are more likely to arrest a suspect when:

A) the situation is not believed to be serious.
B) there are bystanders watching them.
C) the suspect is unknown to them.
D) the suspect is white.
E) the suspect cooperates.

Question 63

What is the precise term for legal negotiation in which the prosecution reduces a defendant's charge in exchange for a guilty plea?

A) court negotiation
B) charge bargaining
C) plea bargaining
D) mea culpa
E) prosecutorial discretion

Question 64

Which of the following is true regarding plea bargaining?

A) Plea bargaining sometimes allows individuals to receive inadequate sentences.
B) Plea bargaining is primarily a tool for the defendant, not for the prosecution.
C) Plea bargaining is rare.
D) Plea bargaining promotes the adversarial process.
E) Plea bargaining increases costs to the system in terms of time and expense.

Question 65

Which term refers to subjecting an offender to suffering comparable to that caused by the offence?

A) condemnation
B) societal protection
C) deterrence
D) retribution
E) rehabilitation

Question 66

Which term refers to the attempt to discourage criminality through punishment?

A) retribution
B) societal protection
C) deterrence
D) recidivism
E) rehabilitation

Question 67

Which term refers to reforming the offender to prevent subsequent offences?

A) retribution
B) social protection
C) deterrence
D) recidivism
E) rehabilitation

Question 68

Punishment that convinces an individual offender that crime does not pay is referred to as:

A) rehabilitation.
B) retribution.
C) societal protection.
D) deterrence.
E) the death penalty.

Question 69

What is the term for later offences by people previously convicted of crimes?

A) criminal repetition rate
B) criminal recidivism
C) criminal return rate
D) criminal response
E) criminal predation

Question 70

Which of the following is true?

A) Prisons offer social constructive learning.
B) Prisons prevent recidivism.
C) The label "ex-con" can easily be overcome.
D) Prisons do not rehabilitate prisoners.
E) The criminal justice system can effectively eliminate crime.

Question 71

Correctional programs operating within society at large rather than behind prison walls are called:

A) societal protection programs.
B) prison-free containment programs.
C) community-based corrections.
D) rehabilitation schools.
E) society-centred corrections.

Question 72

Which of the following illustrates community-based corrections?

A) probation
B) rehabilitation
C) imprisonment
D) recidivism
E) deterrence

Question 73

Which of the following is FALSE regarding community-based corrections?

A) Probation is an example of community-based corrections.
B) Levels of crime among individuals released on parole are high.
C) The idea of community-based corrections is to reform rather than punish.
D) Parole programs are less expensive than conventional imprisonment.
E) Community-based corrections are effectively reducing recidivism.

Question 74

Which of the following are associated with the decline in crime in recent years?

A) an increase in the youth population
B) changes in policing
C) a slack economy
D) improvements in child socialization practices
E) the increasing drug trade

Question 75

Which of the following is a reason violent crime rates are down?

A) a reduction in the youth population
B) tougher sentences for crimes
C) a better economy
D) changes in policing
E) the declining drug trade

Question 76

Deviance and crime are two terms for the same phenomenon.

Question 77

Deviance involves difference, which causes us to react to others as outsiders.

Question 78

To be deviant one must have committed a deviant act.

Question 79

The Italian physician and criminologist who suggested that criminals were physically distinctive was William Sheldon.

Question 80

Biology is completely unrelated to crime.