Deck 4: Social Structural and Social Process Theories of Delinquency

Question 1

The relatively stable formal and informal arrangement that characterizes society, including its economic arrangements, social institutions, and its values and norms, is called ________.

A) social disorganization theory
B) strain theory
C) social structure
D) reaction formation

Answer 1

social structure

Question 2

What term did Emile Durkheim use to describe the normlessness that resulted from society's failure to provide adequate regulation of its members?

A) social capital
B) differential association
C) anomie
D) disorganization

Answer 2

anomie

Question 3

Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay viewed delinquency as resulting from a breakdown in social control among ________.

A) religious institutions
B) family and neighborhood
C) political institutions
D) governmental agents

Answer 3

family and neighborhood

Question 4

Elijah Anderson is known for his ________.

A) concept of the code of the street
B) writing about the Vice Lords of Chicago
C) work as a juvenile court judge
D) book Crime and the American Dream

Question 5

Clifford Shaw reported in 1929 that the highest crime rates in Chicago were in ________.

A) the residential zone
B) neighborhoods with the most graffiti
C) the central city
D) the transition zone

Question 6

Burgess's hypothesis of urban growth is referred to as ________.

A) urban zone
B) target zone
C) progressive circle
D) concentric zone

Question 7

Miller characterized the value system of the lower class as a set of ________.

A) critical dimensions
B) endemic entities
C) urban utilities
D) focal concerns

Question 8

According to Miller, which of the following represents physical prowess, as demonstrated by strength and endurance, which is valued in lower class culture?

A) fate
B) trouble
C) smartness
D) toughness

Question 9

Which of the following is a cause for crime identified in the theory proposed by Martin Wolfgang and Franco Ferracuti?

A) Subcultures of violence exist among lower-class males and legitimize the use of violence.
B) Lower-class boys seek out legitimate means to attain middle-class success goals, usually through one of three specialized gang contexts.
C) Lower-class boys are unable to attain the goals of middle-class culture, and therefore they become involved in nonutilitarian, malicious, and negative behavior.
D) Social structure exerts pressure on individuals who cannot attain the cultural goal of success, leading them to engage in nonconforming behavior.

Question 10

Cultural deviance theories view delinquency and crime as an expression of ________ to cultural values and norms that are in opposition to those of the larger society.

A) anger
B) conformity
C) hostility
D) deviation

Question 11

Which of the following theories proposes that delinquency results from the frustration individuals feel when they are unable to achieve the goals they desire?

A) conflict theory
B) strain theory
C) symbolic interaction theory
D) functional theory

Question 12

According to Robert Merton, when adolescents accept the cultural goal but reject the institutional means of attaining it, they may pursue other illegitimate paths in a stage of adaptation called ________.

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

Question 13

What stage of adaptation did Merton refer to when individuals have rejected both the goals of the culture and the institutional means of attaining them?

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

Question 14

Which of the following terms refers to when individuals have rejecting the goals and values of one's culture and substituting a new set of goals and values for them?

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

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT one of the theoretical constructions of Merton's strain theory?

A) blocked access to cultural goals
B) cultural goals and institutionalized means
C) unique lower-class focal concerns
D) differential access to legitimate means

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT one of the norms that Cohen says make up the middle-class measuring rod?

A) educational recreation
B) individual responsibility
C) heightened physical aggression
D) respect for property

Question 17

What term did Albert K. Cohen use to describe lower-class youths who were unable to attain middle-class goals?

A) aspiration avoidance
B) ascetic hostility
C) social rebellion
D) status frustration

Question 18

The importance of Cohen's theory is that it views delinquency as ________.

A) a process of interaction
B) an interactive situation
C) an event in a matrix of interaction
D) a result of psychological inferiority

Question 19

Which type of delinquents did Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin contend were the most serious?

A) those who experience the greatest conflict with middle-class values
B) those who were part of the opportunistic subculture
C) those who adopt the hip-hop subculture
D) those who leave home at a young age

Question 20

Cloward and Ohlin contended that the most serious delinquents are those who experience the greatest conflict with ________ values.

A) lower-class
B) middle-class
C) upper-middle-class
D) upper-class

Question 21

According to Cloward and Ohlin's theory, the retreatist subculture generates a new order of goals and criteria for ________.

A) materialism
B) failure
C) achievement
D) satisfaction

Question 22

What is the basic premise of Edwin Sutherland's theory of differential association?

A) People make rational choices.
B) People learn crime from others.
C) Psychological impressions affect crime.
D) People are naturally evil.

Question 23

Which of the following is the view that delinquency is learned from others and that delinquent behavior is to be expected of individuals who have internalized a preponderance of definitions that are favorable to law violations?

A) differential association theory
B) social process theory
C) drift theory
D) neutralization theory

Question 24

Hirschi theorized that individuals who are most tightly bonded to social groups are less likely to commit delinquent acts. Commitment to the social bond is made up of four main elements. Which is NOT one of the four main elements?

A) Attachment
B) Commitment
C) Involvement
D) Distrust

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT an element of commitment to the social bond?

A) allegiance to conventional values
B) disbelief in conventional values
C) attachment to conventional others
D) beliefs that forbid unacceptable behavior

Question 26

Theory integration generally implies the combination of ________ or more contexts, including existing theories, levels of theory, social contexts, or individual contexts, on the basis of their perceived commonalities.

A) two
B) three
C) four
D) five

Question 27

According to Thornberry's interactional theory, what is the most influential factor in bonding the youth to conventional society and reducing delinquency?

A) attachment to parents
B) commitment to school
C) attachment to friends
D) belief in conventional values

Question 28

Lower class youth often lack access to ________ - to the norms, networks, and supportive relationships they need if they are to realize their potential.

A) conventional values
B) social capital
C) social control
D) legitimate opportunities

Question 29

According to structural and social process theories, economic deprivation is first felt at ________.

A) daycare
B) school
C) home
D) homes of peers

Question 30

Which of the following terms accurately describes the combination of shared values, trust, and expectations for social intervention to control crime and deviance?

A) status frustration
B) collective efficacy
C) social capital
D) reaction formation

Question 31

According to Shaw and McKay, industrialization, urbanization, and immigration all contribute to the disorganization of a community.

Question 32

Burgess theorized that the zone farthest from a city's center would likely be the highest in delinquency.

Question 33

According to Miller, smartness is necessary to achieve material goods and personal status without physical effort.

Question 34

Miller argued that the motivation to become delinquent is endemic to middle-class culture.

Question 35

According to differential association theory, delinquency is a product of social interaction.

Question 36

According to Merton, a conformist is well integrated and absent of anomie.

Question 37

Cohen's 1955 study on general strain theory examined how it may aid in explaining racial differences in offending.

Question 38

According to Cloward and Ohlin, within the retreatist subculture the main activity is crimes of extortion, fraud, and theft.

Question 39

Violence is the key ingredient in the conflict subculture.

Question 40

Cohen argued that delinquent subculture is characterized by short-run hedonism.

Question 41

According to containment theory, juveniles who have both strong inner containment and reinforcing external containment are much less likely to become delinquent.

Question 42

Containment theory fails to account for self-esteem when explaining delinquent behavior.

Question 43

Social control theory is also known as bonding theory.

Question 44

According to Thornberry's interactional theory, the initial impetus toward delinquency comes from a weakening of the person's bond to conventional society.

Question 45

Control theories holds that interactive processes are systematically related to the youngster's position in the social structure.

Question 46

Lower-class youngsters often lack access to social capital-to the norms, networks, and supportive relationships they need if they are to realize their potential.

Question 47

According to cultural learning theory, youths in disorganized communities are at little risk of delinquency.

Question 48

Shaw and McKay extended social disorganization theory by focusing on the social characteristics of the ________ as a cause of delinquency.

Question 49

Social disorganization theory argues that delinquent behavior becomes an alternative mode of ________ through which youth who are part of disorganized communities are attracted to delinquent values.

Question 50

Miller argued that a set of ________ concerns of the lower class characterizes this socioeconomic group.

Question 51

According to ________, the acceptable method to attain culturally defined goals is through institutionalized means.

Question 52

According to Merton, in ________, a person may go through the motions of attending classes and studying, but abandon the goal of success.

Question 53

In Merton's version of ________ theory, the set of purposes and interests a culture defines as legitimate objectives for individuals are called culturally defined goals.

Question 54

When delinquents commit crimes "for the hell of it,"Cohen refers to this as ________.

Question 55

________ says that when status frustration occurs, the mechanism of reaction formation is used to deal with it.

Question 56

Criminal subculture is primarily based on criminal ________.

Question 57

Sutherland's differential association theory suggests delinquency is a(n) ________ behavior.

Question 58

Walter C. Reckless developed ________ theory to explain both crime and delinquency.

Question 59

Hirschi theorized that commitment to the social bond is made up of four main elements: attachment, commitment, involvement, and ________.

Question 60

________ is the theorist most closely identified with social control theory.

Question 61

Thornberry's ________ theory contends delinquency comes from a weakening of a person's bond to conventional society.

Question 62

The perspective which holds that lower-class youth may become ________ because they lack social capital, or resources that reside in the social structure, including norms, networks, and relationships, is called social capital theory.

Question 63

Please match each theory with its definition.

-social disorganization theory

A) An approach that holds that areas of concentrated crime maintain their high rates over a long period, even when the composition of the population changes rapidly, because delinquent "values" become cultural norms and are passed from one generation to the next.
B) A theory that proposes that the pressure the social structure exerts on youths who cannot attain cultural success goals will push them to engage in nonconforming behavior.
C) An approach that posits that juvenile delinquency results when social control among the traditional primary groups, such as the family and the neighborhood, breaks down because of social disarray within the community.
D) A theory wherein delinquent behavior is viewed as an expression of conformity to cultural values and norms that are in opposition to those of the larger U.S. society.

Question 64

Please match each theory with its definition.

-cultural transmission theory

A) An approach that holds that areas of concentrated crime maintain their high rates over a long period, even when the composition of the population changes rapidly, because delinquent "values" become cultural norms and are passed from one generation to the next.
B) A theory that proposes that the pressure the social structure exerts on youths who cannot attain cultural success goals will push them to engage in nonconforming behavior.
C) An approach that posits that juvenile delinquency results when social control among the traditional primary groups, such as the family and the neighborhood, breaks down because of social disarray within the community.
D) A theory wherein delinquent behavior is viewed as an expression of conformity to cultural values and norms that are in opposition to those of the larger U.S. society.

Question 65

Please match each theory with its definition.

-cultural deviance theory

A) An approach that holds that areas of concentrated crime maintain their high rates over a long period, even when the composition of the population changes rapidly, because delinquent "values" become cultural norms and are passed from one generation to the next.
B) A theory that proposes that the pressure the social structure exerts on youths who cannot attain cultural success goals will push them to engage in nonconforming behavior.
C) An approach that posits that juvenile delinquency results when social control among the traditional primary groups, such as the family and the neighborhood, breaks down because of social disarray within the community.
D) A theory wherein delinquent behavior is viewed as an expression of conformity to cultural values and norms that are in opposition to those of the larger U.S. society.

Question 66

Please match each theory with its definition.

-strain theory

A) An approach that holds that areas of concentrated crime maintain their high rates over a long period, even when the composition of the population changes rapidly, because delinquent "values" become cultural norms and are passed from one generation to the next.
B) A theory that proposes that the pressure the social structure exerts on youths who cannot attain cultural success goals will push them to engage in nonconforming behavior.
C) An approach that posits that juvenile delinquency results when social control among the traditional primary groups, such as the family and the neighborhood, breaks down because of social disarray within the community.
D) A theory wherein delinquent behavior is viewed as an expression of conformity to cultural values and norms that are in opposition to those of the larger U.S. society.

Question 67

Please match each term or concept with its definition.

-Reaction formation

A) The stress that individuals experience when they cannot attain their goals because of their socioeconomic class.
B) The norms, networks, and supportive relationships that people need if they are to realize their potential.
C) The psychological strategy for dealing with frustration by becoming hostile toward an unattainable object.
D) The limited or nonexistent chance of success; according to strain theory, a key factor in delinquency.

Question 68

Please match each term or concept with its definition.

-Status frustration

A) The stress that individuals experience when they cannot attain their goals because of their socioeconomic class.
B) The norms, networks, and supportive relationships that people need if they are to realize their potential.
C) The psychological strategy for dealing with frustration by becoming hostile toward an unattainable object.
D) The limited or nonexistent chance of success; according to strain theory, a key factor in delinquency.

Question 69

Please match each term or concept with its definition.

-Blocked opportunity

A) The stress that individuals experience when they cannot attain their goals because of their socioeconomic class.
B) The norms, networks, and supportive relationships that people need if they are to realize their potential.
C) The psychological strategy for dealing with frustration by becoming hostile toward an unattainable object.
D) The limited or nonexistent chance of success; according to strain theory, a key factor in delinquency.

Question 70

Please match each term or concept with its definition.

-Social capital

A) The stress that individuals experience when they cannot attain their goals because of their socioeconomic class.
B) The norms, networks, and supportive relationships that people need if they are to realize their potential.
C) The psychological strategy for dealing with frustration by becoming hostile toward an unattainable object.
D) The limited or nonexistent chance of success; according to strain theory, a key factor in delinquency.

Question 71

Discuss the theory of social disorganization as presented by Shaw and McKay.

Question 72

Discuss Robert Merton's theory of anomie and his modes of adaptation.

Question 73

Discuss Albert Cohen's theory of delinquent subcultures.

Question 74

Explain Cloward and Ohlin's opportunity theory.

Question 75

List the seven propositions of differential association.

Question 76

What is the difference between "status frustration"and "reaction formation"? Please explain.

Question 77

In Merton's strain theory, culturally defined goals are the set of purposes and interests a culture defines as legitimate objectives for individuals. Please provide some examples of these goals. What are the institutional means to achieve these goals? What are some innovative ways to achieve them?