Deck 6: Deviance

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT one of the topics that is examined when sociologists study deviance?

A) how norms and rules are created
B) how some norms become especially important in a given society
C) who is subject to the rules and how violations are identified
D) why societies historically developed bureaucracies
E) how people who violate rules and norms see themselves

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following would sociologists consider the best definition of deviance?

A) actions that are harmful to society
B) violations of social norms
C) criminal activities
D) immoral or unethical behaviors
E) illegal activities

Answer 2

B

Question 3

When a politician is caught cheating on his spouse, there are usually serious consequences, and sometimes the politician is forced to resign from his office when his constituents loudly express their unhappiness with such behavior. According to Emile Durkheim, what function does this reaction serve?

A) It helps to deter politicians from cheating in the future.
B) It helps to clarify moral boundaries, reinforcing the idea that marital infidelity is wrong.
C) The anger and public outcry helps to rehabilitate the offender so he won't give in to the temptation to cheat in the future.
D) Being forced out of office prevents him from ever cheating again.
E) It helps to protect the family of the politician, who need scrutiny and media coverage in order to move on.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Today, using the wrong fork to eat a salad at a dinner party would not usually qualify as deviance. Why not?

A) American society no longer has rules and etiquette governing which utensil to use for salads.
B) That sort of norm violation is seen as an intentional rebellion against convention.
C) Most dinners are eaten with friends, who don't apply sanctions for deviant behavior.
D) There aren't norms governing food and eating.
E) It is not a serious enough norm violation to provoke sanctions.

Question 5

The Amish have neither the resources nor the desire to use prison as a sanction against members of their community who violate the rules. What sanction do they use instead?

A) Various methods of corporal punishment are used, whereby petty criminals may be branded, have their ears cropped, have their noses slit, or even have their fingers cut off.
B) Offenders are flogged or put in stocks to be publicly humiliated for a short period of time.
C) Monetary fines are used for most norm violations.
D) Meidung, or shunning, is used, a process whereby no one within the community will associate or even talk with a rule breaker for a set period of time.
E) The offender is mandated to provide physical labor for the community.

Question 6

Because laws represent the interests of those in power, crimes committed by the upper classes are typically treated more leniently than crimes committed by the lower classes. This argument is consistent with:

A) differential association theory.
B) conflict theory.
C) principled deviance.
D) lack of deterrence.
E) functionalist theory.

Question 7

Which of the following describes how deviance can be explained from the functionalist perspective?

A) Deviance breaks down social cohesion and leads to revolution.
B) Deviance makes it easier for the upper class to control the poor.
C) Deviance helps the upper class maintain its power and influence in society.
D) Deviance clarifies moral boundaries and affirms norms.
E) Functionalist theory has no explanation for deviance because it has no societal function.

Question 8

Which of the following is true regarding prison as a mechanism for punishing crime?

A) Throughout history, most societies have used prison to punish at least the most serious crimes.
B) Historically, only relatively humane and ethical societies have used prison as a form of punishment.
C) Even today prison is rarely used.
D) Prison was rarely used before the nineteenth century.
E) Prison is commonly used as a punishment because it is extremely cost effective.

Question 9

What is one reason imprisonment was such a rare type of punishment before the nineteenth century?

A) Earlier societies did not have sufficient resources to operate prisons.
B) Earlier societies believed that physical punishments like branding were more likely to deter future crime.
C) Earlier societies were crueler and therefore more accepting of harsh physical punishment.
D) Earlier societies believed that punishments like shunning and banishment were more humane.
E) Earlier societies had much less crime and so did not require any particular system of punishment.

Question 10

In the United States today, many people are bothered by "double dipping," or dipping food you have already taken a bite of into a sauce others are using. Mythbusters examined double dipping and found that the risk of sharing germs is negligible. Is double dipping still deviant?

A) Now that the myth has been debunked, double dipping is no longer deviant.
B) Double dipping is still deviant whenever it receives a negative reaction.
C) Double dipping is always, under all circumstances, a deviant act.
D) Double dipping is still a deviant act, as it's considered rude even if no one cares about it or reacts to it.
E) Even though many people still get angry about double dipping, it was never really deviant because it's harmless.

Question 11

Traditionally, most of the sociological literature on deviance focuses on:

A) crime.
B) mental illness.
C) political corruption.
D) the extremely wealthy.
E) the emotional appeal of deviant acts.

Question 12

According to Chapter 6, in colonial America, corporal punishments like branding or amputation were commonly used. What were these punishments designed to do?

A) They were designed to cause loss of earnings.
B) They were designed to mark the offender.
C) They were designed maximize pain and suffering.
D) They were designed to make the offender unmarriageable.
E) They were designed to satisfy the victims.

Question 13

In order for a behavior, trait, or belief to be considered deviant, it must:

A) inspire feelings of revulsion or disgust.
B) depart from a norm and generate a negative reaction.
C) be a deeply held belief.
D) cause harm or injury to someone.
E) violate a law.

Question 14

Samantha believes that our criminal law excuses big corporations for polluting the planet, manufacturing unsafe products, and manipulating prices. At the same time, she sees homeless people imprisoned for stealing food, which she believes we should all have access to regardless of wealth. Samantha has taken a ____________ perspective to explain the way deviance is viewed in society.

A) structural functionalist
B) symbolic interactionist
C) conflict theory
D) pragmatic analytical
E) retreatist

Question 15

Although branding is no longer used as a form of punishment in the United States, some subcultures have adopted it as a form of body art. This demonstrates that:

A) branding must still really be a form of punishment.
B) what is considered deviant changes over time.
C) many people find punishment desirable.
D) some acts are simply inherently deviant.
E) deviant acts of the past become mainstream acts of the future.

Question 16

In colonial America, a pickpocket might have had a hand cut off as punishment. Why was this particular method of punishment chosen?

A) The hand is a part of the body that can usually be safely amputated without risk of infection.
B) It allows an offender to start his life over by moving to a new community and claiming that he lost his hand in an accident.
C) It was easy and convenient.
D) It was considered symbolically appropriate to remove the part of the body most directly connected with the crime.
E) It was considered one of the most painful punishments that could be administered.

Question 17

Many Americans are outraged by the number of illegal immigrants who enter the country every year, despite the fact that some studies show that such immigrants are, on the whole, economically beneficial. What function would this anger serve in our society?

A) It completely prevents illegal immigration.
B) It helps to punish people who violate immigration laws, as widespread anger makes it easier to pass harsh immigration laws.
C) It ensures that most business owners will never employ illegal immigrants.
D) It helps to teach the illegal immigrants a lesson, rehabilitating them so they can return to their own countries as productive citizens.
E) It helps to promote social cohesion, as our society can come together in shared anger at a relatively small group of outsiders.

Question 18

Which of the following is true of entomophagy, the eating of insects?

A) The 1,462 species of edible insects are environmentally devastating to raise.
B) It is not taboo in the contemporary United States to eat bugs.
C) Many bugs have a better feed-to-meat ratio than do other animals.
D) People who eat insects run the risk of being protein deficient.
E) Eating bugs is one of the easiest ways to contract an intestinal parasite.

Question 19

Imagine that a powerful and influential person decided to heavily tattoo her own face with symbols and images that told parts of her life story. Would she be treated as a deviant?

A) No, powerful people are often allowed to do things others find strange.
B) Yes, any culture would consider that to be a deviant act.
C) Yes, but there would be no negative reaction for fear of causing offense.
D) No, there are several cultures where this sort of behavior is very common.
E) Yes, it would be in the United States, though there are other cultures that would consider it normal or desirable.

Question 20

Many people, especially young women, worry about maintaining a tan. Sometimes, if they don't have the time to tan naturally, they go to a tanning salon or use chemicals to simulate a tan. In some cultures, this might seem bizarre, which can help us realize that:

A) the line between beauty and deviance is fluid and changes across time and place.
B) Americans are very, very deviant.
C) there are some types of body modification that are never tolerated anywhere.
D) the rest of the world is not yet as normal as the United States and keeps backward practices and superstitions.
E) people who get fake tans are deviant.

Question 21

What theory argues that punishments for rule violators are unequally distributed, with those near the top of society subject to more lenient rules and sanctions than those at the bottom?

A) dramaturgy
B) labeling theory
C) conflict theory
D) functionalist theory
E) symbolic interactionism

Question 22

If an upper-middle-class, white college student is sentenced to rehab for the same drug crime that a lower-class, black man is sentenced to jail for committing, what might a conflict theorist conclude about deviance?

A) Differential levels of punishment are functional, as they keep the most productive members of society out of jail.
B) We need to punish criminals from the lower class more harshly, as they are more likely to re-offend.
C) The two criminals probably had very different motives for committing their crimes, and this explains the difference in punishment.
D) The rules are applied unequally, and those with power or influence are punished much less harshly.
E) The system makes occasional errors, but most of the time, everyone is treated equally.

Question 23

In "On Being Sane in Insane Places," David Rosenhan suggests that:

A) although it may be difficult for the rest of us, psychiatrists can easily differentiate between those who are sane and those who are insane.
B) staff working in mental hospitals often take on the behavioral characteristics of patients.
C) researchers posing as "pseudopatients" in a mental hospital, but otherwise acting normally, were nonetheless treated as insane by the hospital staff.
D) mental patients were unable to determine who among them were really researchers posing as "pseudopatients."
E) researchers, working in mental hospitals, started to develop higher rates of mental illness.

Question 24

According to the structural strain theory of deviance as articulated by Robert Merton, what is one of the principal reasons people turn to deviant behavior in the United States?

A) There are a lot of people with inborn antisocial tendencies.
B) American society is very lax in enforcing laws.
C) Deviant behavior is glamorized in the media and therefore becomes increasingly attractive to young people.
D) Deviant behavior has become so widespread that many people think of it as normal.
E) The goal of success is shared by a majority of people, but not everyone has equal means for achieving that goal.

Question 25

In Office Space, the character Peter Gibbons spends much of the movie trying to find unconventional and even illegal ways of making more money. According to Robert Merton's typology, what category does Peter fit into?

A) ritualist
B) rebel
C) innovator
D) retreatist
E) none of the above

Question 26

Which group of people within the hospital were able to tell that the pseudopatients in David Rosenhan's "On Being Sane in Insane Places" were not actually mentally ill?

A) the medical interns
B) only the older, more experienced doctors
C) the other patients
D) the nursing staff
E) the orderlies

Question 27

According to labeling theory, why were none of the pseudopatients in David Rosenhan's "On Being Sane in Insane Places" discovered?

A) They all were really mentally ill, at least to some extent.
B) They were too "clean-cut" to be considered mentally ill.
C) They were well coached in the symptoms real patients would experience.
D) Psychiatry is not a real science.
E) Once a person has been labeled "mentally ill," it is very hard for anyone to see past the label.

Question 28

The parents of a deviant child often want to find some way to excuse their offspring's behavior, and it's common to hear them say, "He just fell in with a bad crowd." Which symbolic interactionist theory of deviance does this explanation most closely resemble?

A) differential association
B) labeling theory
C) self-fulfilling prophecy
D) structural strain theory
E) in-group orientation

Question 29

The idea that individuals learn to be deviant by interacting with others who are already deviant is called:

A) conflict theory.
B) self-fulfilling prophecy.
C) secondary deviance.
D) differential association theory.
E) labeling theory.

Question 30

If you decided that you could never get into a good school and therefore could never get a good job, you might decide to sell crack cocaine instead as a way to make a living. According to Robert Merton, what sort of deviant would you be?

A) a conformist
B) a ritualist
C) an innovator
D) a rebel
E) an extremist

Question 31

The fact that many individuals who engage in deviant behaviors have never associated with other deviants is evidence against which theory?

A) self-fulfilling prophecy theory
B) differential association theory
C) conflict theory
D) structural strain theory
E) primary deviance

Question 32

According to conflict theory, why are vagrancy laws passed?

A) to improve public health by preventing the spread of disease
B) to prevent the sort of crime that is often associated with vagrant populations
C) to ensure that someone is paying attention to the homeless so they receive help and assistance from the government
D) because the working poor demand them, as their communities are the most likely to have vagrant populations
E) as a way of targeting groups who threaten society's elites

Question 33

In the 1960s Timothy Leary famously advised everyone to "turn on, tune in, and drop out," and, although he insisted that it meant more, most people assumed he was telling them to "get stoned and abandon all constructive activity." How would Robert Merton's structural strain theory classify someone who took this advice?

A) as a member of a counterculture
B) as a conformist
C) as a retreatist
D) as an innovator
E) as a rebel

Question 34

Nowhere to Grow by Les Whitbeck and Dan Hoyt explored the lives of homeless and runaway teens in the Midwest. The authors found that "associating with deviant peers" had a dramatic effect on a wide range of deviant behaviors, including increasing "the likelihood of serious substance abuse almost 32 times." What theory of deviance considers the way such interpersonal relationships help to predict deviant behavior?

A) self-fulfilling prophecy
B) deviance avowal
C) retreatism
D) differential association
E) labeling theory

Question 35

Robert Merton's structural strain theory sees deviance as the result of a person's position in a social structure. What do you think Jack Katz, author of Seductions of Crime, would say about structural strain theory?

A) Merton's analysis fails because it doesn't understand that some people will reject both mainstream cultural goals and the institutionalized means to achieve them.
B) Merton's analysis was correct, in that background factors are almost always the most effective way to predict who will commit deviant acts.
C) Merton is right, but his analysis focuses too much on face-to-face interaction.
D) A focus on social position misses the emotional appeal that a deviant act has for an individual.
E) Merton needs to look at a broader range of background factors, including age and sexuality.

Question 36

In "The Saints and the Roughnecks," William Chambliss followed two groups of high school students. The Saints were boys from middle-class homes, while the Roughnecks were from lower-class households. What would you expect Chambliss to have found using conflict theory as a theoretical perspective?

A) School authorities were lenient toward the Roughnecks because they had rough upbringings.
B) The Roughnecks were judged much more harshly for their deviance.
C) The Saints were punished more severely and more often.
D) Both groups were treated more-or-less equally.
E) The Saints were held to a much higher standard, because they were from "good" families.

Question 37

According to Robert Merton's structural strain theory, which of the following individuals would be LEAST likely to be a deviant?

A) a young widow who has never been to college
B) a middle manager who no longer has any hope of being promoted but continues to zealously follow the rules
C) a middle-aged man who decides that his job is pointless and his life shallow and materialistic, so he moves to the woods and devotes himself to bird-watching
D) a white college student from a middle-class family who's experimenting with drugs while in college and is interested in sports
E) an illegal immigrant who has managed to get a job as a night janitor

Question 38

When a parent argues that her child has simply fallen in with a bad crowd, what theory of deviance is she expressing?

A) structural strain theory
B) labeling theory
C) deviance avowal
D) structural functionalism
E) differential association theory

Question 39

Stealing avocados, or almost any other agricultural product, is a felony in California if the product is worth more than $100. Supporters of the law believe it is the only way to protect farmers from vagrants and transients who can ruin the viability of small farms. However, if you believe that such laws also target homeless people who are simply trying to eat and that they are punished because they have almost no power within society, then you are probably:

A) a conflict theorist.
B) a functionalist.
C) a symbolic interactionist.
D) a follower of Robert Merton.
E) a deviant.

Question 40

Robert Merton developed structural strain theory to explain why deviance happens. What sort of strain does the theory's name refer to?

A) strain between criminals and law enforcement
B) strain between deviant and nondeviant citizens
C) strain between social norms that are codified in laws and those that are not
D) strain between different value systems within a society
E) strain between socially approved goals and the means an individual has for realizing them

Question 41

What aspects of stigma are symbolic interactionists interested in?

A) how people manage their stigmatized identities on an everyday basis
B) how stigma is related to the animal world
C) which stigmas are fair and which are unjustly applied
D) how stigma always leads to positive life outcomes
E) all of the above

Question 42

"The Saints and the Roughnecks" by William Chambliss describes two groups of boys in a small town. Both groups of boys engaged in a considerable amount of deviance, but it was the Roughnecks, even though their deviance was less dangerous to the community, who were constantly in trouble with the police. As a result, all but one of the Saints went on to college and to professional careers, while only two of the Roughnecks went on to college. Given this information, which of the following statements is true?

A) Labels are not 100 percent deterministic.
B) The Saints engaged in tertiary deviance.
C) The Roughnecks were never guilty of any act of primary deviance.
D) The behavior of these two groups is best explained by psychology.
E) Self-fulfilling prophecies have an almost total power over our futures.

Question 43

The poet Lucy Grealy had a series of operations as a child that eventually resulted in the removal of one-third of her jaw. As a result she experienced:

A) stigma.
B) a life of crime.
C) passing.
D) strain.
E) rebellion.

Question 44

Under what circumstances does a deviant label lead from primary to secondary deviance?

A) when the deviant label is applied by a large number of people
B) when the deviant label is applied by someone very powerful
C) when the deviant label is internalized
D) when the deviant label is applied later in life
E) when the deviant label concerns a very minor type of deviance

Question 45

Dan Savage, a nationally syndicated sex advice columnist, has repeatedly expressed his frustration with gay men who describe themselves in personal ads as "straight-acting, straight-appearing." He believes that these men need to be open about who they are rather than attempting to manage their stigmatized identity by:

A) passing.
B) in-group orientation.
C) deviance avowal.
D) symbolic interactionism.
E) conflict and argument.

Question 46

What happened to the pseudopatients in David Rosenhan's "On Being Sane in Insane Places"?

A) Several of them finally had to break out.
B) One of them turned out to be genuinely mentally ill and was never released.
C) They were all released once doctors realized that they were not actually mentally ill.
D) They were released shortly after being admitted.
E) They were all finally released, but the diagnoses were that their "illnesses" were "in remission."

Question 47

What did Robert Merton call a prediction that came true only because the prediction was made?

A) a defining prophecy
B) a Thomas prediction
C) a self-fulfilling prophecy
D) a sociological prediction
E) a labeling prophecy

Question 48

Robert Merton once observed that the self-fulfilling prophecy is a peculiarly sociological concept. Why?

A) It focuses on aspects of behavior that have nothing to do with individual psychology.
B) It is only useful in explaining large-scale social change, not personal or local events.
C) It only helps to explain events where peer pressure was a key factor.
D) The objective features of a situation are almost always more important than the human interpretation of them.
E) Predictions of the return of Haley's comet do not influence its orbit.

Question 49

Which kinds of departures from the norm wouldn't necessarily have a stigmatizing effect on an individual's identity?

A) physical disability
B) alcohol addiction
C) mental illness
D) having served time in jail
E) wearing shoes that don't match

Question 50

Shortly after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, there were a number of attacks on Arab Americans (and people who were mistakenly identified as Arab Americans), because their identity had become stigmatized. What sort of stigma was this?

A) moral stigma
B) symbolic stigma
C) religious stigma
D) tribal stigma
E) physical stigma

Question 51

When the suburb of Lakewood, California, was first built in 1950, it refused to sell houses to Jewish families, as well as African Americans and Hispanics. However, within a few years, the developers reversed this policy and started selling homes to families regardless of religious faith or ethnicity. What does this tell us about stigma?

A) Stigma leaves permanent marks on those it affects.
B) Stigma is only a problem in areas where money is involved.
C) Stigmatized identities can be overcome through passing.
D) People with stigmatized identities usually become "outsiders" who embrace their deviance.
E) Stigmatized identities change over time.

Question 52

As Eliza Doolittle says in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, "The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated." Which theory of deviance also refers to this dynamic?

A) structural strain theory
B) conflict theory
C) passing
D) the self-fulfilling prophecy
E) secondary deviance

Question 53

How do self-fulfilling prophecies work?

A) We respond not only to the objective features of a situation but also to its meaning. Once meaning has been assigned to our behavior, the consequences of that behavior are determined by the meaning.
B) We learn to be deviant through our interactions with others who break the rules.
C) We tend to respond to the physical and social marks that discredit our identities and leave us vulnerable to negative social judgments.
D) Our social locations are a crucial factor in determining how others see us; therefore, social status is the most important determinant of deviance.
E) Our backgrounds do not determine deviance; rather, the in-the-moment emotional experience of a deviant action makes it seem like a good or bad idea.

Question 54

Although gays and lesbians in the United States have always been stigmatized, there are several different ways in which individuals have chosen to manage that stigma. When gay rights activists chant the slogan, "we're here, we're queer, get used to it," what strategy are they using?

A) passing
B) assimilation
C) bureaucratic mediation
D) in-group orientation
E) deviance avowal

Question 55

In his book Streetwise, Elijah Anderson argues that young African American men are more likely to be arrested because:

A) they commit more flagrant crimes.
B) they are more likely to engage in deviant behavior.
C) their acts of deviance more often involve drugs, which are considered especially deviant by contemporary society.
D) they are more likely to be poor.
E) both police and community members perceive them as more criminal than others.

Question 56

A person arrived at a company party dressed in a bunny costume, only to discover that the party was not a costume party. Although he had been tricked by a co-worker, from then on everyone saw him as crazy and eccentric, and eventually he came to think of himself in this way too. The initial mistake at the party is an example of:

A) passing.
B) stigma.
C) primary deviance.
D) a self-fulfilling prophecy.
E) tertiary deviation.

Question 57

W. I. Thomas famously argued that "if men define situations as real, then:

A) others will label them as deviant."
B) it will lead to tertiary deviance."
C) they will be forced to provide evidence."
D) those situations will be studied."
E) they are real in their consequences."

Question 58

David Rosenhan argues that misdiagnosis is particularly a problem for psychologists, as a diagnosis of a mental illness is as influential on the patient as it is on her relatives and friends. It should not surprise anyone that the diagnosis acts as a(n):

A) act of tertiary deviance.
B) sign of structural strain.
C) gesture of passing.
D) part of the emotional foreground.
E) self-fulfilling prophecy.

Question 59

When David Rosenhan designed the experiment he described in "On Being Sane in Insane Places," he gave very specific instructions to his research assistants to be honest and truthful about everything except in claiming they were hearing voices and giving a fake name. Why was it important that they not use their real identity?

A) Using fake names helped them play their roles.
B) What they were doing was illegal, and they needed to have cover identities.
C) They could walk away from their assumed identities, and in so doing walk away from their labels as well.
D) They could keep doctors from finding their medical records and exposing them as fakes.
E) They didn't want to be recognized by acquaintances.

Question 60

"The Saints and the Roughnecks" by William Chambliss followed two groups of boys over the course of several years. Both groups did many deviant things. The Saints, eight young men from "white upper-middle-class families" potentially presented the greater danger to their community by driving drunk and vandalizing stop signs. However, it was the Roughnecks, six "lower-class white boys" who were "constantly in trouble with the police." Very different backgrounds and very similar actions produced very different expectations. Those expectations, or prophecies, had real consequences. All but one of the Saints went on to college and then to professional positions. Only two of the Roughnecks went on to college, both on athletic scholarships, while several of the rest adopted deviant lifestyles and careers, also known as:

A) differential association.
B) positive deviance.
C) primary deviance.
D) secondary deviance.
E) stigma.

Question 61

What did Verta Taylor and Leila Rupp do in order to gain a naturalistic understanding of drag queens for their book Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret?

A) conducted extensive life-history interviews
B) videotaped a great number of performances
C) interviewed audience members as well as performers
D) performed statistical analysis of the surveys they handed out to audiences at the drag shows they attended
E) took the stage and performed with the drag queens they were studying

Question 62

Given Jack Katz's theory of crime, what do you think would be the best subtitle for his book Seductions of Crime?

A) Shared Beginnings, Divergent Lives of Delinquent Boys
B) The World of the New Urban Poor
C) Social Structure and Anomie
D) Moral and Sensual Attractions of Doing Evil
E) Pursuits and Careers of Persistent Thieves

Question 63

Construction crews are constantly annoyed at the way people, mostly teenage boys, steal orange cones and flashing pylons that mark construction zones. According to Jack Katz, why does this sort of deviance happen?

A) The thieves find these items aesthetically appealing but don't know where to buy them.
B) The thieves are afflicted with a psychological disorder like kleptomania, which compels them to steal.
C) The thieves are usually planning on reselling the materials on the black market.
D) This sort of deviance produces a rush of energy and excitement.
E) This sort of deviance is often motivated by a genuine need for the construction materials stolen.

Question 64

When studying deviance, sociologists often focus on the most obvious and extreme forms of deviant behavior. What are the consequences of this approach?

A) Only deviant individuals who receive media attention will be studied.
B) Only those deviant individuals who embrace their deviant labels will be studied.
C) Only the deviant behaviors of the rich and powerful will be studied.
D) The values and norms of the powerful are left unexamined, while the deviance of the poor is scrutinized.
E) Few, if any, of the most serious problems in a given society can be identified.

Question 65

In the early 1950s, many Americans became interested in riding motorcycles as a hobby. At the same time, "bikers" were beginning to develop their modern reputation as antisocial thugs, criminals, and outlaws. One official of a national motorcycle organization argued that a few bad apples shouldn't be allowed to ruin all motorcyclists' reputations and that it was only 1 percent of motorcyclists who were really bad. After this interview was published, some bikers started wearing a "one percenter" patch on their leather jackets, a gesture Erving Goffman would call:

A) antisocial behavior.
B) passing.
C) overt deviance.
D) deviance avowal.
E) in-group orientation.

Question 66

Which of the following is a strategy to negotiate everyday interactions with a stigmatized identity?

A) retreat
B) escapism
C) interactionism
D) functionalism
E) passing

Question 67

What does Howard Becker call individuals who specifically choose to embrace a deviant identity?

A) rebels
B) nonconformists
C) Anabaptists
D) avowal specialists
E) outsiders

Question 68

Instead of solely examining background factors, what does the sociologist Jack Katz think sociologists should study when trying to understand deviance?

A) the deviant's own experience of committing a deviant act
B) the correlation between deviance and poverty
C) the way deviance tends to be handed down through generations
D) the role poverty plays in encouraging deviance
E) the hidden correlation between crime and marital status

Question 69

According to Jack Katz in Seductions of Crime, why might teenagers shoplift?

A) They feel strain between their means and the goals society tells them are desirable.
B) They want the thrill of getting away with breaking the rules.
C) Society tells them they should achieve material success, but they don't have the means to achieve this goal in conventional ways.
D) They come from a low socioeconomic class.
E) Young people are inherently predisposed to crime.

Question 70

For alcoholics, deviance avowal may be a very useful step because:

A) it helps them avoid the pressure of having to fit into conventional society.
B) the first step to recovery from alcoholism is admitting you have a problem.
C) it allows them to take pride in their deviant behavior.
D) it helps them find other individuals with similar deviant behaviors so they can drink together.
E) it helps them avoid the shame and stigma of alcoholism.

Question 71

Which of the following statements helps explain why Jack Katz thought his book Seductions of Crime explained deviance in a new way?

A) Conflict theorists have frequently argued that differences in economic resources give elites the ability to control the coercive apparatus of the state. Pronounced economic differences also provide elites with a need to maintain order.
B) Three decades ago, criminologists widely decried the failure of rehabilitative efforts to reduce recidivism. This "nothing works" attitude permeated the field of criminal justice, and a period of punitive justice was ushered in.
C) The social science literature contains only scattered evidence of what it means, feels, sounds, tastes, or looks like to commit a particular crime.
D) Society should be considered as a cross between the cultural "goals" it believes its members should strive for and the "means" that are believed, legally or morally, to be legitimate ways in which individuals should attain these goals.
E) The discussion of positivist theories centering on peculiarities or abnormalities of the individual considers theories related to physical appearance, mental deficiency and feeblemindedness, hereditary and biological defectiveness, and psychiatry.

Question 72

Most sociological studies of deviance focus on elements of an individual's background that would predispose her to act in deviant ways. What is the key problem with such an approach?

A) It leans too much on depictions of deviance in the media.
B) It cannot explain why some people with very similar backgrounds act differently.
C) It requires a great deal of statistical analysis.
D) It focuses too much on the emotional appeal of certain types of crime.
E) It requires psychiatric evaluations.

Question 73

In Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn, Karen McCarthy Brown studied practitioners of the Vodou religion living in the United States. However, she went far beyond the usual role of scientific observer and became a member of the religious group she was studying. She also gave her key informant, Mama Lola, veto power over certain elements of her work. Why would this be helpful?

A) It helped her learn all the dirty secrets that practitioners of Vodou wouldn't tell outsiders.
B) It gave her better insight into how to convert practitioners away from Vodou.
C) It helped her set aside her preconceived notions about Vodou in order to understand it on its own terms.
D) It wouldn't be; without doubt, it crippled her ability to make objective judgments.
E) It made it much easier for her publisher to sell the book to chain bookstores.

Question 74

Some light-skinned African Americans have dealt with stigma by passing as white. But many African Americans couldn't pass, and others refused to do so; consequently, when they attempted to deal with stigma, they were much more likely to do so via in-group orientation. Which of the following actions would be an example of in-group orientation?

A) using chemical products to straighten curly hair or lighten skin
B) joining a radical group that advocated black separatism and wanted most African Americans to leave the United States
C) buying weapons to defend against violent attacks
D) focusing attention on athletics or other areas where African Americans were more likely to experience success
E) embracing James Brown's song, "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud"

Question 75

According to Jack Katz, there are several reasons why adolescents might shoplift, the first being the material appeal of the objects that are taken, but more importantly:

A) they can gain entrance to gangs if they are successful.
B) they are often carrying out a vendetta against a particular store or small business owner.
C) it's a cure for the perpetual poverty of teenagers.
D) they regard "getting away with it" as a demonstration of personal competence.
E) they usually need to make money by selling the objects they steal.

Question 76

Individuals who conceive of deviance as a role rather than as an isolated behavior sometimes initiate the labeling process against themselves. What is this called?

A) violation phobia
B) nonconformity
C) deviance avowal
D) deviance desistance
E) deviophilia

Question 77

According to Erving Goffman, stigmatized individuals who don't believe that they should have to change or conceal their identities to make "normal" people more comfortable have:

A) deviance plus.
B) in-group orientation.
C) self-esteem.
D) desistance.
E) out-group orientation.

Question 78

Sociologists who study deviance tend to focus only on the most extreme and obvious forms of deviance. What is this approach sometimes called?

A) the outsider's approach
B) the Marxist approach
C) the structural functionalist approach
D) the nuts and sluts approach
E) the hyperphagous approach

Question 79

According to Jack Katz, aside from material objects, what do muggers gain from their crimes?

A) Nothing; they are caught too fast.
B) He argues that they are often trying to return to prison, where they feel more secure.
C) He argues that they seek power and control over their victims.
D) He argues that they mug for a sense of satisfaction and excitement.
E) He argues that they mug for a steady living that allows them to eventually move up in social status.

Question 80

What do we call norm violations that are codified into law?

A) crimes
B) taboos
C) violent crimes
D) mores
E) statutes