Deck 2: Theories Part I: Positivist, Evolutionary, Strain, Differential Association, Social Control, and Womens Emancipation Theories

Question 1

Which of the following statements best explains the historical neglect of women's offending?

A) Women are deemed insignificant compared to men.
B) Prison authorities are less likely to oppose research on women than on men.
C) Women make up a large percentage of prisoners.
D) Men lawbreakers are viewed as abnormal and more interesting to observe.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

According to the author, the increase in research on women prisoners and girl delinquents can be credited to ______.

A) decreasing rates of incarceration for both women and girls
B) an increase in male scholars studying crime
C) the impact of the war on drugs
D) acknowledgment of the significance of gender in studying crime and proposing theories

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following theories is considered to be more sexist than the others?

A) emancipation
B) differential association
C) social control
D) strain

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which type of studies was grounded in the belief that biological determinism accounts for female criminality?

A) biosocial and evolutionary psychological
B) strain
C) original and positivist
D) women's liberation/emancipation hypothesis

Question 5

The assumption that men are rational and women are driven by their biological constitutions is held by which type of approach?

A) positivist
B) strain
C) power control
D) social bond

Question 6

Positivist approaches were informed by the assumption that ______.

A) societal characteristics are responsible for criminal behavior
B) there is an identifiable biological nature inherent in all women
C) offending women are feminine, which makes them incompetent and prone to break the law
D) the differences between male and female criminality are due to gender, not sex differences

Question 7

Classical studies focused on ______ as the "feminine" standard.

A) lower-class women
B) minority women
C) single women
D) straight women

Question 8

Who is often referred to as the "father" of criminology?

A) Otto Pollak
B) Sigmund Freud
C) Cesare Lombroso
D) W. I. Thomas

Question 9

In Criminal Man (1876), Cesare Lombroso identified people of color as ______.

A) savages
B) animals
C) brutes
D) uncivilized

Question 10

The concept that views some deviant behavior as a throwback to an earlier evolutionary stage in human development is referred to as ______.

A) determinism
B) adaptation
C) classism
D) atavism

Question 11

According to the text, Cesare Lombroso used ______ methods in his studies.

A) positivist
B) evolutionary
C) strain
D) social

Question 12

W. I. Thomas favored which type of explanation for female criminality?

A) educational
B) economic
C) religious
D) psychological

Question 13

Which individuals centered his explanations of female behavior on the belief that women are anatomically inferior to men?

A) Otto Pollak
B) Sigmund Freud
C) Cesare Lombroso
D) W. I. Thomas

Question 14

Otto Pollak portrayed ______ as the fundamental influences on female criminality.

A) biology and physiology
B) physiology and psychology
C) psychology and sociology
D) sociology and biology

Question 15

Which concept is key to the evolutionary theory approach?

A) atavism
B) sexism
C) adaptation
D) determinism

Question 16

According to the authors of A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion (2000), which of the following approaches is better suited to understanding the causes of rape?

A) evolutionary
B) social learning
C) positivist
D) social control

Question 17

Which of the following theories is used to excuse rapists while blaming biology and women and girl victims?

A) social bond theory
B) traditional strain theory
C) biosocial and evolutionary psychological
D) power control theory

Question 18

Which theorist is credited with developing traditional strain theory (TST)?

A) Robert Merton
B) Emile Durkheim
C) Cesare Lombroso
D) Sigmund Freud

Question 19

Robert Merton premised that ______ occurs when individuals are taught the same cultural goals with unequal access to attain the shared goals.

A) learning
B) strain
C) power
D) bonding

Question 20

Which of the following theories is associated with the state of normlessness?

A) anomie
B) class
C) biosocial
D) power control

Question 21

Traditional strain theory (TST) measures strains primarily in terms of ______.

A) sex differences
B) class inequalities
C) gender differences
D) political inequalities

Question 22

Which term is rarely, if ever, applied to boys and men?

A) masculinity
B) criminality
C) delinquency
D) promiscuity

Question 23

Albert Cohen believed that girls' only strain is ______.

A) to find a job and maintain it
B) to produce enough income
C) to date and marry well
D) to have as many children as possible

Question 24

Which version of strain theory assumed delinquent boys, but not delinquent girls, had unequal legal opportunities to attain the "American dream?"

A) traditional strain theory
B) opportunity theory
C) general strain theory
D) anomie theory

Question 25

______ theory broadened the sources and types of adaptations to strains and acknowledged that goals may vary depending on an individual's gender, race, and class.

A) General strain
B) Anomie
C) Opportunity
D) Traditional strain

Question 26

Which theorist attempted to move the major explanation of criminal behavior from poverty to association?

A) Otto Pollak
B) Edwin Sutherland
C) Sigmund Freud
D) Robert Merton

Question 27

Which of the following was identified as a criticism of differential association theory?

A) The theory rarely addressed boys.
B) Girls were viewed as uniform and homogenous.
C) There is no differentiation of boy and girl offending.
D) Girls' perceived tendency toward abiding the law is portrayed as positive and moral.

Question 28

The feminist criticism of differential association theory centered mainly on ______.

A) the view of girls as belonging in the family
B) the treatment of girls as peripheral and insignificant to the mainstream culture
C) the decision to avoid discussing girls/women in any meaningful way
D) the lack of a gender-neutral approach

Question 29

Which of the following theories is more concerned with explaining what compels most of society to abide by the law?

A) strain
B) evolutionary psychological
C) social control
D) positivist

Question 30

Which type of theories focuses on what makes people break the law?

A) biosocial theory
B) social bond theory
C) women's liberation/emancipation hypothesis
D) power control theory

Question 31

Which of the following theories is associated with the examination of attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief?

A) power control theory
B) social bond theory
C) biosocial theory
D) differential association theory

Question 32

In his study, Travis Hirschi only analyzed data from ______.

A) White girls
B) White boys
C) African American girls
D) African American boys

Question 33

In his study, Travis Hirschi stratified his samples by ______.

A) school
B) religious affiliation
C) age
D) socioeconomic status

Question 34

Which of the following types of theories attempts to bridge classical and positivist traditions?

A) power control theory
B) biosocial theory
C) evolutionary psychological
D) general theory

Question 35

Which of the following theories purports that self-control interacts with criminal opportunity to explain criminal/delinquent behavior?

A) social learning theory
B) power control theory
C) general theory
D) women's liberation/emancipation hypothesis

Question 36

General control theory has been criticized for ______.

A) ignoring race
B) overrepresenting gender-based abuse
C) ignoring the role of power in crime
D) overrepresenting feminist research on gender divisions within families

Question 37

Which theory posits that gender power positions in the workplace impact gender power relations in the home, such that the control of youth is gender-determined, and then, so is delinquency?

A) social control theory
B) power control theory
C) social learning theory
D) biosocial theory

Question 38

Which of the following theories was identified as one of the first to explicitly include gender?

A) positivist theory
B) evolutionary psychological theory
C) biosocial theory
D) power control theory

Question 39

Power control theory focuses on which two loci?

A) home; workplace
B) workplace; school
C) school; church
D) church; home

Question 40

Power control theory joins which theory on research related to gender and family relationships?

A) biosocial theory
B) class theory
C) social learning theory
D) women's liberation/emancipation hypothesis

Question 41

Which of the following theories asserts that the gender-power makeup in the parents' relationship influences their children's delinquent behavior in gendered ways?

A) power control theory
B) social control theory
C) biosocial theory
D) differential association theory

Question 42

In studies associated with power control theory, researchers have found a greater gender difference in delinquency rates in ______ homes.

A) single-parent
B) egalitarian
C) patriarchal
D) unrestricted

Question 43

Which of the following words is often used by scholars who assess power control theories?

A) consistent
B) mixed
C) generalizable
D) accurate

Question 44

Which approach suggests that the feminist movement increased the female crime rate?

A) emancipation hypothesis
B) power control theory
C) general theory of crime
D) biosocial theory

Question 45

Which of the following is considered to be troubling assumption of women's liberation/emancipation hypothesis?

A) Feminism brings out women's cooperativeness.
B) Crime is inherently feminine.
C) Women have lost the battle of equality.
D) Feminism makes women want to behave like men.

Question 46

Which assumption of women's liberation/emancipation hypothesis loses credibility when faced with statistics showing that women have not achieved equality in high-paying and managerial professions?

A) Feminism brings out women's competitiveness.
B) Women's movement has opened up structural opportunities.
C) Women have fought and won the battle of equality.
D) Crime itself is inherently masculine.

Question 47

The growing number of women living in poverty (with or without dependents) is referred to as the ______.

A) poverty level
B) feminization of poverty
C) rate of poverty
D) threshold of poverty

Question 48

Which of the following theories was considered to be very biological in nature and fraught with sexism, racism, and classism?

A) women's liberation/emancipation hypothesis
B) power control
C) social control
D) positivist

Question 49

Which type of theory, developed in the mid-1980s, has mixed support and makes sexist assumptions?

A) positivist
B) women's liberation/emancipation hypothesis
C) power control
D) differential association

Question 50

The ______ approach was based on erroneous and sexist and class assumptions about the feminist movement and statistics, and the interpretations of data were often misleading.

A) positivist
B) women's liberation/emancipation hypothesis
C) power control
D) differential association

Question 51

Most criminological theories were constructed by men and about why (some) men and boys break the law.

Question 52

Atavism is a concept that views some deviant behavior as a "throwback" to an earlier evolutionary stage in human development.

Question 53

Otto Pollak is often referred to as the "father" of criminology.

Question 54

Sigmund Freud, in his theorizing, firmly maintained that deviants are less highly evolved than "normal" law-abiding citizens.

Question 55

Madonna's were considered to be subservient, loyal, and submissive to their husbands who protected them.

Question 56

W. I. Thomas favored psychological over economic motivations to explain female criminality.

Question 57

Sigmund Freud centered his explanations of female behavior on the belief that women are anatomically inferior to men.

Question 58

The infamous "penis envy" approach is credited to Sigmund Freud.

Question 59

Positivists failed to see sexism in access to power, nor how this could intersect with race, class, and other characteristics.

Question 60

Some argue that the primary legacy of the positivists in the 1990s and since is the researchers promoting the women's liberation/emancipation hypotheses.

Question 61

The concept of adaptation is key to the evolutionary theory approach.

Question 62

The biosocial and evolutionary psychological explanation of gender-based abuse does not simply fly in the face of science but of feminist.

Question 63

Biosocial and evolutionary psychological theories are considered to be insulting to girls and women as well as boys and men.

Question 64

Operant conditioning refers to how behaviors are reinforced or modified via punishment and rewards.

Question 65

Travis Hirschi's social bonds include attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief.

Question 66

Social bond or control theory (SCT) focuses on what motivates people to obey laws.

Question 67

Strain theory suggests that gender, race, age, and class differences in delinquency are due to how these characteristics are related to self-control and social control.

Question 68

According to the general theory of crime, individuals with low self-control and access to opportunities to commit offenses are more prone to offend.

Question 69

Social bond theory was one of the first theories to explicitly include gender.

Question 70

The emancipation hypothesis suggests that the feminist movement decreased the female crime rate.

Question 71

Discuss the three explanations for the historical neglect of women's offending.

Question 72

What is the most important criticism of traditional strain theory (TST) applicable to gender and race?

Question 73

How does general strain theory (GST) advance and expand earlier strain theories?

Question 74

What are some of the criticisms of differential association theory?

Question 75

What are some of the troubling assumptions of the women's liberation/emancipation hypothesis (WLEH)?