Deck 4: Explaining Organized Crime

Question 1

In order for an OC group to survive, it must have a/n _______________ process for inducting new members and inculcating them with the values and ways of behaving prescribed by the social system.

A) institutionalized
B) marginalized
C) culturized
D) none of these

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Merton used the term pathological materialism to describe:

A) the human compulsion for financial security
B) organized crime's singular pursuit of financial goals
C) an American preoccupation with economic success
D) emphasis on goal achievement with little regard for the means of achievement

Answer 2

C

Question 3

___________ refers to a source of patterning in human conduct; it is the sum of patterns of social relationships and shared meanings by which people give order, expression, and value to common experiences.

A) Subculture
B) Culture
C) Norm
D) Social interaction

Answer 3

B

Question 4

In the ___________ subculture, one finds activities in which drug usage is the primary focus.

A) conflict
B) retreatist
C) criminal/rackets
D) rebellion

Question 5

_____________ implies that there are value judgments or a social value system which is apart from a larger or central value system.

A) Subculture
B) Culture
C) Norm
D) Social interaction

Question 6

Who theorized that all behavior-lawful and criminal-is learned?

A) Robert Merton
B) Sigmund Freud
C) Edwin Sutherland
D) Robert Agnew

Question 7

The fact that many contemporary American Mafia members' children have followed them into "the life" tells us that ethnic succession theory is ____________.

A) 100% incorrect
B) limited in its ability to explain organized crime
C)100% correct
D) all of these

Question 8

Merton conceived of organized crime as:

A) the result of sociopathic opportunism
B) adaptive innovation by educationally and financially disadvantaged elements
C) a normal response to pressures exerted on certain persons by the social structure
D) all of these

Question 9

Which of the following results when numbers of people are confronted by the contradiction between goals and means and become estranged from a society that promises them in principle what they are deprived of in reality?

A) rebellion
B) anomie
C) psychological disorders
D) none of these

Question 10

Inadequate familial socialization prevents some persons from:

A) progressing in an OC family to achieve "made guy" status
B) conforming to the conventional norms of the wider society
C) conforming to the norms of a delinquent or criminal subculture
D) none of these

Question 11

Central to the issue of culture versus subculture is/are ___________: group-held prescriptions for, or prohibitions against, certain conduct.

A) communication
B) retribution
C) norms
D) social interactions

Question 12

Leaders of organized criminal enterprises maintain formal and informal political, economic, and religious ties that provide:

A) legitimate opportunities
B) illegitimate opportunities
C) both illegitimate and legitimate opportunities
D) gangster chic

Question 13

Which of the following modes of adaptation includes organized criminal activity for those who would play the game differently?

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

Question 14

According to Shaw and McKay, the attitudes, values, and techniques of organized criminality are transmitted:

A) through economic necessity
B) via formalized and ritualistic processes
C) culturally
D) all of these

Question 15

The ____________ is characterized principally by conduct that reflects values antithetical to the surrounding culture.

A) delinquent subculture
B) mainstream subculture
C) conventional subculture
D) violent subculture

Question 16

Who found that certain clearly identifiable neighborhoods maintained a high level of criminality over many decades despite changes in ethnic composition?

A) Freud
B) Merton
C) Sutherland
D) Shaw and McKay

Question 17

According to Thrasher, "Experience in a predatory gang develops in the boy __________ law and order."

A) a respect for
B) an indifference to
C) a hatred for
D) a preference for

Question 18

________________ theory argues that criminals organize their behavior according to the norms of a delinquent or criminal group to which they belong or with which they identify.

A) Differential association
B) Strain
C) Social control
D) Conflict

Question 19

Who of the following noted that American preoccupation with economic success, coupled with socioeconomic stratification, causes strain?

A) Reuter
B) Sutherland
C) Freud
D) Cloward and Ohlin

Question 20

Which of the following is not a mode of adaptation?

A) rebellion
B) retreatism
C) conformity
D) ignorance

Question 21

Shaw and McKay found that certain clearly identifiable Chicago neighborhoods maintained a high level of criminality over many decades despite changes in ethnic composition.

Question 22

ccording to Sutherland, all behavior-lawful and criminal-is learned.

Question 23

Which of the following is not an external restraint?

A) public disapproval
B) rehabilitation
C) shaming
D) ostracism

Question 24

In the _______ subculture, one finds gang activity devoted to utilitarian criminal pursuits, an adaptation that begins to approximate OC.

A) criminal/rackets
B) conflict
C) retreatist
D) rebellion

Question 25

Clinical psychology is based, to various extents, on psychoanalytic theory, a body of work fathered by:

A) Merton
B) Sutherland
C) Freud
D) Durkheim

Question 26

ho are the Zips?

A) 19th century immigrants from Ireland
B) 19th century Jewish immigrants
C) recent immigrants from Jamaica
D) recent immigrants from the Mezzogiorno

Question 27

Ethnic succession theory posits that OC provides a "queer ladder to success" for disadvantaged groups who eventually leave OC, making way for the next wave.

Question 28

ecent biological theories of crime identify which of the following as playing a part in criminal behavior?

A) earlobe length
B) neurotransmitters
C) bone structure
D) country of origin

Question 29

lexis de Tocqueville described pathological materialism as an American preoccupation with economic success.

Question 30

According to behavioral psychology, behavior is acquired through ______________--a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior--that occurs through interaction with the environment.

A) operant conditioning
B) classical conditioning
C) education
D) all of these

Question 31

Which of the following is an internal restraint?

A) superego
B) shaming
C) ostracism
D) social disapproval

Question 32

_______________ refers to those processes by which the community influences its members toward conformance with established norms of behavior.

A) anomie
B) strain
C) social conflict
D) social control

Question 33

Anomie alone explains participation in OC.

Question 34

In the _________ subculture, one finds gang activities devoted to violence and destructive acting out as a way of gaining status.

A) retreatist
B) conflict
C) criminal/rackets
D) rebellion

Question 35

ccording to ethnic succession, persons involved in OC are not committed to a deviant subculture but are merely using available, albeit illegal, opportunity to achieve economic success.

Question 36

ips assist the American Mafia in drug trafficking.

Question 37

Persons with ________________ have a poorly developed superego-they are psychopaths or sociopaths-and are restrained only by the fear of punishment.

A) schizophrenia
B) depression
C) psychosis
D) antisocial personality disorder

Question 38

Central to the psychoanalytic explanation for crime is the __________, a conscience-like mechanism whose function is to restrain the person from antisocial behavior.

A) id
B) superego
C) ego
D) superid

Question 39

hat is the connection between the criminal organizations of southern Italy-Mafia, Camorra, 'Ndrangheta, Sacra Corona Unita-and the American Mafia?

A) Jewish immigrants
B) the Zips
C) the Irish OC
D) none of these

Question 40

According to ___________ theory, each successive immigrant group experienced strain to which some members reacted by innovating in accord with a tradition that had been established by earlier American entrepreneurs.

A) ethnic succession
B) strain
C) social control
D) differential association

Question 41

As the only theory developed to explain the continued existence of OC, _____________ posits that OC provides a "queer ladder to success" for disadvantaged groups who eventually leave OC, making way for the next wave.

Question 42

ccording to our textbook, criminal behavior is related to the superego function.

Question 43

Conditions of severe deprivation with extremely limited access to ladders of legitimate success result in collective adaptations in the form of ____________ subcultures.

Question 44

o a great extent, the environment inhabited by organized crime reinforces antisocial behavior and frequently ridicules conventional, conforming behavior.

Question 45

escribe the theory of ethnic succession as it is used in the context of organized crime. Describe its limitations as an explanation for organized crime.

Question 46

ccording to learning theory, antisocial behavior is sometimes the result of learning-positive and negative reinforcement-directly from others.

Question 47

The connection between the criminal organizations of southern Italy-Mafia, Camorra, 'Ndrangheta-and American organized crime are the___________.

Question 48

ccording to learning theory, antisocial behavior is sometimes the result of a failure to learn how to discriminate between competing norms.

Question 49

According to____________ theorists, delinquent acts result when an individual's bond to society is weak or broken and the strength of this bond is determined by external and internal restraints.

Question 50

According to differential association theory, the principal part of____________ occurs within intimate personal groups.

Question 51

According to ___________ theory, all behavior-lawful and criminal-is learned in intimate personal groups, although learning the techniques of sophisticated criminality requires the proper environment.

Question 52

erotonin level has no value as a predictor of criminal behavior.

Question 53

ersons with an antisocial personality disorder suffer little or no guilt as a result of engaging in socially harmful behavior.

Question 54

xplain how entry into organized crime can be characterized by differential opportunity.

Question 55

_____________ include social disapproval linked to public shame or social ostracism and fear of punishment. Choose either external restraints or internal restraints.

Question 56

The theory of ____________ asserts that illegitimate opportunity for success, like legitimate opportunity, is not equally distributed throughout society and access to criminal ladders of success are no more freely available than are noncriminal alternatives.

Question 57

nvironmental factors can alter the expression of genes, thus influencing the behavior of the individual.

Question 58

ociological theories explain why only a small fraction of persons exposed to societal variables that motivate involvement in crime become criminals.

Question 59

___________ suggests a strain between societal expectations for success and limited opportunity causes certain persons to innovate in the form of OC.

Question 60

Central to the psychoanalytic explanation for crime is the___________, a conscience-like mechanism whose function is to restrain the person from antisocial behavior.

Question 61

How does social disorganization explain why OC is more likely in certain neighborhoods?

Question 62

iscuss how the Zips affected ethnic succession in organized crime when they immigrated to the New York Metropolitan area.

Question 63

Discuss psychoanalytic theory and its implications on organized crime.

Question 64

How is social control theory different from other sociological theories? How does social control theory explain the existence of organized crime?

Question 65

What is behavioral psychology? How does behavioral psychology explain organized crime?

Question 66

hat are Merton's five modes of adaptation? Why is innovation most important when studying organized crime?

Question 67

Recent research into brain chemistry indicates neurotransmitters may play a part in criminal behavior. Discuss this research and the connections to criminal behavior posited.