Deck 6: Deviance

Question 1

What were the conclusions Milgram drew from his experiment?

A) Citizens of the modern industrial world view individuality as more important than authority.
B) Citizens of the modern industrial world view authority as more important than individuality.
C) The social role of the experimenter was irrelevant to the decision of the participant.
D) The participants selected for this study were unusually sadistic.

Answer 1

Citizens of the modern industrial world view authority as more important than individuality.

Question 2

One implication of Durkheim's theory of deviance is that deviant acts may actually have beneficial effects by expanding the cultural horizons of a society.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The term social control refers to

A) behavior that violates the norms and values of a group.
B) society's power to limit deviance by enforcing conformity to expected norms and values.
C) culturally acceptable justifications for deviant behavior under certain circumstances.
D) penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm.

Answer 3

society's power to limit deviance by enforcing conformity to expected norms and values.

Question 4

Which of the following statements about violent crime rates in Mexico is True?

A) They remain fairly steady.
B) They are increasing in some cases, but rarely in a specific location.
C) They are declining.
D) They are increasing rapidly in some cases.

Question 5

Which of the following is True about Émile Durkheim's view of deviance?

A) Formal punishment for deviant acts is unnecessary because society automatically punishes deviants.
B) Deviant acts and crime always have a negative effect on society.
C) Labeling an individual is the most crucial stage in that person becoming a deviant.
D) There is nothing inherently deviant in any act; the key is the effect the act has on society.

Question 6

A college student interrupts the instructor during a seminar; the instructor responds with an angry glare. This is an example of

A) formal social control.
B) informal social control.
C) Both answers are true.
D) Neither answer is true.

Question 7

Underreporting of crime in the United States

A) often occurs because members of racial and ethnic minority groups distrust law enforcement agencies.
B) has not been a problem in recent years, due to the increased availability of anonymous reporting.
C) is largely the result of white males failing to report crimes because of their reluctance to damage perceptions of their masculinity.
D) is most common in conjunction with motor vehicle theft because victims do not feel their property will be returned.

Question 8

Which of the following is True about sanctions?

A) They can be handed out only by people who hold official positions of power.
B) They apply only in reference to informal, but oppressive, social norms.
C) They are penalties and rewards for conduct concerning a social norm.
D) They are the norms promoted by a particular social group.

Question 9

To define an act as deviant is to make a subjective judgment, but it can be objectively determined that all deviant acts have a negative impact on the moral standards of a society.

Question 10

Which of the following statements about index crimes is True?

A) All eight index crimes are classified as violent crimes.
B) Murder is the most frequently committed index crime.
C) They are tracked by the FBI and have been for a long time.
D) They are always committed by older adults.

Question 11

Arnold gets a perfect grade on his organic chemistry exam because he copies most of his answers from Stanley, the high achiever sitting next to him. According to Merton's strain theory of deviance, under which of the following categories would Arnold be classified?

A) innovator
B) ritualist
C) rebel
D) retreatist

Question 12

Labeling theory asserts that deviance is determined by the response to an act rather than by the act itself. Do you agree with this perspective? What are the implications of this view for punishing deviant behavior?

Question 13

According to Robert Merton's typology, what is a retreatist?

A) an individual who has accepted the goals of society, but pursues them with means regarded as improper
B) an individual who has withdrawn from both the goals and the means of society
C) None of the answer choices are correct.
D) an individual who has rejected the dominant means and seeks out a dramatically different social order

Question 14

Which of the following has a role in maintaining social control?

A) the family
B) peer groups
C) the government
D) All of the answer choices are correct.

Question 15

Deviance is behavior that

A) is always anomic.
B) always violates the laws of a society.
C) is always illegal.
D) violates a group's norms.

Question 16

White-collar crimes can be defined as victimless crimes committed by high-status individuals.

Question 17

Because of its recognition of the power of certain people or groups to label others, labeling theory closely ties into which other sociological explanation of deviance?

A) the theory of differential association
B) the routine activities theory
C) the strain theory of deviance
D) the conflict perspective

Question 18

Feminist sociologists contend that the so-called victimless crime of prostitution, as well as the more disturbing aspects of pornography

A) serve as a vital deterrent against sexual crimes.
B) should be criminalized only for women.
C) are completely harmless provided that the women are in no way coerced.
D) reinforce the misconception that women are "toys" who can be treated as objects.

Question 19

A crime is a violation of

A) societal standards punished by formal or informal sanctions.
B) a law for which there is no sanction.
C) formal social norms or informal social norms.
D) a law for which a governmental authority applies formal penalties.

Question 20

In some jurisdictions, police officers are much more likely to stop African American males than Caucasian males for routine traffic violations, in the expectation of finding drugs or guns in their cars. This example of differential justice is more commonly known as

A) deviance.
B) socialization.
C) racial profiling.
D) crime.

Question 21

Moira has been assigned to work on a project for her company, but her partner on the project is lazy and difficult to work with. After an especially unproductive day, Moira complains to her boss. Her boss sympathizes, but warns Moira that if she doesn't finish the project on time, he will be forced to drop her from consideration for a promotion. The reaction of Moira's boss is an example of

A) social control.
B) organized norms.
C) social stigma.
D) deviant behavior.

Question 22

What is a victimization survey?

A) an interview or questionnaire given to victims of crime to determine their level of emotional distress
B) a questionnaire given to prisoners to determine how many people they have victimized through their crimes
C) an interview during which perpetrators of crimes are confronted by their victims
D) a questionnaire given to a sample of the population to determine if people have been victims of crime

Question 23

Which of the following is an example of deviance?

A) A student walks into a sociology class naked because it is hot outside.
B) All of the answer choices are correct.
C) A student picks his nose throughout his sociology class period.
D) A student cheats on her first sociology exam.

Question 24

Anomie would be likely to occur in a society during which of the following events?

A) a nationwide economic collapse
B) a period of sudden prosperity
C) a social revolution
D) All of the answer choices are correct.

Question 25

According to Robert Merton's typology, what is an innovator?

A) None of the answer choices are correct.
B) an individual who has accepted the goals of society but pursues them with means regarded as improper
C) an individual who has withdrawn from both the goals and means of society
D) an individual who has abandoned the dominant means and seeks out a dramatically different social order

Question 26

Which of the following statements BEST defines white-collar crime?

A) when a business professional commits an illegal act and pays authorities to look the other way
B) an illegal act committed by a working-class person against an affluent individual
C) actions that violate informal norms and may result in civil suits against the perpetrator, but not criminal suits
D) illegal acts committed by affluent, "respectable" individuals in the course of business activities

Question 27

Stanley Milgram's experiment was a study of primarily which form of social control?

A) conformity
B) rewards
C) sanctions
D) obedience

Question 28

Which of the following statements is correct about laws?

A) Some are directed toward select people in society.
B) Some govern the behavior of institutions rather than individuals.
C) Some are directed toward all people in society.
D) All of the answer choices are correct.

Question 29

Which of the following is NOT a reason sociologists have offered to explain why violent crime rates generally are higher in the United States than in Western Europe?

A) substantial alcohol and drug abuse
B) the reluctance of Western Europeans to report crimes
C) a history of tolerating many forms of violence
D) significant unemployment

Question 30

The disturbing conclusion drawn from Milgram's famous obedience experiment was that up to two-thirds of ordinary people were actually sadists who enjoyed inflicting pain on innocent people.

Question 31

The managing editor of a newspaper, acting on an order from the publisher, fires three editors, one of whom is an old friend. The editor's actions are an example of

A) conformity.
B) neutralization.
C) obedience.
D) deviance.

Question 32

Which of the following would be an example of differential justice?

A) When deciding between two candidates of equal merit, a company chooses a White candidate over a Black candidate.
B) When deciding between two candidates of equal merit, a company chooses a Black candidate over a White candidate.
C) During a major riot in a crime-ridden area, police officers arrest equal numbers of Black people and White people.
D) When a Causasian defendant and a Latino defendant are convicted of murder in similar cases, only the Latino receives the death penalty.

Question 33

Differences in the way social control is exercised over different groups is called

A) deviance.
B) differential justice.
C) labeling theory.
D) racial profiling.

Question 34

Which of the following statements about imprisonment rates in the United States is True?

A) The United States imprisons people at a higher rate than Russia, Mexico, or Canada.
B) The United States imprisons people at a lower rate than Russia, Mexico, or Canada.
C) Russia, South Africa, and Mexico each imprison more people than the United States.
D) The United States imprisons people at a lower rate than Russia or South Africa, but higher than Israel.

Question 35

A comparison of official crime statistics with victimization surveys reveals that a significant proportion of crimes are NOT reported to police.

Question 36

The term deviance is generally assumed to have negative connotations. Under what circumstances can deviance actually have positive benefits for society as a whole? Illustrate your answer with real-world examples.

Question 37

Which of the following is an example of formal social control?

A) A friend complains when you arrive late to an appointment.
B) An adult frowns at a misbehaving child at the mall.
C) A police officer gives a driver a ticket for driving too fast.
D) A neighbor asks you to turn down the volume of your TV.

Question 38

Which of the following is traditionally an example of transnational crime?

A) shoplifting
B) slavery
C) poaching
D) homicide

Question 39

Which of the following is considered a white-collar crime?

A) burglary
B) motor vehicle theft
C) aggravated assault
D) consumer fraud

Question 40

How are white-collar crimes distinct from other categories of crime? Why, in your view, have white-collar crimes historically been viewed differently from other types of crime?

Question 41

Sociologists use the term ______ to describe the process of labeling of someone as less than a whole person because they are perceived as being different.

A) crime
B) stigma
C) sanction
D) deviance

Question 42

Stanley Milgram distinguishes between two levels of social control, conformity and obedience. Generally, conformity requires greater coercion than obedience.

Question 43

Which of the following BEST describes laws?

A) They are passed in response to a need for informal sanctions.
B) They are formal norms enforced by the state.
C) They are formal acceptance of deviant behavior.
D) They are informal norms enforced by our peers.

Question 44

Which of the following is NOT an example of the way changing attitudes affect laws in the United States?

A) the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit
B) the Civil Rights movement
C) the prohibition of murder
D) the prohibition of the manufacture and sale of alcohol

Question 45

The theory of differential association maintains that an individual is more likely to commit a deviant act if the groups with which the individual interacts hold favorable attitudes toward the deviant act.

Question 46

When compared with other countries, the United States has the world's highest rates of most types of crime, but has one of the world's lowest rates of incarceration.

Question 47

Which of the following statements regarding stigma is correct?

A) People have full control over which stigmas are attached to them.
B) People may be stigmatized for deviant behaviors in which they no longer engage.
C) A person must be guilty of a crime to be stigmatized.
D) Because society is largely patriarchal, stigmas are mainly applied to women.

Question 48

According to the results of Stanley Milgram's famous experiment, two-thirds of participants were prepared to inflict pain on another human on the orders of an authority figure. In your view, what do these results indicate? Do you agree with Milgram's assessment that "if a system of death camps were set up in the United States of the sort we had seen in Nazi Germany, one would be able to find sufficient personnel for those camps in any medium-sized American town"?

Question 49

In Robert Merton's terms, people who blindly apply bureaucratic rules and regulations without remembering the larger goals of the organization can be classified as

A) ritualists.
B) innovators.
C) rebels.
D) retreatists.

Question 50

Labeling theory is also called the societal-reaction approach because it emphasizes that deviance occurs as a reaction to a society's otherwise unattainable goals.

Question 51

The term ethnic succession, as used by Daniel Bell, refers to

A) the migration of immigrant groups into new areas of crime.
B) the process of the leadership of organized crime passing from one ethnic group to another.
C) the migration of immigrant groups into communities previously occupied by other immigrant groups.
D) the process of the control of local law enforcement passing from one ethnic group to another.

Question 52

Theorists differ in their evaluation of the effectiveness of sanctions as instruments for enforcing social norms. Under what circumstances are sanctions most likely to be effective enforcement mechanisms? When might sanctions be ineffective?

Question 53

Formal social control would most likely be employed if a student spoke out of turn in class.

Question 54

In his strain theory of deviance, Robert Merton

A) described the five primary types of deviance.
B) noted that a given individual will always follow the same mode of adaptation.
C) created a typology to explain the adaptations people make to achieve a goal.
D) suggested that conformists tend to ignore societal goals for fear of appearing deviant.

Question 55

What term refers to going along with the norms of one's peers?

A) conformity
B) deviance
C) obedience
D) labeling

Question 56

According to a study by Stanley Milgram, individuals will

A) obey the commands of people viewed as legitimate authority figures, even if the behavior may harm another individual.
B) typically resist the attitudes and behaviors of their peers if such attitudes and behaviors are racist.
C) always conform to the attitudes and behaviors of their peers even if such attitudes and behaviors are racist.
D) in most instances, disobey the commands of people viewed as legitimate authority figures if the behavior may harm another individual.