Deck 8: Labeling, Conflict, and Radical Theories

Question 1

Due process means that

A) a person cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property without lawful procedures.
B) no one can be denied the safeguards of law.
C) a citizen is guaranteed the right to counsel in all criminal cases.
D) no one can undermine a citizen's right against self-incrimination.

Answer 1

a person cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property without lawful procedures.

Question 2

Labeling theorists are interested in all but which of the following?

A) how certain acts are defined as criminal or deviant
B) why people commit crimes in the first place
C) why certain people are defined as criminal or deviant
D) why certain people have had criminal status conferred upon them by both the criminal justice system and the community at large

Answer 2

why people commit crimes in the first place

Question 3

In focusing on the ways in which social interactions create deviance, _____ declares that the reactions of other people and the subsequent effects of those reactions create deviance.

A) Marxist theory
B) conflict theory
C) labeling theory
D) consensus theory

Answer 3

labeling theory

Question 4

In the 1940s, which of the following theorists formulated the basic assumptions of labeling theory?

A) Frank Tannenbaum
B) George Herbert Mead
C) Howard Becker
D) Edwin Lemert

Question 5

Edwin Lemert contended that there are two types of deviant acts. They are

A) primary and secondary.
B) initial and post-initial.
C) passive and aggressive.
D) juvenile and adult.

Question 6

According to Lemert, secondary deviance sets in after

A) the second time an act is committed by the same individual.
B) the community becomes aware of a primary deviance.
C) an individual is labeled as a deviant by the courts.
D) none of these

Question 7

The work of Howard Becker suggests that it is __________ who make the rules that define deviant behavior.

A) capitalists
B) Christians
C) moral entrepreneurs
D) legislators

Question 8

Labeling by adjudication was studied by

A) Anthony Platt.
B) Howard Becker.
C) William Chambliss.
D) Richard Schwartz and Jerome Skolnick.

Question 9

The primary concern of labeling theorists is

A) the consequences of making and enforcing rules.
B) the cause of deviant behavior.
C) understanding the power struggles in society.
D) the ways in which the law is applied to different social classes.

Question 10

Which theoretical perspective claims that a struggle for power is a basic feature of human existence?

A) labeling
B) conflict
C) peacemaking
D) consensus

Question 11

The __________ model of criminal lawmaking assumes that members of society by and large agree on what is right and wrong and that law is the codification of these agreed-upon social values.

A) conflict
B) radical
C) consensus
D) Marxist

Question 12

Conflict theorists argue that

A) law exists for the collective good.
B) most people agree on what is right and wrong.
C) lawmaking is the result of popular vote.
D) laws represent the interests of specific groups that have the power to get them enacted.

Question 13

Who was the first theorist to relate conflict theory to criminology?

A) George Vold
B) Ralf Dahrendorf
C) Willem Bonger
D) Austin Turk

Question 14

When Freda Adler studied the importance of nonlegal factors in the decision making of juries, she found that the __________ of the defendants significantly influenced their judgment.

A) race
B) socioeconomic level
C) gender
D) offense

Question 15

Conflict theory does all but which of the following?

A) identifies social conflict as a basic fact of life
B) identifies social conflict as a source of discriminatory treatment by the criminal justice system of certain groups and social classes
C) attempts to explain crime
D) studies bias and discrimination in the criminal justice system

Question 16

The leading American spokesperson for radical criminology is

A) Austin Turk.
B) Paul Walton.
C) William Chambliss.
D) Richard Quinney.

Question 17

Carl Klockars attacks Marxists for focusing exclusively on

A) class interests.
B) the many interest groups that make up society.
C) male criminality.
D) how people become labeled as deviant.

Question 18

Left realists recognize street crime as

A) being primarily a "male" activity.
B) an inevitable outcome of social and political deprivation.
C) a means of survival.
D) being primarily a juvenile male crime.

Question 19

Radical criminologists find the cause of crime in women to be

A) class oppression.
B) gender oppression.
C) male aggression.
D) racial discrimination.

Question 20

The peacemaking perspective is part of an intellectual and social movement toward

A) socialism.
B) world peace.
C) Marxism.
D) restorative justice.

Question 21

Critics of Marxist persuasion believe that labeling theory _____.

A) concentrates too heavily on the exotic varieties of deviants who capture public imagination
B) places too much emphasis on "the unethical, illegal and destructive actions of powerful individuals, groups, and institutions of our society"
C) assigns an overly active role to offenders and an overly passive role to the community and its criminal justice system
D) focuses exclusively on class interests and ignores the fact that society is made up of many interest groups

Question 22

Which of the following is the cornerstone of the Marxist explanation of crime?

A) Deviance is a consequence of the application of rules and sanctions to an offender by society.
B) People who are kept in a state of poverty will rebel by committing crimes.
C) Crime and criminal justice arise from communal consensus.
D) The destruction of communities by the state is at the root of crime.

Question 23

Viewed from the labeling perspective, criminal acts themselves are not particularly significant; the social reaction to them, however, is.

Question 24

The intellectual roots of labeling theory can be traced to the work of Charles Horton Cooley, William I. Thomas, and George Herbert Mead.

Question 25

The consensus model assumes that members of society by and large agree on what is right and wrong and that law is the codification of these agreed-upon social values.

Question 26

Empirical evidence strongly supports conflict theory.

Question 27

One of the significant features of Marxist theory is that it focuses on crime committed by both males and females.

Question 28

Left realists advocate the redistribution of power by returning it to communities and individuals, in order to fix the existing power differential.

Question 29

Discuss the basic assumptions of labeling theory, and then evaluate the theory.

Question 30

Compare and contrast the consensus and conflict models of lawmaking.

Question 31

Discuss the empirical support for the conflict model.

Question 32

Select two of the radical criminologists discussed in the text, and discuss their contributions to criminology.

Question 33

Over the last decade, a number of important critical perspectives have emerged, including radical feminist theory, left realism, abolitionist and anarchist criminology, and peacemaking criminology. Discuss three of these perspectives.