Deck 7: Social Control Theory

Question 1

Which of the following would not be a focus of social control theorists?

A) individual modes of adaptation to environmental strains
B) the influence of family on behavior
C) techniques that regulate human behavior and lead to conformity
D) the influence of religion on behavior

Answer 1

individual modes of adaptation to environmental strains

Question 2

The concept of social control emerged in the early 1900s in a volume by

A) Edwin Sutherland.
B) E.A. Ross.
C) Robert Merton.
D) Travis Hirschi.

Answer 2

E.A. Ross.

Question 3

According to Ross, __________ rather than specific laws guide what people do and universally serve to control behavior.

A) morals
B) pressures to conform
C) belief systems
D) environmental strains

Answer 3

belief systems

Question 4

Which of the following is not an example of a study from a macrosociological perspective?

A) studies of the legal system
B) studies of powerful groups in society
C) studies of economic directives of private groups
D) studies of individuals

Question 5

Who has been the spokesperson for the microsociological perspective since 1969?

A) Travis Hirschi
B) A. E. Ross
C) Terence Thornberry
D) Michael Gottfredson

Question 6

Who was the first theorist to introduce the notion of individual commitment as a powerful determining force in the social control of behavior?

A) Travis Hirschi
B) Jackson Toby
C) Scott Briar
D) Irving Piliavan

Question 7

According to Travis Hirschi, one of the four social bonds that promote socialization and conformity is _____.

A) motivation
B) commitment
C) coercion
D) containment

Question 8

Which of the following is not a form of Hirschi's first bond, attachment?

A) attachment to parents
B) attachment to peers
C) attachment to school
D) attachment to church

Question 9

The preoccupation with activities that promote the interests of society would be an example of which type of Hirschi's bonds?

A) involvement
B) commitment
C) belief
D) attachment

Question 10

__________ is the assent to the society's value system.

A) Attachment
B) Belief
C) Commitment
D) Involvement

Question 11

One of the differences that Michael Hindelang found between his research and Hirschi's research is that there is

A) no relationship between attachment to father and attachment to peers.
B) no relationship between attachment to church and attachment to peers.
C) no relationship between attachment to mother and attachment to peers.
D) no relationship between attachment to school and attachment to peers.

Question 12

In testing Hirschi's theory, Michael Hindelang found that involvement in delinquency was positively related to

A) drug use.
B) social class.
C) dislike of siblings.
D) attachment to peers.

Question 13

David Matza states that a youth may enter into a state of _____, or a period when he or she exists in limbo between convention and crime, when a bind between the youth and the law is not in place.

A) drift
B) anomie
C) delinquency
D) transition

Question 14

__________ was one of the first researchers to isolate a group of personal and social control factors.

A) Travis Hirschi
B) Albert Reiss
C) David Matza
D) Jackson Toby

Question 15

According to Reiss, delinquency is the result of all but which of the following factors?

A) a failure to internalize socially accepted and prescribed norms of behavior
B) a breakdown of internal controls
C) attachment to delinquent peers
D) a lack of social rules that prescribe behavior in the family, the school, and other important social groups

Question 16

Which approach, according to Toby, can explain why one neighborhood has a much higher crime rate than another, but not why one particular individual becomes a hoodlum and another does not?

A) containment
B) social bond
C) social control
D) social disorganization

Question 17

__________ theory assumes that for every individual, there exists a containing external structure and a protective internal structure, both of which provide defense, protection, or insulation against delinquency.

A) Containment
B) Differential association
C) Drift
D) Social bond

Question 18

According to Walter Reckless, the primary containment factor is found in

A) self-control.
B) self-concept.
C) a strong ego.
D) a good conscience.

Question 19

Who developed the notion that multiple control factors determine human behavior?

A) Travis Hirschi
B) Walter Reckless
C) Francis Ivan Nye
D) Albert Reiss

Question 20

Gottfredson and Hirschi proposed a new model of personal and social control in A General Theory of Crime. Their model assumes that

A) offenders have a great deal of control over their own behavior and desires.
B) offenders have weak attachment to parents.
C) offenders have weak belief in the legal system.
D) offenders have little control over their own behaviors and desires.

Question 21

According to Terence Thornberry, _____ is a function of a dynamic social process that changes over time.

A) criminality
B) synnomie
C) conflict
D) strain

Question 22

According to Francis Ivan Nye, _____ comes from an individual's identification with noncriminals and a desire not to embarrass parents and friends by acting against their expectations.

A) internalized control
B) direct control
C) indirect control
D) external control

Question 23

Social control has been conceptualized as representing practically any phenomenon that leads to anomie.

Question 24

Macrosociological studies explore formal systems, such as law enforcement, for the control of groups.

Question 25

According to Albert Reiss, delinquency is the result of the denial of responsibility.

Question 26

Francis Ivan Nye posited that indirect control depends on rules, restrictions, and punishments.

Question 27

Moffitt posits that individual differences in crime commission may be attributed to levels of self-control.

Question 28

Explain why regulating smoking in public is an example of social control, and also give another example of similar social control either in your state or elsewhere.

Question 29

Discuss Matza's drift theory and the empirical tests of this theory.

Question 30

Explain containment theory and the criticisms that have been directed against it.

Question 31

Discuss Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime, and then evaluate it.

Question 32

Discuss three programs that have been informed by social control theory.