Deck 9: Deviance

Question 1

William Sheldon linked criminality to

A) muscular, athletic builds.
B) race.
C) class position.
D) gender.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What concept refers to the formal system that responds to alleged violations of the law using police, courts, and prison officials?

A) the normative system
B) social control
C) civil law
D) the criminal justice system

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following statements comes closest to the correct view of the role of biology in causing people to commit crimes?

A) Males with certain body types commit the most serious crimes.
B) Lombroso proved a century ago that biological factors are the major cause of crime.
C) Biological factors may have a real but small effect in causing some people to commit crimes.
D) Genetics research has succeeded in explaining most criminality.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following concepts refers to "the recognized violation of cultural norms"?

A) deviance
B) crime
C) legal infraction
D) juvenile delinquency

Question 5

Assume you were listening to a lecture on Durkheim's approach to deviance. Which of the following statements might well be the focus of the lecture?

A) Deviance is a normal element of social organization.
B) Deviance is a dysfunctional element of social organization.
C) Deviance is less common in modern societies.
D) Deviance is defined by the rich and used against the poor.

Question 6

Read the following four statements about the social foundations of deviance. Select the one statement that is FALSE.

A) Deviance exists only in relation to cultural norms.
B) There are many acts that are always and everywhere deviant.
C) People become deviant as others define them that way.
D) What the norms are and how people apply them involve social power.

Question 7

Using the terms in Robert Merton's strain theory, which of the following concepts correctly describes the behaviour of a radical activist who rejects just about everything in the existing society in favour of some alternative system?

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

Question 8

Using the terms of Robert Merton's strain theory, which of the following terms would correctly describe a gangster like Al Capone who made a lot of money breaking the law?

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

Question 9

In his study of New England's Puritans, Kai Erikson concluded that

A) people everywhere define mostly the same things as deviant.
B) very religious people create very little deviance.
C) even this disciplined and highly religious group created deviance to clarify the moral boundaries of their community.
D) the proportion of people in the population that the Puritans defined as deviant kept rising over time.

Question 10

Walter Reckless and Simon Dinitz claimed that "good boys" have the ability to rein in deviant impulses. They called their analysis

A) differential opportunity theory.
B) containment theory.
C) libido theory.
D) differential association theory.

Question 11

Every society tries to regulate the behaviour of individuals; this general process is called ______.

A) neighbourhood watch
B) self-control
C) social control
D) the legal system

Question 12

"Crime" differs from "deviance" in that crime

A) is always more serious.
B) is usually less serious.
C) refers to a violation of norms enacted into law.
D) involves a larger share of the population.

Question 13

The value of psychological theories of deviance is limited because

A) very few people experience an "unsuccessful socialization."
B) there has been very little research of this kind.
C) there is no way to distinguish "normal" from "abnormal" people.
D) most people who commit crimes have normal personalities.

Question 14

Based on your reading, it would be correct to say that biological approaches offer

A) a very limited understanding of crime.
B) a good explanation of most crimes.
C) a good explanation of violent crime.
D) a good explanation of property crime.

Question 15

Suicide is a particularly serious problem among Aboriginal(s)

A) elders.
B) women.
C) on urban reserves.
D) youth.

Question 16

Using the terms of Robert Merton's strain theory, which of the following concepts correctly describes the behaviour of a school "dropout" who rejects both cultural goals and the conventional means to reach them?

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

Question 17

Which of the following are functions of deviance as noted by Emile Durkheim?

A) Deviance forces us to reconsider cultural values and norms.
B) Fear is an important part of a society.
C) Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries.
D) Without deviance, the police wouldn't have a job to do.

Question 18

In Robert Merton's strain theory of deviance, which of the following concepts refers to the process of seeking conventional goals but rejecting the conventional means to achieve them?

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

Question 19

Using Robert Merton's strain theory, how would you classify a low-paid, yet compulsively conforming bank teller, who never seems to want to get ahead but never seems to do anything wrong?

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

Question 20

Cloward and Ohlin extended Merton's theory of deviance, stating that crime

A) reflects both limited legitimate opportunity as well as accessible illegitimate opportunity.
B) is more common among the rich who have more opportunity.
C) is defined in such a way as to overly criminalize the poor.
D) is typically a result of drug dependence or other substance addiction.

Question 21

Which of the following statements illustrates the "medicalization of deviance"?

A) unwanted sexual advances being redefined as sexual assault
B) drinking too much being redefined as "alcoholism"
C) the practice of "conversion therapy" applied to homosexuals in religious communities
D) an individual with a criminal record of drug abuse stealing prescription medication from a pharmacy

Question 22

Travis Hirschi's control theory suggests which of the following categories of people would be most likely to engage in deviance?

A) students enrolled in college
B) teenagers on sports teams with after-school jobs
C) youngsters who "hang out" waiting for something to happen
D) young people with respect for their parents

Question 23

Edwin Sutherland's differential association theory links deviance to

A) how others respond to the behaviour in question.
B) the amount of contact a person has with others who encourage or discourage conventional behaviour.
C) how well a person can contain deviant impulses.
D) how others respond to the race, ethnicity, gender, and class of the individual.

Question 24

The basic idea behind labelling theory is that

A) deviance is actually useful in a number of ways.
B) deviance arises not so much from what people do as how others respond to what they do.
C) power has much to do with how a society defines deviance.
D) deviance exists because of the visible markers we see in people.

Question 25

Thomas Szasz made the controversial assertion that

A) deviance is only what people label as deviant.
B) most people in the United States will become insane for some period during their lives.
C) mental illness is a myth so that "insanity" is only "differences" that bother other people.
D) our society does not do nearly enough to treat the mentally ill.

Question 26

What concept did Erving Goffman use to refer to a powerful and negative label that greatly changes a person's self-concept and social identity?

A) a deviant ritual
B) a degradation ceremony
C) a secondary identity
D) stigma

Question 27

Using a Marxist approach, Steven Spitzer claims that prime targets for deviant labelling include

A) people who try to rent property to others.
B) the bourgeoisie.
C) radicals who call for basic change in society itself.
D) the middle class.

Question 28

According to the social-conflict approach, what a society labels as deviant is based primarily on

A) how often the act occurs.
B) the moral foundation of the culture.
C) how harmful the act is to the public as a whole.
D) differences in power between various categories of people.

Question 29

Alexander Liazos speaks for the social-conflict approach when he states that

A) powerless people are at the highest risk of being defined as deviant.
B) deviance has both functions and dysfunctions.
C) deviance exists only in the eye of the beholder.
D) society should ignore victimless crime.

Question 30

Albert Cohen argues that deviance is most likely to arise among

A) high-income males.
B) middle-class men and women.
C) low-income youths.
D) all class levels.

Question 31

Edwin Sutherland stated that white-collar crime

A) almost always leads to a criminal conviction.
B) provokes a strong response from the community.
C) is usually resolved in a civil rather than a criminal court.
D) rarely involves serious harm to the public as a whole.

Question 32

Which of the following concepts refers to crime committed by persons of high social position in the course of their occupations?

A) victimless crime
B) white-collar crime
C) organized crime
D) street crime

Question 33

Whether people respond to deviance as a moral issue or a medical matter affects which of the following?

A) who responds; police or medical personnel
B) the parents of the perpetrator
C) perceptions of the victim; people are far more willing to forgive a behavioural condition than a medical one
D) the perpetrator themself; self-image is a direct result of deviance

Question 34

Participating in the subculture that Elijah Anderson describes as "the code of the streets" raises the risk that young people will end up

A) conforming to conventional morality.
B) doing better than their parents.
C) having a career in law enforcement.
D) in jail or worse.

Question 35

Edwin Lemert described "primary deviance" as

A) the most serious episodes of deviance.
B) actions that parents define as deviant.
C) a passing episode of deviance that has little effect on the person's self-concept.
D) the experience of deviance early in life.

Question 36

Which of the following refers to the illegal actions of a corporation or people acting on its behalf?

A) corporate crime
B) organized crime
C) victimless crime
D) secondary deviance

Question 37

The concept "retrospective labelling" refers to the process of

A) interpreting someone's past in light of present deviance.
B) defining someone as deviant for things done long before.
C) criminal adults encouraging their children to become deviant.
D) young people assuming those of earlier generations exhibited deviant behaviour.

Question 38

His friends begin to criticize Marco as a "juice-head," pushing him out of their social circle. Marco begins to drink even more, becomes bitter, and joins a new group of friends who also are heavy drinkers. According to Lemert, Marco's situation illustrates

A) the onset of primary deviance.
B) the onset of secondary deviance.
C) the formation of a deviant subculture.
D) the onset of retreatism.

Question 39

The Sociology and the Media box, Crime in High Places, notes a notorious example of corporate crime involving gold. Which of the following Alberta companies was the source of this hoax?

A) Enron
B) ImClone
C) Bre-X
D) WorldCom

Question 40

Organized crime refers to

A) illegal actions by people with white-collar jobs.
B) illegal actions on the part of a corporation or large business.
C) crime involving the cooperation of two or more businesses.
D) any business that supplies illegal goods or services.

Question 41

Who is the primary point of contact between society and the criminal justice system?

A) the courts
B) parole officers
C) lawyers
D) the police

Question 42

In legal terms, a crime is composed of which two components?

A) the act and criminal intent
B) a criminal and a victim
C) the act and the social harm
D) the law and the violation

Question 43

If a parent threatens a child with punishment in order to discourage wrongdoing, the parent is using punishment to accomplish which of the following?

A) deterrence
B) retribution
C) social protection
D) rehabilitation

Question 44

A judge sentences a young man who has committed several crimes to counselling and places him in a supportive foster home. Which of the following concepts describes these efforts to prevent further wrongdoing?

A) retribution
B) deterrence
C) social protection
D) rehabilitation

Question 45

Society's formal response to crime is

A) the criminal justice system.
B) revenge.
C) total institutions.
D) retribution.

Question 46

An act of moral vengeance by which society makes an offender suffer as much as the suffering caused by the crime is referred to as

A) deterrence.
B) rehabilitation.
C) societal protection.
D) retribution.

Question 47

In terms of gender and racial/ethnic categories, we find that _____ are over-represented in Canadian prisons and more likely to be over-classified, leading to their ending up in maximum security prisons.

A) White men
B) Aboriginal women
C) French women
D) Chinese men

Question 48

A hate crime is defined as

A) any crime against a person who is a minority.
B) any crime involving anger or other powerful emotion.
C) a criminal act motivated by racial or other bias.
D) any violation of antidiscrimination laws.

Question 49

Property crimes do NOT include

A) theft under $5000.00.
B) breaking and entering.
C) fraud.
D) robbery.

Question 50

The oldest justification for punishing an offender is

A) deterrence.
B) retribution.
C) social protection.
D) rehabilitation.

Question 51

Violent crimes include all of the following, except

A) fraud.
B) infanticide.
C) manslaughter.
D) abduction.

Question 52

The likelihood a person will be arrested for a street crime rises sharply

A) during the late teenage years.
B) in the late 20s.
C) during the middle 30s.
D) over age 40.

Question 53

Gender figures into the study of deviance because

A) women account for most arrests for serious crimes in the United States.
B) every society in the world applies stronger normative controls to females than to males.
C) most researchers in this area are women.
D) women are the victims of crime more often than men.

Question 54

According to Elliot Currie, factors that explain the high crime rate in the United States by world standards include

A) cultural homogeneity.
B) a lack of interest in punishing offenders.
C) the high level of immigration.
D) emphasis on individual economic success, which weakens the social fabric.

Question 55

Men, who represent less than half of the Canadian population, account for about _____ of all arrests for property crime.

A) 37 percent
B) 51 percent
C) 67 percent
D) 85-90 percent

Question 56

Mike reports the theft of his dirt bike from the front yard of his house. The police would record this as which of the following types of crime?

A) violent crime
B) property crime
C) robbery
D) auto-theft

Question 57

Research suggests that, with regard to social class, arrest for violent and property crime

A) is about the same for people of all class levels.
B) is higher for people in higher class levels.
C) is higher for people in lower class levels.
D) almost always involves middle-class people.

Question 58

Prostitution is widely regarded as which of the following types of crime?

A) crime against the person
B) crime against property
C) victimless crime
D) corporate crime

Question 59

While Aboriginal people in Canada make up 2% of the Canadian population, they represent approximately _____ of the prison inmates.

A) 1%
B) 11%
C) 41%
D) 98%

Question 60

Why should one always read crime statistics with caution?

A) People lie about being a victim of crime when they are not.
B) Most criminals never go to prison.
C) Crime statistics only include those crimes known to the police.
D) Date rape statistics are believed to be inflated due to the nature of the woman knowing the man.

Question 61

Crime is only one type of deviance.

Question 62

Biological factors, including genetics, explain most criminal behaviour.

Question 63

According to the social-conflict approach, deviance has a number of functions for the operation of society as a whole.

Question 64

Travis Hirschi's control theory makes the point that people who commit crime typically have little concern about the consequences of their behaviour.

Question 65

Labelling theory stresses that some actions are always wrong and others are always right.

Question 66

Which of the following justifications for punishment is linked to the development of the social sciences?

A) retribution
B) rehabilitation
C) deterrence
D) societal protection

Question 67

Psychiatrist Thomas Szasz charges that the label of "insanity" is widely applied to behaviour that is actually only "different."

Question 68

What is considered deviant is mostly the same behaviour all around the world.

Question 69

Cesare Lombroso, an Italian physician and criminologist, claimed that most criminals were people who had been mistreated by society.

Question 70

Albert Cohen suggested that lower-class youths form delinquent subcultures to gain the self-respect society as a whole denies them.

Question 71

Walter Reckless and Simon Dinitz developed containment theory, which claims that a strong superego helps boys stay out of trouble.

Question 72

A poor person who has little chance to go to college and who sells illegal drugs to make money is one example of a deviant "innovator."

Question 73

"Primary deviance" refers to the most serious offenses.

Question 74

Robert Merton claimed that the "strains of masculinity" are one important cause of crime.

Question 75

The concept of criminal recidivism refers to

A) young people growing up in a criminal environment.
B) efforts by police to enlist help from people in a local community.
C) later offenses by people previously convicted of crimes.
D) the idea that crime does "pay."

Question 76

The medicalization of deviance idea points to the fact that most crimes are committed by people under the influence of an illegal drug.

Question 77

Which of the following are advantages of community-based corrections?

A) better prison organization
B) peace of mind for the victims of crime
C) avoiding the hardships of prison life, including the stigma attached to being incarcerated
D) weaker sentencing of offenders

Question 78

Which of the following is a unique form of community-based corrections with which Canada is experimenting?

A) parole
B) probation
C) sentencing circles
D) total institutions

Question 79

The stigma of deviance can encourage an individual to engage in further deviance.

Question 80

Emile Durkheim's analysis suggests it would be impossible for a society to completely eliminate deviance.