Deck 9: Deviance

Question 1

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 1

D

Question 2

Read the four statements below. Which 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 2

C

Question 3

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

Answer 3

A

Question 4

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

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

Question 5

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 6

Using the terms of Robert Merton's strain theory, which of the following concepts correctly describes the behavior 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 7

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 8

Both Albert Cohen and Walter Miller argue 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 9

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 10

What does the chapter-opening story about the conviction and imprisonment of Bruce Glover suggest about punishment in the United States?

A) Crime truly does pay.
B) Convicts can lose everything important to them while in prison and struggle once they get out to fit back into society.
C) The U.S. criminal justice system truly rehabilitates criminals effectively.
D) After you get out of prison, society welcomes you back with open arms.

Question 11

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

A) Deviance affirms cultural values and norms.
B) Responding to deviance promotes social unity.
C) Responding to deviance clarifies moral boundaries.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 12

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

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

Question 13

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 14

"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 15

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 16

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 17

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 18

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 19

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

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

Question 20

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 21

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) All of the above are correct.

Question 22

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 23

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 24

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 25

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 26

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 27

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 28

The basic idea behind labeling 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) All of the above are correct.

Question 29

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) whether the person is subject to punishment or treatment
C) how personally competent the person is assumed to be
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 30

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 31

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

A) theft being redefined as a "compulsive stealing"
B) drinking too much being redefined as "alcoholism"
C) promiscuity being redefined as a "sexual addiction"
D) All of the above are correct.

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

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 34

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 35

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 race or other bias.
D) any violation of antidiscrimination laws.

Question 36

Edwin Sutherland's differential association theory links deviance to:

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

Question 37

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 38

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

A) people who try to take the property of others.
B) people who don't want to work for a living.
C) radicals who call for basic change in society itself.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 39

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 40

The concept "retrospective labeling" refers to the process of:

A) interpreting someone's past consistent with present deviance.
B) defining someone as deviant for things done long before.
C) criminal adults encouraging their children to become deviant.
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 41

In the United States, men account for about _____ of all arrests for violent crime.

A) about 22 percent
B) about 42 percent
C) about 62 percent
D) about 82 percent

Question 42

In terms of racial categories, most people arrested for a violent crime in the United States are _____.

A) white
B) African American
C) people of mixed race
D) of Hispanic ancestry

Question 43

The concept of due process refers to:

A) the criminal justice system operating within the bounds of law.
B) the idea that people get what they deserve.
C) the process of plea bargaining.
D) the obligation of all citizens to report crime.

Question 44

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 45

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

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

Question 46

The "Seeing Sociology in the News" box on

A) do not arrest well-off people for crimes that land the poor in jail.
B) incarcerate more persons than any other country in the world.
C) let people work off a jail sentence by doing community service.
D) have replaced prison with counseling sessions.

Question 47

Of all the serious crimes discussed in the text chapter, one occurs far more than all the others. Which one is it?

A) motor-vehicle theft
B) larceny-theft
C) robbery
D) forcible rape

Question 48

The oldest justification for punishing an offender is:

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

Question 49

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 50

Criminal statistics gathered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation reflect:

A) all crimes that take place.
B) offenses cleared by arrest.
C) offenses resulting in a criminal conviction.
D) offenses known to the police.

Question 51

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) burglary
B) larceny-theft
C) robbery
D) auto-theft

Question 52

Research suggests that, with regard to social class, arrest for serious 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 53

Victimization surveys show that the actual amount of crime in the United States is about _____ what official reports indicate.

A) half as great as
B) the same as
C) three times greater than
D) ten times greater than

Question 54

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

A) during the late teenage years.
B) in the late twenties.
C) during the middle thirties.
D) over age forty.

Question 55

Because there are several hundred people in the United States for every police officer, police:

A) ignore most crimes they learn about.
B) work, on average, many more hours than other workers.
C) cannot take time to ensure due process for most suspects.
D) use discretion in deciding which situations warrant their attention.

Question 56

Most criminal cases handled by the criminal justice system in the United States are resolved:

A) through plea bargaining.
B) with a judge dismissing all charges.
C) with convictions after a courtroom trial.
D) with a suspect being convicted and sentenced to prison.

Question 57

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 58

Men, who represent about half the U.S. population, account for about _____ of all arrests for property crime.

A) 37 percent
B) 51 percent
C) 67 percent
D) 91 percent

Question 59

"Crimes against the person" includes all but which of the following?

A) murder
B) aggravated assault
C) burglary
D) forcible rape

Question 60

A judge sentences a young man who has committed several crimes to counseling 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 61

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

Question 62

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

Question 63

A judge orders that an offender be sentenced to prison for a short time, with most of the sentence served on probation. This sentence reflects a policy called:

A) parole.
B) shock probation.
C) rehabilitation.
D) extended lockup.

Question 64

Biological factors, including genetics, explain most criminal behavior.

Question 65

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 66

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

Question 67

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

Question 68

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

Question 69

"Primary deviance" refers to the most serious offenses.

Question 70

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

Question 71

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

Question 72

Corporate crime refers to stealing or other crimes committed against a corporation or other large business.

Question 73

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

Question 74

Crime is only one type of deviance.

Question 75

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

Question 76

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

Question 77

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

A) reducing prison overcrowding
B) reducing costs of dealing with offenders
C) avoiding the hardships of prison life, including the stigma attached to being incarcerated
D) All of the above are correct.

Question 78

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

Question 79

The concept 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 80

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