Deck 7: Sociological Theories: Emphasis on Social Structure

Question 1

Some scholars say that a subculture of violence,involving a physical response to insults and other interpersonal problems,characterizes _____ neighborhoods.

A) Institutional
B) Rural
C) Organized
D) Urban

Answer 1

D

Question 2

In the 1930s,a new approach emerged that emphasized structural causes of urban crime (e.g.,the breakdown of communities)over moral failings.It is known as _____.

A) Social cohesion
B) Social disorganization
C) Social construction
D) Social engineering

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Durkheim emphasized two related mechanisms,_____,by which society was able to hold individual impulses in check.

A) Physical structures and proper nutrition
B) Politics and anomie
C) Socialization and social ties
D) Norms and values

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Durkheim felt that human nature is basically selfish,with individuals having unlimited _____ that,if left unchecked by a strong society,would result in chaos.

A) IQs
B) Aspirations
C) Egos
D) Sex drives

Question 5

On weekends,people typically drink,gamble,go out on the town,and have sex.Many men are involved in physical fights.Miller believed that the pursuit of _____ on weekends arises in part from boring lives led the rest of the week.

A) Toughness
B) Excitement
C) Smartness
D) Trouble

Question 6

Under Merton's Adaptations to Anomie,when does conformity occur?

A) If one accepts cultural goals and accepts the institutional means
B) If one accepts cultural goals and rejects the institutional means
C) If one rejects cultural goals and accepts the institutional means
D) If one rejects cultural goals and rejects the institutional means

Question 7

According to Durkheim,which of the following best describes how anomie arises?

A) When a culture derives a collective conscience
B) When normative values remain consistent and society fails to evolve
C) When a society fails to integrate new members
D) When traditional norms become less applicable to new circumstances

Question 8

Which of the following best represents Anderson's ideas regarding the "code of the street" among young urban African-Americans?

A) It arises from their desire for attention from the media
B) It arises from a pre-evolutionary need to mate
C) It arises from their despair and alienation
D) It arises from a lack of hope and change

Question 9

Strain theory can be applied to rioting in _____ in spite of its famed social welfare system.

A) Canada
B) Sweden
C) Mexico
D) Hong Kong

Question 10

Where did Shaw and McKay study social disorganization?

A) Boston
B) New York
C) Chicago
D) Kansas City

Question 11

Social structure theory is also called _____ and takes a "big picture" approach to crime.

A) Social environment
B) Neoclassical
C) Bio-neurological
D) Structural atavism

Question 12

Which of the following scenarios best fits Cloward and Ohlin's argument that there is also differential access to illegitimate means,or illegitimate opportunity structures?

A) Where organized crime is a powerful presence, adolescents will gravitate toward it
B) Adolescents will tend to drift toward legitimate means, even in poorer neighborhoods
C) Where sports and other social activities are available, adolescents will gravitate away from it
D) Adolescents will tend to drift toward illegitimate means, even in wealthier neighborhoods

Question 13

The revival of an ecological focus reflects the belief of many scholars that kinds of places matter more than _____.

A) Kinds of economies
B) Kinds of cultures
C) Kinds of deviance
D) Kinds of people

Question 14

Stark focused of neighborhood physical features as an explanation for the high crime and delinquency of particular urban neighborhoods.His view has since been referred to as _____.

A) The theory of deviant places
B) The theory of "broken windows"
C) The theory of cause and effect
D) The theory of criminal habitats

Question 15

To help command respect,Anderson contends:

A) Young urban men often adopt a certain "look" involving the way they dress, move, and talk
B) Young urban females see pregnancy as a legitimate means to economic success
C) Young urban females will often mimic male behavior including engaging in violence
D) Young urban males will avoid encounters with police or the courts

Question 16

Having not been raised with values such as courtesy and hard-work,lower-class boys do poorly in school and experience _____,or strain.

A) Institutional anomie
B) Social structure
C) Status frustration
D) Cultural disintegration

Question 17

Marvin Wolfgang argues that a(n)_____ explains the high level of violence among poor,urban males.

A) Ethos of aggression
B) Ethos of anomie
C) Subculture of opportunity
D) Subculture of violence

Question 18

Which of the following best expresses institutional anomie?

A) Crime results from a conflict between the wealthy and the poor
B) Crime results when institutions such as schools break down
C) Crime results from cultural values, such as an exaggerated emphasis on wealth
D) Crime results when societal indicators, such as the Misery Index, begin to drop

Question 19

Which of the following relates to Miller's Focal Concern of toughness?

A) It involves the ability to achieve a goal by the use of wits rather than physical force
B) Lower-class people have a particularly fatalistic outlook on life
C) Adults usually want their children to stay out of trouble, but lower-class adolescents sometimes gain prestige with their friends
D) It arises from the fact that many lower-class boys are raised in female-headed households and thus lack adequate male role models

Question 20

According to Durkheim,which of the following tends to be higher during times of social change?

A) Immigration rates
B) High school graduation rates
C) Birth rates
D) Suicide rates

Question 21

Cloward and Ohlin argue that there is differential access to legitimate means.

Question 22

Two lower-class subcultural focal concerns are cooperation and trust.

Question 23

The subculture of violence approves of youth participating in boxing gyms as a means of preventing delinquency.

Question 24

Heartiness is an important focal concern.

Question 25

Anomie and low social integration help to lower suicide rates.

Question 26

Rodney Stark's theory of deviant places argues that crowded neighborhoods have higher crime levels.

Question 27

Studies find that the poverty resulting from women's low-paying jobs and increasing divorce rates plays a very important role in female offending,most of which involves petty property crime.This supports _____.

A) A social integration theorem
B) An economic marginality hypothesis
C) An institutional structure theory
D) A hyper-masculinity principle

Question 28

Which of the following best reflects the concept of relative deprivation?

A) The causes of poverty are relative to the amount of gross domestic product
B) Criminals tend to have been deprived by their relatives while they were young and thus develop early learning disorders
C) The reason the poor become angry and frustrated might be their realization that other people in society have more money
D) People who are depraved feel isolated from the larger culture and thus act out against it

Question 29

Shaw and McKay studied delinquency in Chicago.

Question 30

The adaptation of innovation occurs when individuals accept the goal of economy but reject the means of working and undertakes new means to achieve success.

Question 31

The center of Chicago's "concentric zones" had a higher crime rate than the outer rings.

Question 32

Structural theories are distinctively sociological.

Question 33

What do we call people who live in a continuing cycle of concentrated disadvantage characterized by extreme poverty,housing segregation,and racial and ethnic discrimination?

A) Upper-class
B) Underclass
C) Middle-class
D) Ruling class

Question 34

Durkheim put forth the concept of anomie.

Question 35

Structural explanations are particularly useful for explaining variation in crime rates across social groups and locations.

Question 36

Structural theories have a shared emphasis on poverty as a criminogenic social condition.

Question 37

The code of the street is a response to the effects of rap music.

Question 38

Structural theories help explain why some women are more likely than other women to _____.However,they do not help explain why female crime rates are lower than male crime rates.

A) Commit crime
B) Have multiple children
C) Have mannish traits
D) Suffer psychological problems

Question 39

The wealthy often suffer relative deprivation and become angry and frustrated with the realization that other people in society have less money.

Question 40

Who argued that signs of disorder-such as a broken window-send a signal to potential criminals that neighborhood residents do not care about what happens in their surroundings,making crime more likely?

A) Shaw and McKay
B) Turner and Hooch
C) Fergutti and Anderson
D) Wilson and Kelling

Question 41

Shaw and McKay studied delinquency rates in the city of _____.

Question 42

The focal concern in the lower-class subculture that stresses outwitting others and to avoid being outwitted oneself is called _____.

Question 43

Having not been raised with middle-class values,lower-class boys do poorly in school and experience status _____,or strain.

Question 44

Some people,called the _____,live in a continuing cycle of concentrated disadvantage characterized by extreme poverty,housing segregation.

Question 45

When traditional norms become less applicable to new circumstances,normlessness or _____ sets in.

Question 46

Many criminologists highlight the role played by social _____ or,social environment.

Question 47

What is Anderson's code of the street? What is its central feature?

Question 48

Wilson and Kelling argued that signs of disorder-such as a _____ window-send a signal to potential criminals that neighborhood residents do not care.

Question 49

One reason the poor become angry and frustrated might be their realization that other people in society have more money.This realization leads them to experience ________________ deprivation.

Question 50

The adaptation _____ occurs when people reject the goal of economic success,but continue to accept the means of working.

Question 51

Durkheim felt that anomie,or _____,results when people's aspirations become uncontrolled and unfulfilled.

Question 52

Explain the basis of Miller's focal concerns.Which concern does he suggest is the most important?

Question 53

How do structural theories help explain why some women are more likely than other women to commit crime?

Question 54

Some scholars say that a _____ of violence,involving a physical response to insults and other interpersonal problems,characterizes urban neighborhoods.

Question 55

Does your hometown or a nearby city have a "concentric zone"? What are some of the physical characteristics of that area? What can you find about crime rate,population,preventative measures?

Question 56

_______ is when people continue to accept the goal of economic success,but reject the means of working and undertake new means to achieve success.

Question 57

Matching:
Match the term or concept with the correct description.

Question 58

_____ anomie theory argues that crime in the United States results from several key cultural values,including achievement,individualism,and the fetishism of money.

Question 59

Anderson documented a code of the _____ among young urban African-Americans that arises from despair and alienation and that helps explain their interpersonal violence.

Question 60

Two structural conditions,anomie and low social _____,contribute to higher suicide rates.