Question 1

Officer Jones was walking his beat in the City when he saw a teenage girl spray painting a set of initials on an alley wall. Officer Jones shouts at the girl to stop. She stands there and sadly shakes her head no. Jones walks over and notices that the initials are those of a young man who was shot two days earlier in that very spot. He talks to the girl for a moment and then walks on as she finishes her initials. This scenario is an example of deviance as

Accepted Answer

The scenario illustrates deviance as a subjective phenomenon because the officer's decision to allow the girl to continue spray painting, despite it being technically illegal, shows that what is considered deviant behavior can vary based on the context and the individuals involved.

Question 2

_______ includes laws and formal regulations as well as informal or unstated (but understood) expectations.

Accepted Answer

Social control includes both laws and formal regulations (explicit forms of control) as well as informal or unstated expectations (implicit forms of control) that guide individuals' behavior within a society.

Question 3

By focusing on deviant behavior as objectively real, _______ tend to make assumptions about the deviant status of their study.

Accepted Answer

Positivists approach deviant behavior with the assumption that it is an objective reality that can be observed, measured, and classified without considering the subjective experiences of individuals involved.

Question 4

_______ methods reduce the social world to numbers and statistical relationships in an attempt to determine causal relationships.

Accepted Answer

Quantitative methods focus on numerical data, statistical analysis, and the determination of patterns and causal relationships within the social sciences.

Question 5

Jane Researcher was examining the role that state repression plays in the rate of suicide among underprivileged youth. To pursue this study, Jane went to three countries and requested the number of deaths due to suicide for the previous three years and the personal information of the deceased as well as the family income and neighborhood of residence. In this study, Jane is most likely examining suicide from the _______ level of analysis.

Accepted Answer

Jane is examining suicide from a macro level of analysis because she is looking at broad societal factors, such as state repression, and how they influence the rate of suicide among underprivileged youth across different countries.

Question 6

Describe the differences between the two broad methodological categories. What types of epistemologies are more likely to be used for each?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Describe the differences between the two broad...

Question 7

How does social context impact the study of deviance and social control?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How does social context impact the study...

Question 8

What are the primary strengths and limitations for subjectivism and positivism?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are the primary strengths and limitations...

Question 9

How might we conceive of face-to-face and social-psychological levels of analysis as a micro level of analysis? By doing so, do we complicate our demarcation of the meso level of analysis? Put differently, can we define a clear continuum from micro to macro or is the meso always relative to other levels of analysis as defined by their contexts?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How might we conceive of face-to-face and...

Question 10

Describe, in your own words, a behavior you feel is clearly deviant OR a behavior society defines as deviant that you feel should not be considered as such. In your description make sure to tell why in either case. Then use a particular theory from one of the sociological perspectives you feel best explains this form of deviance (or "non" deviance, in your opinion). Be sure to explain in detail how the theory describes it, and DO NOT just say "theory X describes deviant behavior Y" and leave it at that.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Describe, in your own words, a behavior...

Quiz 1: Introduction