Q&A Hero

Q: Keith, Paul, and Mike are three teenage boys from outside of Pittsburgh, PA who have struggled to fit in with the other kids in athletics, as well as academically. They come from traditional blue collar families and, based on socioeconomic status, would be considered low class. Mike, Paul, and Keith decide to steal a bunch of oranges from a market and instead of eating them, throw them down the drain and waste them so that the store owner can feel their pain. This is a very malicious act, and clearly is non-utilitarian. The theory which is best supported here would be ______. a. delinquent subculture b. social bond c. cultural transmission d. social disorganization

Q: Trouble, toughness, smartness, and excitement are all examples of values that have evolved specifically to fit conditions of the lower class known as ______. a. cultural trepidations b. focal concerns c. cultural transmissions d. social contracts

Q: Cloward and Ohlin's classic work Delinquency and Opportunitycombined strain and social disorganization principles to explain ______. a. violent crime b. gang formation c. vandalism d. drug dealing

Q: Subcultural values are handed down from one generation to the next in a process called ______. a. norms transmission b. social transmission c. belief transmission d. cultural transmission

Q: Cohen's theory of delinquent subcultures focuses on social conditions that prevent lower-class youths from achieving success legitimately. Cohen labels this form of culture conflict ______. a. success frustration b. status frustration c. social frustration d. lower-class delinquent frustration

Q: Walter Miller identified the unique conduct norms that define the lower-class culture and that often clash with conventional values. Which of the following is not one of those norms? a. Fate b. Toughness c. Autonomy d. Education

Q: Because social conditions prevent them from achieving success legitimately, lower-class youths experience a form of culture conflict that Albert Cohen labels ______. a. status frustration b. youth deprivation c. juvenile constants d. teenage anomie

Q: General strain theory is not purely a structural theory because it focuses on how _____ influence behavior. a. biological conditions b. rational choices c. life events d. psychological conditions

Q: __________ reflects the view that multiple sources of strain interact with an individual's emotional traits and responses to criminality. a. General strain theory b. Relative deprivation theory c. Focal concern theory d. Anomie theory

Q: According to the major premise of this theory, crime occurs when the wealthy and the poor live close to one another. a. Anomie theory b. General strain theory c. Institutional anomie theory d. Relative deprivation theory

Q: The major premise of this theory is that material goods pervade all aspects of American life. a. Institutional anomie theory b. General strain theory c. Relative deprivation theory d. Conflict theory

Q: Agnew suggests that criminality is the direct result of __________the anger, frustration, and adverse emotions associated with destructive social relationships. a. siege mentality b. negative affective states c. relative deprivation d. focal concerns

Q: Judith and Peter Blau developed the concept of __________, the idea that anger and mistrust result from perceptions of inequality that lead lower-class people to feel deprived and embittered in comparison with those more affluent. a. inequality concentration b. collective deprivation c. cultural inequality d. relative deprivation

Q: According to institutional anomie theorists, the _________ is both a goal and process to accumulate goods and wealth. a. American Dream b. American Hope c. American Ideal d. American Myth

Q: What two elements of culture interact to produce anomie and/or anomic conditions? a. Informal social control and public social control b. Middle-class measuring rods and educational underachievement c. Culturally defined goals and socially approved means for obtaining them d. Community cohesiveness and collective efficacy

Q: Which of Merton's social adaptations is most closely associated with criminal behavior? a. Conformity b. Innovation c. Ritualism d. Retreatism

Q: When members of the lower class are unable to achieve symbols of success via conventional means they feel anger, frustration, and resentment. These feelings are collectively referred to as ______. a. focal concerns b. aggression c. siege mentality d. strain

Q: What is the result of ineffective community social control efforts? a. Mutual trust increases. b. Neighborhood cohesiveness strengthens. c. Crime rates increase. d. Siege mentality decreases.

Q: In regard to Anderson's study in Philadelphia addressing neighborhood life of youth and gangs, those individuals who were respected by residents and who at one time played an important role in socializing youth were referred to as ______. a. old heads b. dust devils c. parrots d. snitches

Q: Cohesive communities with high levels of social control and social integration and where people develop interpersonal ties are also likely to develop ______. a. high levels of incivility b. collective efficacy c. mistrust of public social control d. siege mentality

Q: An interdisciplinary approach to the study of interdependent social and environmental problems that cause crime. a. Social ecology school b. Social construct school c. Social stigma school d. Social conservative school

Q: As working and middle-class families flee inner-city poverty areas, the most disadvantaged population is consolidated in urban ghettos. This phenomenon results in a poverty ______ effect. a. solidity b. concentration c. cohort d. instability

Q: Social ecology school criminologists associate crime rates and the need for police services to ______. a. community deterioration b. community fear c. community change d. poverty concentration

Q: According to Shaw and McKay, a __________ neighborhood is an area wracked by extreme poverty and suffering high rates of population turnover. a. subcultural b. transitional c. concentric d. ecological

Q: According to the author, the most important of Shaw and McKay's findings was that ______. a. crime rates increase as police services increase b. overtime crime rates shift outward from Zones I & II to the suburban zones c. crime rates correspond to neighborhood structure d. the number of abandoned buildings decreases as emigration increases

Q: Shaw and McKay explained crime and delinquency within the context of ______. a. the changing urban environment and ecological development of the city b. subcultures with blocked means of achieving majority status c. redistribution of goals and means d. biological changes resulting from transient neighborhoods

Q: Social disorganization theory was popularized by the work of two Chicago sociologists ______. a. Robert Agnew and Albert Cohen b. Robert Merton and Emile Durkheim c. Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay d. Paul Klenowski and Keith Bell

Q: The presence of strain is said to lock people into an independent ___________ with unique values and beliefs. a. subculture b. division c. reality d. schism

Q: Why are personal relationships, including establishing communication and common goals, strained in socially disorganized neighborhoods? a. Because the hostility of long-term residents makes it difficult for new people to move into the neighborhood b. Because residents are constantly moving in and out of the neighborhood c. Because police refuse to organize neighborhood groups d. Because gang formation disrupts families in the neighborhood

Q: Strain theory holds that crime is a function of ______. a. unequal distribution of wealth b. loss of informal institutions of social control c. conflict between people's goals and means d. available methods of achievement

Q: According to social structure theory, the root cause of crime can be directly traced to ______. a. individual socialization b. socioeconomic disadvantages that have become embedded in American society c. lower-class mistrust of social control institutions d. the lack of political power within the underclass

Q: Cultural deviance theory combines elements of _____ and social disorganization theories. a. strain b. poverty c. socialization d. transmission

Q: Which theory focuses on the urban conditions, such as high unemployment and school dropout rates, to explain crime? a. Strain theory b. Social disorganization theory c. Cultural deviance theory d. General strain theory

Q: The view that disadvantaged economic class position is a primary cause of crime is known as ______ theory. a. social structure b. social class c. social bond d. culture of poverty

Q: Oscar Lewis argues that the crushing lifestyle of lower-class areas produces ________ that is passed on from one generation to the next. a. a culture of poverty b. physical deterioration c. social deterioration d. family disorganization

Q: People grouped according to economic or social class; characterized by the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and prestige are referred to as a ______. a. culture of poverty b. systemic society c. stratified society d. oppressed state

Q: The lowest social stratum in any country, whose members lack the education and skills needed to function successfully in modern society. a. Underclass b. Bourgeois c. Proletariat d. Lower class

Q: ________ are segments of the population whose members have a relatively similar portion of desirable belongings, and who share attitudes, values, and norms. a. Social groups b. Social classes c. Social subcultures d. Social cultures

Q: Social strata are created by the unequal distribution of wealth. While the upper class is exceptionally well-to-do, ______ people live in poverty in America. a. 1,000,000 b. 15,000,000 c. 46,000,000 d. 64,500,000

Q: Messner and Rosenfeld's institutional anomie theory argues that the goal of success at all costs has invaded every aspect of American life. a. True b. False

Q: Some of the programs developed during the Chicago School era, such as Cloward and Ohlin's views of differential opportunity, were a critical part of the Kennedy and Johnson administration's War on Poverty. a. True b. False

Q: Reaction formation is used to explain irrational hostility by young delinquents who adopt norms directly opposed by the middle class. a. True b. False

Q: Differential opportunity theory is credited to Cloward and Ohlin and is a combination of strain and social disorganization principals relating to gang sustaining criminal subcultures. a. True b. False

Q: Middle-class measuring rods refer to the standards by which authority figures, such as teachers, evaluate lower-class youngsters and often prejudge them negatively. a. True b. False

Q: Delinquent subculture theory was first articulated by Emile Durkheim in 1936 to explain displaced juveniles following the Great Depression. a. True b. False

Q: Examples of Walter Miller's lower-class focal concerns include achievement, status, and delayed gratification. a. True b. False

Q: Cultural deviance theory combines elements of relative deprivation and differential opportunity theories. a. True b. False

Q: Negative affective states refer to the bottom 10 percent of U.S. states where crime is so high that the American Dream has no chance of success for middle- and lower-class individuals. a. True b. False

Q: Agnew's focus on negative affective states offers a more general explanation of criminality among all elements of society rather than being restrictive to lower-class crime. a. True b. False

Q: General strain theory is not purely a structural theory because it focuses on how life events influence behavior. a. True b. False

Q: Merton's view of anomie has been one of the most enduring and influential theories of criminality. a. True b. False

Q: Strain is limited in affluent areas because educational and vocational opportunities are available. a. True b. False

Q: Social Ecology School refers to an interdisciplinary approach to studying interdependent social and environmental problems that cause crime. a. True b. False

Q: According to the author, the most important wielder of informal social control is religion. a. True b. False

Q: Fear is often based on experience: people living in areas with especially high crimes rates are the ones most likely to experience fear. a. True b. False

Q: Collective efficacy refers to the social control exerted by cohesive communities that is based on mutual trust. a. True b. False

Q: People who live in neighborhoods that experience high levels of crime and civil disorder become suspicious and mistrusting. a. True b. False

Q: Shaw and McKay's statistical analysis confirmed that even though crime rates changed, the highest rates were always in Zones I and Zone II. a. True b. False

Q: The social disorganization concepts articulated by Shaw and McKay enjoyed short-term prominence due to the growing homogeneity of American society over time. a. True b. False

Q: Political ideologies, such as affirmative action, have erased the economic disparities between whites and minorities a. True b. False

Q: Some social structure theorists argue that destructive forces in poverty-stricken areas are responsible for high crime rates. a. True b. False

Q: According to Strain theory, because lower-class people fail to achieve success through conventional means, they often feel the need to find alternative means of achieving their life goals, which may include criminality. a. True b. False

Q: Social structure theories suggest that social and economic forces operating in deteriorated lower-class areas push many area residents into criminal behavior patterns. a. True b. False

Q: Children who grow up in low-income homes are less likely to achieve in school and less likely to complete school than children who do not grow up in low-income households. a. True b. False

Q: A promising trend in the last 10 years is the closing gap of unemployment rates among races; African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites both have unemployment rates around 14 percent nationally. a. True b. False

Q: In recent years, the number of homeless children in the United States has declined to an all-time low of 1 in every 50 children. a. True b. False

Q: Because crime rates are higher in lower-class areas, many criminologists believe that the causes of crime are rooted in socioeconomic factors. a. True b. False

Q: The "truly disheartened" is the term used by William Julius Wilson to describe socially isolated people who dwell in urban inner-cities, who occupy the bottom rung of the social ladder, and who are the victims of discrimination. a. True b. False

Q: People in the United States live in a stratified society in which social strata are created by the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and prestige. a. True b. False

Q: List and describe the six measures designed to make people better problem solvers through therapeutic interventions.

Q: Compare and contrast the effectiveness of primary and secondary prevention programs in regards to criminality. Is one more effective? Explain.

Q: Why is the association between IQ/intelligence and crime so controversial?

Q: How do cognitive theorists explain the relationship between information processing and antisocial behavior?

Q: Compare and contrast nature and nurture theory and the relationship each have with criminality.

Q: Identify and discuss the four factors that social learning theorists suggest contribute to violent or aggressive behavior.

Q: Create a fictional character and depict how this individual would become criminal, using attachment theory to explain your rationale.

Q: Discuss attachment theory and how failure to develop proper attachment is associated with crime.

Q: Identify and discuss the mental disorders and diseases that are associated with crime. How persuasive is the association between mental disorders and crime, and why is this the case?

Q: Explain the links between evolution, gender, and crime.

Q: Discuss what research indicates about parental deviance, twin behavior, and adoption studies.