Chapter 17 Self-test questions - The Oxford Textbook on Criminology 2e Student Resources

. Which three of these terms describe the main categories into which sociological theories are often split?

Social conflict theories

Social interaction theories

Social organisation theories

Social structural theories

. Which of the following are social interaction theories? (Select all that apply.)

Differential association

Labelling perspectives

Social control theories

Social strain theories

. 'Social structural theories assert that the big social picture may have less of an effect on an individual's behaviour than their immediate social situation.' True or false?

True

False

. Which category of macro-sociological theories is concerned with those in power and the powerless?

Social control theories

Social conflict theories

Social interaction theories

Social structural theories

. If asked to describe yourself to someone you don't know, you might mention things like your age, gender, the fact that you are a student, and perhaps that you are a particular person's child or parent, or a supporter of a particular football team. How would a sociologist refer to each of these descriptions?

Status and roles

Rules and norms

Socialisation

Power

. What is the term used to describe the standards by which people in a society are expected to live?

Status and roles

Social norms

Socialisation

Power

. How do we learn what is expected of us and how to live in society?

Status and roles

Rules and norms

Socialisation

Power

. What is the term used to describe the ability to influence people's behaviour or to set standards which will be followed by others?

Status and roles

Rules and norms

Socialisation

Power

. Which theorist is responsible for the theory of differential association?

Émile Durkheim

Robert K. Merton

Clifford Shaw

Edwin H. Sutherland

. 'Differential association is a _____ theory'. What is the missing word?

biological

learning

psychological

psychosocial

. Sutherland's theory of differential association is used to explain what kind of distribution of criminal behaviour?

Age distribution

Gender distribution

Social distribution

Physical distribution

. Which of the following are critiques of differential association? (Select all that apply.)

It is not possible to test the theory.

It assumes that people learn in many different ways.

It is too dated to be relevant today.

It allows little room for free will or different personalities.

. Which theorist saw deviance as a normal and necessary part of people living together in social groups and saw a certain level of deviance as an indication of a healthy society?

Émile Durkheim

Robert K. Merton

Clifford Shaw

Edwin H. Sutherland

. Which of the following statements best describes 'strain' in the context of Robert Merton's strain (anomie) theory?

The discrepancy between the cultural goals and institutional means experienced by some members of society

The acceptance of cultural goals and institutionalised means by some members of society

The increasing gap between the poor and the rich experienced by some members of society

An individual sense of the lack of the legitimacy of state laws in a capitalist society

. Which of the following is not one of the five ways Merton suggests that people might respond to anomie?

Conformity

Delinquency

Innovation

Retreatism

. 'At the centre of Shaw and McKay's (1942) work is the belief that we can only understand juvenile delinquency if we first understand the _______ context in which it arises.' Which word best completes this sentence?

physical

economic

political

social

. What is a subculture?

The norms and values held by most members of a society

The norms and values held by some members of a society, and which are oppositional to middle-class values

The norms and values held by a criminal group

The norms and values held by a social group and which co-exist with the norms and values shared by most members of a society

. What does the phrase 'delinquent subculture' mean, in the context of Albert Cohen's (1955) classic work 'Delinquent Boys'?

The norms and values of delinquents in society

The norms and values of a delinquent gang that emerges in a conflict-ridden situation

The norms and values of a minority ethnic group

The norms and values of a revolutionary political group in a capitalist society

. Cloward and Ohlin (1960) said that working-class youths turn to three types of solution in response to the strain of having restricted legitimate opportunities to succeed. Which of the following is not one of the three solutions?

Criminal subcultures

Conflict subcultures

Anarchist subcultures

Retreatist subcultures

. Which two theorists are most closely connected with 'neutralisation' and 'drift'?

Shaw and McKay

Sykes and Matza

Cloward and Ohlin

Durkheim and Merton