Deviant Behavior

Sociology 3250

Correspondence Final

True/False Questions (One point each)

1. The world can be clearly and unambiguously divided into two kinds of people—deviants and normals. ___________

2. Most people never violate society’s norms. ____________

3. Sociologists define behavior, beliefs, or traits that violate a basic norm and that are likely to attract negative reactions from others as social deviance or “deviance.” ____________

4. To the observer who holds an absolutistic view, deviance is that which is wrong in the abstract—regardless of how it is judged. ____________

5. The sociology of deviance is relativistic. ___________

6. Even though the Chinese government attempts to discourage Christianity, Christianity cannot be regarded as a form of deviance in China, because the Chinese government is wrong, or itself deviant in that condemnation. _________

7. Causal or positivistic approaches to deviance focus mainly on the question, “Why are certain forms of behavior regarded as deviant?” _____________

8. Socialization is a form of social control. __________

9. The first sophisticated and academically respectable perspective or theory of criminal behavior was the “free will” or classical school of criminology. _________

10. Anomie theory is based on the idea that adherence to conventional norms causes unconventional behavior. __________

11. Functionists tend to examine the impact or “functions” of a practice or institution for the society as a whole rather than for designated segments of the society. __________

12. The feminist theory argues that too much attention has been paid to the deviance and crime of women. __________

13. A “moral panic” over drug use erupted in the United States in the late 1980s, but subsided in the 1990s. __________

14. Between the 1970s and today, the number of prisoners incarcerated on drug charges in the United States increased substantially. __________

15. It is impossible to understand the nature of heterosexuality without taking men’s and women’s gender roles into account. ___________

16. Most experts regard rape as more an act of violence than a type of sexual behavior. ___________

17. During the 1990s, the incidence of unprotected sex among gay males increased. ________

18. Worldwide, most of the people infected with the HIV/AIDS virus are heterosexuals. __________

19. Studies show that people are more likely to impute deviance to unattractive norm violators than to attractive ones. _________

20. According to Erving Goffman, people who fail to meet an acceptable standard of physical attractiveness possess a spoiled social identity and are disqualified from full social acceptance. ___________

21. Religion can never be a form of cognitive deviance because it is a belief system into which one is born. ___________

22. Max Weber argued that religious ideas could generate, influence, or lay the groundwork for economic activity. __________

23. Positive deviance is defined as behavior that people publicly evaluate in a superior sense. __________

24. A degradation ceremony is a moral drama in which private selves are transformed into public, deviant selves. __________

25. Research suggests that not only do individuals who develop anorexia and bulimia conform to the “slim norms,” but that they are likely to show a strong commitment to other conventional norms and goals such as excelling at school and at work. __________

26. Among the groups studied, biker women were not expected to be engaged in economic pursuits for their men. __________

27. According to Irwin, getting a tattoo in the 1990s meant attempting to conform to both alternative and conventional social worlds. __________

Multiple Choice Questions: Circle the most appropriate response. (One point each)

1. Which of the following is not an element in a sociological definition of deviance:

The number of people defining something as wrong or undesirable.
The power of the people defining something as wrong or undesirable.
The degree of condemnation something generates.
All three of the above are an element in a sociological definition of deviance.
None of the above is an element in a sociological definition of deviance.

2. The transformation of someone into a deviant:

Is a random process.
Is an automatic consequence of engaging in deviant behavior.
Is a socially patterned process.
Rarely if ever takes place.
None of the above.

3. What makes an act, a belief, or a trait deviant is the fact that it is:

regarded as deviant everywhere
regarded as deviant for all time
wrong
regarded in a negative light by relevant audiences and is the basis for rejection of the actor, believer, or possessor
none of the above

4. Goode’s position is that:

all deviance is situational; there is no such thing as societal deviance
all deviance is societal; there is no such thing as situational deviance
deviance can be both situational and societal
deviance can be neither situational or societal
none of the above

5. To the relativist, deviance is:

a quality that is intrinsic to or dwells within a given act
a violation of God’s law
a violation of natural law
a violation of a cosmic rule
none of the above

6. Definitions of right and wrong vary:

from society to society but not from one time period to another
from one time period to another but not from society to society
both from society to society and from one time period to another
neither from society to society and from one time period to another
none of the above

7. In sociology:

a macro approach looks at large scale structures; a micro approach looks at individual processes
a micro approach looks at large scale structures; a macro approach looks at individual processes
both a macro and a micro approach look at large scale structures
both a macro and a micro approach look at individual processes
none of the above

8. Which of the following is a typical or characteristic positivistic question?

How are human behavior, beliefs, and conditions assembled into categories?
How does a particular category of behavior, beliefs, and conditions come to be regarded as wrong, a normative violation?
How do specific, concrete acts, beliefs, or conditions come to be regarded as instances of a general category?
How does a specific person come to be stigmatized, in short, become a deviant?
Why do they do it—that is, how do specific categories of people come to enact deviant behavior?

9. Stephen Pfohl, a sociologist of deviance, argues that child abuse was “discovered” in the 1960s. By that he means that:

Before the 1960s, parents rarely beat or abused their children
There was a sudden upsurge in the actual incidence of child abuse in the 1960s
Prior to the 1960s, child abuse did not exist as a publicly—recognized or acted upon conceptual category of behavior
Prior to the 1960s, only lower class parents beat their children; beginning in the 1960s, middle class parents began to do so in large numbers
None of the above

10. The social constructionist of deviance opens up two lines of inquiry that cannot be pursued by the positivist or “why do they do it” researchers. One is the study of the deviance of physical conditions. The other is the study of:

a. false accusations

b. variations in rates of deviance from one society to another

c. conditions that maximize the likelihood of deviant behavior

d. deviant beliefs

e. none of the above

11. The constructionist would be most likely to ask which of the following questions:

a. Why do men have higher rates of crime and deviance than women?

b. Why are rates of crime and deviance higher in cities than in small towns?

c. What is the social class distribution of criminal and deviant behavior?

d. Why does the United States have such high rates of crime and deviance as compared to Western Europe?

e. What is the role of contingencies in the punishment process?

12. Which of the following statements would a constructionist be most likely to agree with?

a. Standards of attractiveness are hardwired into our brains

b. Definitions of mental illness are arbitrary, culturally-based

c. Homosexuality is a condition with universal characteristics that manifest themselves in more or less the same way everywhere and throughout recorded history

d. There is a common core to crime that appears in societies the world over

e. None of the above

13. Which of the following is an example of the role of contingency in the labeling process?

a. killing female members of traditional Arab families who are under suspicion of sexual misconduct

b. the refusal to climb into a car when the driver is dead drunk

c. in China, denying Christians basic civil rights

d. profiling Black motorists

e. the belief that abortion is murder

14. As spelled out by Robert K. Merton’s anomie theory, a good example of the adaptation known as “innovation” would be:

a. suicide

b. alcoholism

c. mental illness

d. becoming a political revolutionary

e. pimping

15. The proponents of which of the following theories or perspectives would have been most likely to have written the statement, “criminal behavior is learned.”?

a. social control theory

b. self-control theory

c. anomie theory

d. the theory of differential association

e. social disorganization theory

16. Which of the following theories or perspectives is most likely to take the neighborhoods or community as its unit of analysis:

a. Cesare Lombroso’s theory of biological “atavisms”

b. Anomie theory

c. Social disorganization theory

d. Social control theory

e. Self-control theory

17. Which of the following theories is most likely to take the individual and his/her family of origin as its unit of analysis?

a. Cesare Lombroso’s theory of biological “atavisms”

b. Anomie theory

c. Social disorganization

d. Social control theory

e. Self-control theory

18. Which of the following theories is most likely to take the individual and his/her social connection with conventional members of the society as its unit of analysis?

a. Cesare Lombroso’s theory of biological “atavisms”

b. Anomie theory

c. Social disorganization

d. Social control theory

e. Self-control theory

19. Which of the following perspectives is most likely to argue that crime and deviance can be good for the society, a “blessing in disguise,” or a “cloud with a silver lining?”

a. labeling or interactionist theory

b. conflict theory

c. feminism

d. functionalism

e. Marxism

20. According to functionalist sociologists, prostitution:

a. is always, by its very nature, harmful to the society

b. is good for the society

c. has no impact on the society whatsoever

d. has an unknown and essentially unknowable impact on the society

e. none of the above

21. Among feminist theorists of deviance, as a general rule and until very recently, in the field of deviance:

a. the deviance of women has been deviance in general, while the deviance of men has been seen as specialized deviance

b. the deviance of men has been deviance in general, while the deviance of women has been seen as specialized deviance

c. both the deviance of women and the deviance of men have been seen as deviance in general

d. both the deviance of women and the deviance of men have been seen as specialized deviance

e. none of the above

22. According to the data gathered by DAWN (the Drug Abuse Warning Network), the big three drugs which cause the greatest number of overdoses, both lethal and non-lethal are:

a. amohetamine, methedrine, and “ice”

b. marijuana, LSD, and psilocybin mushrooms

c. asprin, Tylenol, and ibuprofen

d. alcohol, heroin, and cocaine

e. barbiturates, methaqualone, and tranquilizers

23. Since the 1970s, of all convicts who are incarcerated in the United States, the proportion who are African American:

a. has risen

b. has declined

c. has remained at about the same level

d. remains unknown

e. none of the above

24. A constructionist perspective toward drug use would see it as a social problem because it:

a. causes many deaths

b. is a major source of HIV infection and hence, AIDS

c. causes a substantial volume of crime and violence

d. is designated by a high proportion of the population as the most important problem facing the country

e. none of the above

25. A major survey of sexual behavior was conducted in the 1990s by a team of researchers at the University of Chicago. This survey found that sexual behavior in the US is:

a. a great deal more unconventional and deviant than almost anyone, the researchers included, had expected

b. a great deal more conservative and conventional than almost everyone, the researchers included, has expected

c. pretty much what everyone had expected

d. still a mystery, since no one the researchers included, believes the results of the survey

e. none of the above

26. Which of the following theoretical positions on prostitution argues that sex for sale offers many hidden benefits to the society that no other institution or behavior can supply?

a. Marxism

b. Feminism

c. Conventional moralism

d. Functionalism

27. Public opinion polls show that negative attitudes toward homosexuality and homosexuals varies negatively by:

a. education

b. conservative political ideology

c. homophobia

d. age

e. none of the above

28. As of 2000, roughly half of all people who were newly-diagnosed with HIV infections were infected as a result of:

a. homosexual contact

b. a blood transfusion

c. IV drug injection

d. Being born to an HIV contaminated mother

e. Non single source accounted for half of all HIV infections

29. The idea that homosexuality is primarily a social role that is culture bound and played by some members of the society is a clear expression of which of the following approaches to reality:

a. essentialist

b. positivistic

c. objectivistic

d. Freudian

e. Constructionist

30. Erving Goffman, author of Stigma, refers to physical stigma as:

a. abominations of the body

b. deviant behavior

c. blemishes of individual character

d. conventionality

e. none of the above

31. According to Goode:

a. tattooing is always and everywhere a form of deviance

b. tattooing is never and nowhere a form of deviance

c. under certain conditions, in some societies, and during some time periods, tattooing is a form of deviance

d. it can never be know whether or not tattooing is or is not a form of deviance

e. none of the above

32. Which of the following did the author emphasize is specifically not a form of deviance in this society?

a. obesity

b. extreme ugliness

c. intersexuality

d. being tattooed over one’s entire body

e. as the term is defined in Goode, all are forms of deviance

33. The field of parapsychology manifests:

a. the form but not the content of conventional science

b. the content but not the form of conventional science

c. both the form and the content of conventional science

d. neither the form nor the content of conventional science

e. none of the above

34. According to the author, the narrative that aliens landed in the desert near Roswell, N.M.:

a. is true

b. is rejected by the overwhelming majority of Americans

c. has certain stereotypical, folkloric elements in common with tales, stories, and myths told in tribal and folk societies

d. cannot be verified or refuted with any conceivable evidence

e. none of the above

35. According to the author, evidence suggests that which of the following assertions is true?

a. McDonald’s sells ground-up earthworms in its Big Macs

b. Proctor and Gamble contributes 10 percent of its profits to the Church of Satan

c. KFC sells fried rat

d. Tropical Fantasy contains an ingredient that sterilizes Black men

e. None of the above

36. Parapsychology is a deviant science because:

a. its findings are wrong

b. its researchers are pathological

c. it tends to be condemned or ridiculed by mainstream scientists

d. objectively speaking, it is a pseudoscience

e. none of the above

37. Which of the following is NOT considered one of the different types of positive deviance?

a. altruism

b. charisma

c. ritualism

d. innovation

e. supra-conformity

f. the ex-deviant

38. According to Becker, what is the relationship between moral crusaders (entrepreneurs) and rule enforcers?

a. These crusaders bring disrespect for the law.

b. A successful crusade brings new rules to be enforced.

c. Crusaders have a say in what and when rules are to be enforced.

d. Failure of a crusade often brings a shift in public morality which necessarily

implies a shift in the rules as well.

e. b and c

f. all of the above

39. One of the basic ideas of the labeling perspective is that the deviant label often becomes

a. a master status

b. a random cause for incarceration

c. a way to degrade persons with middle class values

d. a positive sanctioning reaction

40. What did Durkheim imply when he concluded that “If crime is not pathological at all, the object of punishment cannot be to cure it, and its true function must be sought elsewhere.”

a. crime/deviance should be medicalized

b. crime/deviance could be useful to society

c. crime/deviance serves no function in society

d. crime/deviance should not be punished unless the cause if found

41. Sellin argues that culture conflicts are the natural outgrowth of

a. processes of social differentiation

b. city growth

c. ignorance or misunderstanding of the social values of other groups

d. transformation of a culture from heterogeneous to homogenous

e. all of the above

f. a and c only

42. Goffman also suggested that people with potential deviant stigma fall into two categories. Those with concealable deviant traits who may manage themselves so as to avoid the deviant stigma fall into which category?

a. the discredited

b. secondary deviants

c. the discreditable

d. tertiary deviants

43. COYOTE is an acronym for

a. prostitution

b. voluntary chosen service work

c. defining prostitution as civil rights

d. call off your old tired ethics

e. none of the above

44. The authors argued that biker women were in a kind of “double jeopardy.” This means

a. the women were doubly deviant

b. the women came from backgrounds with limited conventional opportunities

and are now even more exploited and subjugated

c. the women are of minority status, and of a minority gender status

d. the women were free to chose and felt they were indeed living a “free” life

45. “Counterfeit intimacy” is

a. conflict between customers and strippers

b. a situation in which an aura of intimacy masked mutually exploitative

interactions

c. insincere performances

d. the romantic mystique of stripping

46. First time tattooees used their tattoos to

a. reinforce and advertise their conventional achievements

b. reinforce and advertise their acquired skills

c. reinforce and advertise their knowledge of particular subjects

d. celebrate their positive personality traits

e. all of the above

f. b and d only

47. The SEF approach to prostitution policy is the

a. Sinful Evil Feminist approach

b. Sex Equality First approach

c. Free Choice approach used by COYOTE

d. Standup for Every Female approach

48. What about heterosexual deviance is likely to be of the most interest to sociologists?

a. degree of consent

b. nature of the sex act

c. purposes of deviance

d. degree of social outrage

49. A moral panic describes:

a. an individual response

b. a religious response

c. a collective response

d. emotional response

e. none of the above

50. Moral panics:

a. can be stabilizing

b. can be destabilizing

c. help maintain status quo

d. have little effect on society

e. none of the above

51. The reading concerning Moral Panics in Adler and Adler by de Young looks at:

a. day care centers

b. elementary schools

c. high schools

d. college

e. all of the above

52. Characteristic of moral panics is/are:

a. it is widespread

b. it is over-reactive

c. both a and b

d. calming

e. none of the above

53. In “Moral Panics” who was identified as the satanic abusers?

a. family

b. day care center providers

c. television and film stars

d. all of the above

e. none of the above

54. Who triggered the moral panic?

a. day care workers

b. parents

c. city officials

d. moral entrepreneurs

e. all of the above

57. Briefly define and/or illustrate six (6) of the following as they relate to the study of deviance. (12 pts. total)

Ÿ sick role

Ÿ ABC’s of deviance

Ÿ moral entrepreneurs

Ÿ tertiary deviance

Ÿ culture conflict

Ÿ relativity

Ÿ contingency factors

Ÿ boundary maintenance

Ÿ political “nature” of medicalization

58. According to Erikson, boundaries demonstrate to whatever audience is concerned where the line is drawn between behavior that belongs in the group and that which does not. Given the nature of groups, then, boundaries are a __________ (fixed or fluid) property of that group?

59. Give three factors that are likely to contribute to the likelihood of defining someone as being deviant. (3 pts.)

60. A discredited identity is a _______________ one, while a discreditable identity is a _______________ ______________ one.

61. Briefly, what does it mean for definitions of social deviance when ones stigma becomes a master status? (2 points)