Chapter 6

Question 1

norm

Answer 1

Rules of conduct that specify appropriate behavior in a given range of social situations. A norm either prescribes a given type of behavior or forbids it. All human groups follow definite norm, which are always backed by sanctions of one kind or another–varying from informal disapproval to physical punishment.

Question 2

deviance

Answer 2

Modes of action that do not conform to the norms or values held by most members of a group or society. What is regarded as deviant is as variable as the norms and values that distinguish different cultures and subcultures from one another. Forms of behavior that are highly esteemed by one group are regarded negatively by others.

Question 3

deviant subculture

Answer 3

a subculture whose members hold values that differ substantially from those of eh majority.

Question 4

sanction

Answer 4

a mode of reward or punishment that reinforces socially expected forms of behavior.

Question 5

law

Answer 5

a rule of behavior established by a political authority and backed by state power.

Question 6

crime

Answer 6

Any action that contravenes the laws established by a political authority. Although we may think of criminals as a distinct subsection of the population, there are few people who have not broken the law in one way or another during their lives. While laws are formulated by state authorities, it is not unknown for those authorities to engage in criminal behavior in certain situations.

Question 7

psychopath

Answer 7

a specific personality type; such individuals lack the moral sense and concern for others held by most normal people.

Question 8

anomie

Answer 8

a concept first brought into wide usage in sociology by Durkheim, referring to a situation in which social norms lose their hold over individual behavior.

Question 9

differential association

Answer 9

An interpretation of the development of criminal behavior proposed by Edwin H. Sutherland, according to whom criminal behavior is learned through association with others who regularly engage in crime.

Question 10

control theory

Answer 10

A theory that views crime as the outcome of an imbalance between impulses toward criminal activity and controls that deter it. control theorists hold that criminals are rational beings who will act to maximize their own reward unless they are rendered unable to do so through either social or physical controls.

Question 11

conflict

Answer 11

Argument that deviance is deliberately chosen and often political in nature.