Term Test 2 Flashcards
(46 cards)
What is strain?
Experiences with concentrated poverty, frustration, anger, and a lack of opportunity.
What is anomie?
when there is a breakdown between the desires of the individual and the ability of society to fulfil those needs
What are Merton’s 5 Modes of Adaptation?
Conformity: Accepting both societal goals and the established means to achieve them
Innovation: Accepting societal goals but rejecting the established means, often resorting to deviant behaviors to reach those goals.
Ritualism: Rejecting societal goals but rigidly adhering to the established means, essentially going through the motions without striving for significant achievement.
Retreatism: Rejecting both societal goals and the established means, often leading to withdrawal from society.
Rebellion: Rejecting both societal goals and means, actively attempting to replace them with new goals and methods through social change.
What are the 4 causes of strain according to Agnew’s General Strain Theory?
- Failure to achieve a positively valued goal.
- A disconnect between our expectations and achievements.
- The loss or removal of positive stimuli.
- The presentation of negative stimuli.
People with greater resources and stronger support systems may be more resilient to strains. Who we associate with and where we live can influence our responses.
What is Social Bonding Theory?
People obey the law due to attachment, commitment, involvement and belief
What is Self-Control Theory?
Low self-control contributes to criminality (the state of being criminal) via:
- Impulsive personality
- Lack of self-control
- Withering of social bonds
- The opportunity to commit crime
- Insensitivity to others
What is social stratification?
Different forms of inequality in our society institutionalized, shaping our ability to access society’s resources.
- Upper socio-economic class groups control a disproportionate amount of wealth and power.
- Persons from lower socio-economic class groups face various social and structural barriers.
What is Economic and Social Polarization?
the growth of gaps between the richest and poorest classes in society.
Park and Burgess found that when groups come into contact, they can undergo:
- Competition
- Accommodation
- Assimilation, or acculturation
What is Concentric Zone Theory?
Social problems are spatially distributed. Neighbourhood characteristics are the most important determinant of social problems.
Zone 1: Central Business – Downtown
Zone 2: Transition Zone – Mixed residential and commercial uses
Zone 3: Working-class Zone – Less affluent, largely residential, working-class residents
Zone 4: Residential Zone – Better middle-class homes
Zone 5: Commuter Zone – High-class homes. Residents commute to central business district
What is social disorganization?
Macro-level theory, focusing on locations (communities) instead of individual offenders, stating that crime is a result of neighborhood characteristics rather than individual factors.
How does Social Disorganization lead to Crime?
- Young people aren’t socialized into community norms and lack social controls.
- When socialization is weak, so are relationships with law-abiding and conforming peers and adults.
- There’s no buffer between these people and deviance to solve their social problems
- Weak relationships mean young people are less likely to be involved with community activities.
In social disorganized communities, when people come/go out of a neighbourhood, social cohesion is hard to form. Everyone is focussed on themselves, getting out of the area.
What is Collective Efficacy?
The belief that a group can work together to achieve a goal. Creates safe neighbourhoods. Quality of Socially Organized communities.
What is delinquent subculture theory?
Lower-class youth experience status frustration when faced with blocked opportunities
Gang culture is constructed in resistance to middle-class culture
Lower-class suffer from deficient socialization
Failing to achieve the American dream will result in status frustration
What is Differential Opportunity Theory?
Crime is committed based on legitimate and illegitimate opportunities.
Breaking Bad example: Walt can cook meth, but he can’t sell it, package it, or earn prestige and safety on the streets. Just because someone wants to turn to crime due to strain, it doesn’t mean that they have an available opportunity to engage in crime.
This theory helps to bridge the gap between neighbourhood conditions and criminal opportunities.
What is a differentially socially organized community?
A community with complex forms of informal social control that don’t resemble what we see in middle and upper class neighbourhoods.
EX: Code of the Streets –where crime and deviance are high and the influence of crime is weak, people turn to alternative structures to keep them safe. Respect or ‘juice’ is a central tenet of the Code and is obtained through dangerous means.
What is the adjudication process?
formal process where an independent third party (an adjudicator) resolves a dispute after hearing arguments and evidence from the parties involved, resulting in a binding decision
What are repeat players and one-shotters?
Repeat players: organizations (like businesses or government agencies) that frequently engage in litigation
One-shotters: corporations involved in court cases only occasionally.
What is a Private Dispute?
Legal conflict between individuals, businesses, or organizations, without government involvement as a party. These disputes usually fall under civil law (personal injury, contract breaches, child custody)
What is the adversal system of law?
- Lawyers
- Juries (12 in criminal trials, none or 6 in civil trials).
- Judge
How are disputes translated into claims?
- private individuals, organizations, or their representatives make a legal claim on another party because they are liable for something.
- This claim must appeal to an existing legal standard, such as a law or a right
- Plaintiffs take cases against defendants
What are Public-Initiated Disputes?
Government agencies or public officials initiate legal action against individuals or organizations for violating criminal laws.
EX: Watergate Scandal – Nixon’s campaign were caught spying on the Democratic National Committee and he was charged for crimes like conspiracy, burglary, and obstruction of justice
What are Public Defendant Disputes?
Private individuals or organizations bring claims against the government or public agencies.
EX: Wrongful arrest.
EX: George Floyd case
What are some policing approaches?
Watchman Style: Focuses on maintaining order with discretionary enforcement.
Legalistic Style: Strictly enforces laws with minimal discretion.
Service Style: Prioritizes community engagement and conflict resolution.
