Sociological Approaches

What does sociology focus on when studying different social experiences and problems?

• The social construction

• The biological disposition

• The individual psychopathology

• The criminal personality

According to Durkheim, crime is functional for society and marks the boundaries of morality.

• True

• False

Fill in the blank: The cause of crime, according to Durkheim, is ________ (or the dissociation of the individual from the collective conscience or morality of the time).

• anomie

• altruism

• fatalism

• egoism

What do sociologists use to address crime and deviance at both the individual and social levels?

• the sociological or criminological imagination

• the biological imperative

• the economic principle

• the psychological approach

For Merton, anomie is the contradiction between the cultural goal of achieving ______ and the social structure’s inability to provide legitimate institutional means for achieving the goal.

• wealth

• happiness

• power

• education

Match the following responses to strain with their correct descriptions:

• Conformity

• Reject society’s goals and means

• Ritualism

• Pursue goals through socially accepted means

• Rebellion

• Lower goals and focus on conformity

• Innovation

• Pursue goals using criminal or deviant means

• Retreatism

• Replace society’s goals and means with their own

According to Merton, those who innovate pursue goals they cannot reach through legitimate means by using criminal or deviant means.

• True

• False

Which response to strain involves rejecting both society’s goals and means?

• Conformity

• Innovation

• Retreatism

• Ritualism

Merton's concept of 'ritualism' as a response to strain refers to:

• Rejecting societal goals but strictly adhering to socially accepted means.

• Pursuing societal goals through any means necessary, even if illegal.

• Completely withdrawing from society and its expectations.

• Achieving success by setting even higher goals than society expects.

Labeling theory suggests that when the state labels an individual as 'criminal' or 'deviant,' what effect does this have on the individual?

• They reorient their lives and behaviour around this label, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

• They immediately reject the label and return to normal behavior.

• They become immune to further labeling by society.

• They are automatically rehabilitated by the justice system.