Chapter 7: Deviance And Crime

Front 1

1. Criminalization

Back 1

The process by which the legal system negatively sanctions some form of deviant behavior.

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2. Deviance

Back 2

Any action, belief, or human characteristic that members of a society or a social group consider a violation of group norms and for which the violator is likely to be censured or punished.

Front 3

3. Explanatory Theories

Back 3

Theories of deviance (or some other social phenomenon) that try to explain why it occurs.

Front 4

4. Constructionist Theories

Back 4

Theories of deviance that seek a greater understanding of the process by which people define and classify some behaviors as normal and others as deviant.

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5. Strain Theory

Back 5

Theory based on the idea that the discrepancy between the larger structure of society and the means available to people to achieve that which the society considers to be of value produces strain that may cause an individual to undertake deviant acts.

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6. Conformists

Back 6

People who accept both cultural goals and traditional means of achieving those goals.

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7. Innovators

Back 7

Individuals who accept cultural goals but reject conventional means of achieving success.

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8. Ritualists

Back 8

Individuals who realize that they will not be able to achieve cultural goals, but who nonetheless continue to engage in the conventional behavior associated with such success.

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9. Retreatists

Back 9

Individuals who reject both cultural goals and the traditional routes to their attainment; they have completely given up on attaining success within they system.

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10. Rebels

Back 10

Individuals who reject both traditional means and goals and instead substitute nontraditional goals and means to those goals.

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11. Social Control Theory

Back 11

A theory that focuses on the reasons why people do not commit deviant acts and the stake people have in engaging in conformist behavior.

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12. Symbol

Back 12

A word, gesture, or object that stands in for something or someone (i.e. a “label”).

Front 13

13. Interaction

Back 13

A social engagement that involves two or more individuals who perceive, and orient their actions to, one another.

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14. Social Control Agents

Back 14

Those who label a person as deviant.

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15. Labeling Theory

Back 15

Theory contending that a deviant is someone to whom a deviant label has been successfully applied.

Front 16

16. Primary Deviance

Back 16

Early, non-patterned acts of deviance, or an act here or there that is considered to be strange or out of the ordinary.

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17. Secondary Deviance

Back 17

Deviant acts that persist, become more common, and eventually cause people to organize their lives and personal identities around their deviant status.

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18. Social Control

Back 18

The process by which a group or society enforces conformity to its demands and expectations.

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19. Rule Creators

Back 19

Individuals who devise society’s rules, norms, and laws.

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20. Rule Enforces

Back 20

Individuals who threaten to, or actually, enforce the rules.

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21. Moral Entrepreneurs

Back 21

Individuals or groups, who come to define an act as a moral outrage and who lead a campaign to have it defined as deviant and to have it made illegal and therefore subject to legal enforcement.

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22. Moral Panic

Back 22

A widespread, but disproportionate, reaction to a form of deviance.

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23. Stigma

Back 23

A characteristic that others find, define, and often label as unusual, unpleasant, or deviant.

Front 24

24. Discredited Stigma

Back 24

A stigma that the affected individual assumes is already known about or readily apparent.

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25. Discreditable stigma

Back 25

A stigma that the affected individual assumes is neither known about nor immediately perceivable.

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26. Crime

Back 26

A violation of the criminal law.

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27. Criminology

Back 27

The study of all aspects of crime.

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28. Differential Association

Back 28

A theory that focuses on the fact that people learn criminal behavior and therefore that what is crucial is whom a person associates with.

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29. Parole

Back 29

The supervised early release of a prisoner for such things as good behavior while in prison.

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30. Probation

Back 30

A system by which those who are convicted of less serious crimes may be released into the community, but under supervision and under certain conditions, such as being involved in and completing a substance abuse program.

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31. Specific Deterrence

Back 31

Whether the experience of punishment in general, and incarceration in particular, makes it less likely that an individual will commit crimes in the future.

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32. Recidivism

Back 32

The repetition of a criminal act by one who has been convicted for an offense.

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33. General Deterrence

Back 33

The deterrence of the population as a whole from committing crimes for fear that they will be punished or imprisoned for their crimes.

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34. Violent Crime

Back 34

The threat of injury or the threat or actual use of force, including murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, as well as terrorism and, globally, war crimes.

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35. Property Crimes

Back 35

Crimes that do not involve injury or force, but rather involve gaining or destroying property.

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36. Felonies

Back 36

Serious crimes punishable by a year or more in prison.

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37. Misdemeanors

Back 37

Minor offenses punishable by imprisonment of less than a year.

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38. White-Collar Crimes

Back 38

Crimes committed by responsible and (usually) high-social-status people in the course of their work.

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39. Corporate Crime

Back 39

Violation of the law by legal organizations, including antitrust violations and stock market violations.

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40. Organized Crime

Back 40

Type of crime that may involve various types of organizations, but is most often associated with syndicated organized crime that uses violence (or its threat) and the corruption of public officials to profit from illegal activities.

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41. Political Crime

Back 41

Either an illegal offense against the state to affect its policies, or an offense by the state, either domestically or internationally.

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42. Hate Crimes

Back 42

Crimes that stem from the fact that the victims are in various ways different from, and disesteemed by, the perpetrators.

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43. Cybercrime

Back 43

Crime that targets computers, uses computers to commit traditional crimes, or transmits illegal information or images.

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44. Consumer Crimes

Back 44

Crimes related to consumption, including shoplifting and using stolen credit cards or credit card numbers.