Criminal Justice: Chapter 7 (Social Process Theories)

Front 1

altruistic fear

Back 1

Fear for others.

Front 2

American Dream

Back 2

The goal of accumulating material goods and wealth through individual competition; the process of being socialized to pursue material success and to believe it is achievable.

Front 3

anomie

Back 3

A condition produced by normlessness. Because of rapidly shifting moral values, the individual has few guides to what is socially acceptable. According to Merton, anomie is a condition that occurs when personal goals cannot be achieved by available means. In Agnew's revision anomie can occur when positive or valued stimuli are removed or negative or painful ones applied.

Front 4

at-risk

Back 4

Children and adults who lack the education and skills needed to be effectively in demand in modern society.

Front 5

collective efficacy

Back 5

Social control exerted by cohesive communities, based on mutual trust, including intervention in the supervision of children and maintenance of public order.

Front 6

college boy

Back 6

A disadvantaged youth who embraces the cultural and social values of the middle class and actively strives to be successful by those standards. This type of youth is embarking on an almost hopeless path, since he is ill-equipped academically, socially, and linguistically to achieve the rewards of middle-class life.

Front 7

concentration effect

Back 7

As working- and middle-class families flee inner-city poverty areas, the most disadvantaged population is consolidated in urban ghettos.

Front 8

conduct norms

Back 8

Behaviors expected of social group members. If group norms conflict with those of the general culture, members of the group may find themselves described as outcasts or criminals.

Front 9

corner boy

Back 9

According to Cohen, a role in the lower-class culture in which young men remain in their birth neighborhood, acquire families and menial jobs, and adjust to the demands of their environment.

Front 10

cultural deviance theory

Back 10

Branch of social structure theory that sees strain and social disorganization together resulting in a unique lower-class culture that conflicts with conventional social norms.

Front 11

cultural transmission

Back 11

The concept that conduct norms are passed down from one generation to the next so that they become stable within the boundaries of a culture. Cultural transmission guarantees that group lifestyle and behavior are stable and predictable.

Front 12

culture conflict

Back 12

According to Sellin, a condition brought about when the rules and norms of an individual's subcultural affiliation conflict with the role demands of conventional society.

Front 13

culture of poverty

Back 13

The view that people in the lower class of society form a separate culture with its own values and norms that are in conflict with conventional society; the culture is self-maintaining and ongoing.

Front 14

delinquent boy

Back 14

A youth who adopts a set of norms and principles in direct opposition to middle-class values, engaging in short-run hedonism and living for today and letting tomorrow take care of itself.

Front 15

differential opportunity

Back 15

The view that lower-class youths, whose legitimate opportunities are limited, join gangs and pursue criminal careers as alternative means to achieve universal success goals.