The Ultimate Deviance and Crime Theories Quiz

Theories of Deviance and Crime

• Biological theories of deviance and crime include Lombroso's belief that criminal types could be identified by their visible anatomical features, and Sheldon's theory of somatotypes linking certain body types to delinquency and crime.
• Phenology involves measuring the shape of the skull to assess personality traits and is still of interest to scientists today.
• Twin studies suggest that criminal tendencies exist in children as young as four years old due to abnormalities in brain makeup.
• Sociologists have four social approaches to the nature of crime: functionalist, interactionist, conflict, and control theories.
• Functionalist theories view crime and deviance as a result of structural tensions and a lack of regulation within society, with Durkheim's concept of anomie explaining how disorientation and anxiety lead to non-conformity or deviance.
• Interactionist perspectives focus on the social construction of crime and deviance, asking how behaviors come to be defined as deviant and why certain groups are labeled as deviant. Merton's strain theory explains the over-representation of lower working-class groups in the prison population.
• Labeling perspectives interpret deviance as the product of interaction processes between deviant and non-deviant individuals and emphasize the power structure of society.
• Lemert introduced the concepts of primary deviance as an initial act of crime or deviance that remains marginal to an individual's self-identity, and secondary deviance where a label becomes attached to the individual and overrides all other indicators of status.
• The process of learning to be deviant can be controlled by agencies such as prisons, but labeling theorists see this as the paradox of social control, where deviancy amplification can provoke even more deviant behavior.
• Moral panic is a term used to describe a societal overreaction to a certain group or type of behavior that is taken as symptomatic of general social disorder.
• Critics of labeling perspectives argue that certain acts, such as robbery and murder, are intrinsically deviant and that focusing on secondary deviance downplays the significance of primary deviance.
• Conflict theories argue that crime and deviance originate from the unequal distribution of power and resources within society, with the new criminologists arguing that crime and deviance can be understood only in the context of power and inequality within society.

Theories of Deviance and Crime

• Biological theories of deviance and crime include Lombroso's belief that criminal types could be identified by their visible anatomical features, and Sheldon's theory of somatotypes linking certain body types to delinquency and crime.
• Phenology involves measuring the shape of the skull to assess personality traits and is still of interest to scientists today.
• Twin studies suggest that criminal tendencies exist in children as young as four years old due to abnormalities in brain makeup.
• Sociologists have four social approaches to the nature of crime: functionalist, interactionist, conflict, and control theories.
• Functionalist theories view crime and deviance as a result of structural tensions and a lack of regulation within society, with Durkheim's concept of anomie explaining how disorientation and anxiety lead to non-conformity or deviance.
• Interactionist perspectives focus on the social construction of crime and deviance, asking how behaviors come to be defined as deviant and why certain groups are labeled as deviant. Merton's strain theory explains the over-representation of lower working-class groups in the prison population.
• Labeling perspectives interpret deviance as the product of interaction processes between deviant and non-deviant individuals and emphasize the power structure of society.
• Lemert introduced the concepts of primary deviance as an initial act of crime or deviance that remains marginal to an individual's self-identity, and secondary deviance where a label becomes attached to the individual and overrides all other indicators of status.
• The process of learning to be deviant can be controlled by agencies such as prisons, but labeling theorists see this as the paradox of social control, where deviancy amplification can provoke even more deviant behavior.
• Moral panic is a term used to describe a societal overreaction to a certain group or type of behavior that is taken as symptomatic of general social disorder.
• Critics of labeling perspectives argue that certain acts, such as robbery and murder, are intrinsically deviant and that focusing on secondary deviance downplays the significance of primary deviance.
• Conflict theories argue that crime and deviance originate from the unequal distribution of power and resources within society, with the new criminologists arguing that crime and deviance can be understood only in the context of power and inequality within society.