Chapter 4: General Macro-Level Theories and Modern-Day Applications

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Which methodological feature was the hallmark of early ecological studies based in the Chicago School of Sociology (e.g., Park & Burgess, 1925; Shaw & McKay, 1942)?

a. ethnography

b. multivariate statistics

c. mapping

d. focus groups

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Chicago School and Development of the Social Disorganization Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Shaw and McKay’s (1942) findings implied that the processes that lead to criminal activity most closely parallel those that determine the area’s ______.

a. ethnic/racial composition

b. socioeconomic status

c. percentage of males

d. percentage of police officers

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Chicago School and Development of the Social Disorganization Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Which of the following theories is an exception to the tendency of scholars to ignore existing theories when developing new perspectives on gangs and delinquency?

a. conflict theory

b. self-control theory

c. strain theory

d. social disorganization theory

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Chicago School and Development of the Social Disorganization Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. It is implied that Thrasher’s (1927, 2000) term “interstitial” is borrowed from what discipline?

a. Math

b. Science

c. Fine arts

d. Finance

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Chicago School and Development of the Social Disorganization Perspective

Difficulty Level: Hard

5. All of the following are critiques that have been levied against Thrasher’s (1927, 2000) gang social disorganization theory EXCEPT ______.

a. he focused disproportionately on low-income, urban areas

b. he didn’t focus enough on group processes

c. his theory did not reflect a unified school of thought

d. he focused too much on group processes

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Chicago School and Development of the Social Disorganization Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. All of the following are components of collective efficacy EXCEPT ______.

a. it decreases informal social control within a community

b. it requires community members to forge social ties

c. it involves shared trust

d. it involves mutual willingness to intervene

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Application of Social Disorganization Theory to Gangs

Difficulty Level: Hard

7. Papachristos and Kirk (2006) assert that social disorganization theory ______.

a. is only applicable to gangs, not other kinds of criminal activity

b. offers two complementary hypotheses as to how social disorganization breeds gang activity

c. offers two competing hypotheses as to how social disorganization breeds gang activity

d. isn’t applicable to gangs

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Application of Social Disorganization Theory to Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Papachristos and Kirk (2006) suggest that social disorganization theory predicted gang homicides but not other kinds of homicides because ______.

a. neighborhoods where general violence and gang violence are high are not necessarily the same

b. there was incomplete homicide data on non-gang homicides

c. communities with a strong gang presence were also impoverished

d. collective efficacy was only a significant predictor of gang homicides

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Application of Social Disorganization Theory to Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Papachristos and Kirk (2006)’s finding of a mediating relationship among collective efficacy, concentrated disadvantage, and violent behavior indicated which of the following?

a. Neither collective efficacy nor concentrated disadvantage impacted violent gang behavior.

b. Collective efficacy impacts violent gang behavior through levels of concentrated disadvantage.

c. The magnitude of the impact of collective efficacy and concentrated disadvantage could not be determined.

d. Concentrated disadvantage impacts violent gang behavior, regardless of collective efficacy.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Application of Social Disorganization Theory to Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Of all social disorganization variables, Pyrooz and colleagues (2010) found ______ to have the MOST impact on gang membership rates in their study of 100 cities in the United States.

a. economic disadvantage

b. population heterogeneity

c. residential mobility

d. collective efficacy

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Application of Social Disorganization Theory to Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Discordant findings about the effects of key social disorganization variables on gang and non-gang violence have been attributed to all of the following EXCEPT ______

a. different areas use different definitions for gang activity

b. data have been collected using geographic units that are too large

c. long-term gang wars in some areas have uniquely shaped violence patterns

d. cities and communities have their own histories, and those may affect social processes that affect delinquency differently

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Application of Social Disorganization Theory to Gangs

Difficulty Level: Hard

12. Which of the following is NOT one of the stages of gang development in the United States?

a. large-scale immigration, which produced social and economic problems that set the foundation for gangs to form

b. the development of youth subcultures

c. the development of transnational gangs

d. the development of prison gangs

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A General Explanation of Gang Origins, Expansion, and Violence

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Which of the following phenomena described in the five stages of gang development supports Thrasher’s (1927, 2000) contextualization argument?

a. de facto policing

b. collective efficacy

c. social disorganization

d. multiple marginality

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: A General Explanation of Gang Origins, Expansion, and Violence

Difficulty Level: Hard

14. Which of the following is the stage in which youth gangs are believed to form, as aided by the development of subcultures?

a. Stage 1

b. Stage 2

c. Stage 3

d. Stage 4

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: A General Explanation of Gang Origins, Expansion, and Violence

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. Which of the following macro-structural phenomena led many young men to turn to drug trafficking beginning in the late 1970s and into the early 1980s?

a. immigration

b. mass incarceration

c. the economic recession

d. the closing and tearing down of public housing developments

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: A General Explanation of Gang Origins, Expansion, and Violence

Difficulty Level: Hard

16. In general, the proliferation of drug trafficking follows in areas with ______.

a. fewer employed individuals

b. a history of early-onset gang activity

c. large Mexican populations

d. higher teen pregnancy rates

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A General Explanation of Gang Origins, Expansion, and Violence

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Which of the following is a theory that claims that in inner-city Black neighborhoods, deindustrialization has led to the isolation and disadvantage of minorities who did not benefit from economic restructuring?

a. underclass theory

b. social disorganization theory

c. conflict theory

d. routine activities theory

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Other Macro-Level Theories

Difficulty Level: Easy

18. Conflict theory is most associated with what experience?

a. immigration

b. marginalization

c. routine activities

d. economic restructuring

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Other Macro-Level Theories

Difficulty Level: Medium

Multiple Response

1. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following are ways to describe theories that concern themselves with characteristics of delimited geographic areas (e.g., neighborhood, census tract, and state) that are related to crime?

a. micro-level

b. ecological

c. macro-level

d. environmental

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following are community conditions that Thrasher (1927, 2000) connected to gang activity?

a. community disorganization

b. ineffective families

c. poor-quality schooling

d. association with undesirable peers

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Chicago School and Development of the Social Disorganization Perspective

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Studies by Whyte (1943) and Suttles (1968) imply which of the following about the application of social disorganization theory to gangs?

a. Disorganization is a misleading term, and should be used with caution.

b. Social disorganization theory does not need any modification to be applicable to gangs.

c. Gangs actually reflect strategic responses to disorganization in communities.

d. Gang activity occurs across cities and communities, not just in those that are impoverished and/or disorganized.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Application of Social Disorganization Theory to Gangs

Difficulty Level: Hard

4 SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following is a surprising finding discovered by Katz and Schnebly (2011) in their Arizona study?

a. Gang members and non-gang members committed violent acts together.

b. Neighborhoods where social control was highest had the highest concentration of gang activity.

c. Neighborhoods with many gang members were not always the same as neighborhoods with high levels of officially recorded violence.

d. Population density did not affect the concentration of gang members.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Application of Social Disorganization Theory to Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following are components of Stage 4 of gang development?

a. public housing projects

b. gun availability

c. the proliferation of single-headed households in poor neighborhoods

d. drug trafficking

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: A General Explanation of Gang Origins, Expansion, and Violence

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following are believed to be precipitating factors of the development of prison gangs in Chicago?

a. Mayor Daley’s 1969 gang war

b. the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

c. the War on Drugs

d. large-scale incarceration of gang members

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A General Explanation of Gang Origins, Expansion, and Violence

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following is NOT a key element of opportunities for crime according to routine activities (opportunity) theory?

a. motivated offender

b. suitable target

c. racial/ethnic heterogeneity

d. lack of capable guardians

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Other Macro-Level Theories

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. The Chicago school’s unique contribution to gang theorizing was its emphasis on the physical locations of gangs.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Chicago School and Development of the Social Disorganization Perspective

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. There are debates as to how many gangs Thrasher (1927, 2000) examined in his landmark study.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Chicago School and Development of the Social Disorganization Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Thrasher’s (1927) concept of “contextualization” is synonymous with his concept of a “situation complex.”

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Chicago School and Development of the Social Disorganization Perspective

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. Bursik and Grasmick (1993) first specified that poverty, population heterogeneity, and residential mobility are the mechanisms that lead to crime and delinquency in social disorganization theory.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Chicago School and Development of the Social Disorganization Perspective

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Papachristos and Kirk (2006) suggested that social disorganization theory predicted gang but not non-gang homicides because the neighborhoods where gangs flourished were probably different from the places where non-gang violence developed.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Application of Social Disorganization Theory to Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Papachristos (2004) and Monti (1993) pose similar challenges to the use of the term “disorganized” to describe delinquent groups such as gangs.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Application of Social Disorganization Theory to Gangs

Difficulty Level: Hard

7. Social disorganization theory is equally applicable to cities of all sizes.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Application of Social Disorganization Theory to Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Immigration patterns were largely responsible for the erosion of social control in the first stage of U.S. gang development.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A General Explanation of Gang Origins, Expansion, and Violence

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Rap lyrics have always glorified delinquency and gang lifestyles.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A General Explanation of Gangs Origins, Expansions, and Violence

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Law enforcement personnel stipulate that the release of prison inmates and high rates of drug trafficking are the factors that most significantly influence gang violence in communities.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A General Explanation of Gang Origins, Expansion, and Violence

Difficulty Level: Medium

Short Answer

1. Define social control and discuss its relationship to delinquency in Thrasher’s (1927, 2000) social disorganization theory.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Chicago School and Development of the Social Disorganization Perspective

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Did all four regions of the country equally experience the five stages of gang development? Why or why not?

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: A General Explanation of Gang Origins, Expansion, and Violence

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. What are the key features of routine activities (opportunity) theory and what is the primary difference between it and other societal-level theories detailed in the chapter?

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Other Macro-Level Theories

Difficulty Level: Hard

Essay

1. Discuss how social disorganization theory applies to modern theorizing about gangs. Be sure to provide a brief history of the theory’s development, assess at least one strength and one limitation of its core arguments, and detail findings from at least one study that explored whether social disorganization theory applies to gangs.

Learning Objective: N/A

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Throughout Chapter--see especially, The Chicago School and Development of the Social Disorganization Perspective; Application of Social Disorganization Theory to Gangs

Difficulty Level: Hard