Test Bank

Chapter 7: Social Control Theories of Deviance

Multiple Choice

1. Social control theory is traced to the eighteenth-century work of ______.

a. Karl Marx

b. Cesare Becarria

c. Cesare Lombroso

d. Travis Hirschi

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. According to Nye, _____ controls refers to rules and norms that are instilled in consciousness as children.

a. indirect

b. direct

c. internal social

d. external social

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Development of Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Social control theories argue deviance is caused by ______.

a. insufficient internal and external controls

b. learned behaviors from parent

c. imitation and observation of others

d. lack of social structures and strain

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Development of Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. According to Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory, ______ refers to emotional bonds that keep us from engaging in deviant behaviors.

a. attachment

b. commitment

c. involvement

d. belief

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Development of Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Which of the following summarizes the main idea of Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory?

a. Children are not inherently deviant.

b. Everyone wants to be deviant.

c. Nothing can stop people from being deviant.

d. If we associate with deviants, we learn deviance.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Development of Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Which component of Hirschi’s four social bonds is the “rational” bond?

a. belief

b. involvement

c. attachment

d. commitment

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Hirschi

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. What does Power-Control Theory focus on explaining?

a. gender differences in deviance

b. gender similarities in deviance

c. race and class variables in criminal behavior

d. the influence of psychology on deviant behavior

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Contemporary Additions to Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Hard

8. According to Power-Control Theory, ______ is/are the primary agent of socialization in the family.

a. siblings

b. the father

c. the mother

d. grandparents

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Contemporary Additions to Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. The ______, in addition to predicting deviant behavior, is designed to predict all behaviors.

a. Power-Control Theory

b. Critical Race Theory

c. General Theory of Crime

d. Self-Control Theory

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Contemporary Additions to Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. The General Theory of Crime suggests that ______ is the cause of low self-control.

a. ineffective parenting

b. psychopathy

c. child abuse

d. genetics

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Contemporary Additions to Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. According to Life Course Theory, how is a trajectory different from a transition?

a. Transitions are planned; trajectories are random.

b. Trajectories are internal; transitions are external.

c. Transitions occur less frequently.

d. Trajectories take place over a longer time frame.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Contemporary Additions to Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Hard

12. Mike was raised in a working class household; his trajectory was toward a working class lifestyle. He got a scholarship that allowed him to afford a two-year degree and established his own handyman service. The scholarship that paid for his education is an example of a ______.

a. radical adjustment

b. transition

c. realignment

d. social safety net

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Contemporary Additions to Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Which theory involves trajectories, life events, and social bonds?

a. Social Bonds Theory

b. Life Course Theory

c. Control Theory

d. General Theory of Crime

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Contemporary Additions to Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Hard

14. As people age, they commit less crime. What is one way that life course theories summarize this phenomenon?

a. maturity norm

b. transition

c. trajectory completion

d. aging out

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Contemporary Additions to Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. According to Moffit, the deviance of the ______ group stems from social processes.

a. deviant-peer-bonded

b. life-course-persistent

c. adolescence limited

d. power-controlled

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Contemporary Additions to Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

16. Brittany is in a corner store. She wants to shoplift a candy bar. She goes over the reasons why it was wrong inside her head and does not take the candy. What stops Brittany from taking the candy?

a. social differentiation theory

b. internal social controls

c. external social controls

d. the law

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Development of Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Alex wants to try marijuana, but knows it is against the law. He knows that if he gets caught, he will face arrest, even though he doesn’t think there is anything wrong with smoking marijuana. According to Hirschi’s Social Control Theory, what social bond stops Alex from smoking marijuana?

a. attachment

b. commitment

c. involvement

d. belief

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Development of Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. Nye (1958) suggests that most deviant behavior is the result of ______.

a. rigid, inflexible, laws

b. anomie

c. moral depravity

d. insufficient social control

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Development of Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. The debate central to the difference between the theory of self-control and life course theory is whether ______.

a. self-control is variable or constant

b. internal or external social controls are more effective

c. social bonds are strong or weak

d. all people are inherently deviant

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Critiques of Social Control Theories

Difficulty Level: Hard

20. The ______ tradition of criminology involves the belief in a rational mind, the idea that individuals want to maximize their pleasure and minimize their pain, and the idea that individuals must be restrained from engaging in deviance.

a. psychological

b. functional

c. classical

d. legal-rational

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Conclusion

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. A common critique of social control theories is that they are better at predicting minor deviance than major crimes.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Critiques of Social Control Theories

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Travis Hirschi is considered a social control theorist because he asks why most people are not being deviant rather than why some people are deviant.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Development of Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. Hirschi and Gottfredson developed both Social Bonds Theory and a General Theory of Crime.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Development of Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Deviant acts that provide immediate gratification of desires can only be prevented through external social controls.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Development of Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Trajectory is the pathway or line of development of deviancy over a lifespan, referring to long-term patterns of life behavior and marked by sequence of transitions.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Contemporary Additions to Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. A trajectory is shorter than a transition.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Contemporary Additions to Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Hard

7. Cross-cultural studies suggest that a General Theory of Crime does not explain deviance that occurs in socialist countries.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Global Perspectives on Deviance and Social Control Theories

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. A General Theory of crime has never been tested cross-culturally.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Global Perspectives on Deviance and Social Control Theories

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Gottfredson and Hirschi emphasized child-rearing and emotional involvement of parents in children’s lives when describing the origins of self-control.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Contemporary Additions to Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay

1. List the four components to social bonds of Hirschi’s social control theories. Provide an example of each or brief explanation of what it means.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Development of Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. According to social control theorists, the blame for crime lies with weak institutions and their agents. Do you agree? Explain by using an example that supports your position.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Development of Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. List the six elements that construct low self-control according to Hirschi and Gottfredson’s General Theory of Crime.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Contemporary Additions to Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Provide several critiques of social control theories.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Critiques of Social Control Theories

Difficulty Level: Hard

5. Compare and contrast the central arguments of Social Bond Theory, a General Theory of Crime, and Life Course Theory.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Contemporary Additions to Social Control Theory

Difficulty Level: Hard