Test Bank

Chapter 4: Anomie/Strain Theory

Multiple Choice

1. ______ is a state of normlessness, in which society fails to regulate expectations and behaviors of its members.

a. Strain

b. Anomie

c. Disruption

d. Chaos

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Development of Anomie/Strain Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Which of the following is an assumption of anomie/strain theories?

a. Social order is a product of endless conflict and temporary resolution.

b. Norms are shared by society and its members.

c. Laws establish social order.

d. Response to deviance is for punishment.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Development of Anomie/Strain Theory

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. Strain theories assume social order is ______.

a. a source of conflict

b. established through laws imposed by upper classes

c. the product of a cohesive set of norms

d. impossible to attain

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Emile Durkheim examined what phenomena in nineteenth-century Europe?

a. opium addiction

b. community disorganization

c. suicide

d. juvenile delinquency

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Development of Anomie/Strain Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. The ideal body type is an example of anomie/strain because ______.

a. The ideal body type creates an unrealistic expectation among members of society.

b. The ideal body type is attained in illegal ways.

c. The ideal body type is representative of the statistical norm and lacks diversity.

d. The ideal body type is too easily attained.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Development of Anomie/Strain Theory

Difficulty Level: Hard

6. Robbers, thieves, and embezzlers who agree with societal goals, but lack the means to achieve them, resort to stealing. Which of Merton’s five adaptations does this describe?

a. conformity

b. innovation

c. ritualism

d. retreatism

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Robert Merton and Adaptations to Anomie/Strain

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. According to Differential Opportunity Theory, ______ subcultures are considered “double failures,” because their members cannot fit into either legitimate or illegitimate subcultures.

a. conflict

b. innovative

c. consensus

d. retreatist

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, Differential Opportunity

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Cloward and Ohlin’s theory argued that criminal and deviant behavior is learned like other behaviors and that not everyone has the same opportunities to learn criminal skills and have criminal careers. Whose work provided the basis for these ideas?

a. Edwin Sutherland and Robert Merton

b. Roberta Agnew

c. James Cressey

d. James Cressey and Edwin Sutherland

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, Differential Opportunity

Difficulty Level: Hard

9. Racism is an example of ______, an obstacle that exists for whole classes of people who wish to attain wealth using legitimate means.

a. differential association

b. ritualism

c. a retreatist subculture

d. a structural impediment

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Robert Merton and Adaptations to Anomie/Strain

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. According to Merton, what is the most common adaptation to anomie?

a. rebellion

b. innovation

c. conformity

d. retreatism

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Robert Merton and Adaptations to Anomie/Strain

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Which adaptation to strain is exemplified by the chronically homeless and serious drug addicts?

a. rebellion

b. innovation

c. conformity

d. retreatism

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Robert Merton and Adaptations to Anomie/Strain

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. Cloward and Ohlin extended Merton’s Strain Theory by ______.

a. contributing the category of “rebellion”

b. adding the idea that individuals may not have equal or good access to illegitimate means

c. identifying conformity as a form of positive deviance

d. including “anomie” as an adaptation to strain

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, Differential Opportunity

Difficulty Level: Hard

13. Which two theories form the basis of Cloward and Ohlin’s Theory?

a. differential association and strain

b. general strain theory and institutional anomie theory

c. relative deprivation and differential association

d. anomie and general strain theory

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, Differential Opportunity

Difficulty Level: Hard

14. Cohen argued that status frustration may lead to the collective solution of forming a ______ in which middle-class norms and values are replaced with their opposite.

a. rebellion

b. state of normlessness

c. delinquent subculture

d. structural impediment

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Albert Cohen, Delinquent Boys

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. According to Cohen, the delinquent subculture forms and is sustained because it ______.

a. channels destructive urges into productive activities

b. provides alternative standards of success that working-class boys can meet

c. redefines criminal activity as legal

d. provides a way for delinquent boys to achieve middle-class success

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Albert Cohen, Delinquent Boys

Difficulty Level: Easy

16. According to Messner and Rosenfeld (2007) what is a primary driver of crime in America?

a. the American Dream

b. racism

c. Democratic Socialism

d. lack of education

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Messner and Rosenfeld, Crime and the American Dream—Institutional Anomie Theory
Difficulty Level: Hard

17. Relative deprivation suggests that ______ has a direct impact on community crime rates.

a. the American Dream

b. secularization

c. sexism

d. socioeconomic inequality

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Application of Anomie and Strain Theories

Difficulty Level: Easy

18. What is a criticism of Institutional Anomie Theory?

a. The theory is too political.

b. Adherence to the American Dream is not universal.

c. There is no empirical support for the theory.

d. The theory claims to account for too many variables.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Application of Anomie and Strain Theories

Difficulty Level: Hard

True/False

1. Anomie and strain theories are both concerned with social structures and how such structures constrain behavior of individuals and cause deviance.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Development of Anomie/Strain Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. According to anomie theories, it is not society that has failed to regulate expectations of its members, but the individual who has failed to regulate his/her own expectations of behavior.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Development of Anomie/Strain Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. According to Merton (1938), “Social Structure & Anomie” argues the goals of success, especially economic success, are viewed as legitimate expectations and norms for everyone in American culture.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Development of Anomie/Strain Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Differential opportunity theories argue motivations and availability of opportunities to learn about and participate in deviant behavior must be considered in the study of deviance.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, Differential Opportunity

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Agnew (2006) argues that all types of strain are equally likely to cause crime and deviance.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Robert Agnew, General Strain Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. According to differential opportunity theory, criminal subcultures and the neighborhoods in which they reside can perpetuate crime through generations.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, Differential Opportunity

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. According to Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory, some people are more predisposed to crime than others.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Robert Agnew, General Strain Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Emile Durkheim suggested deviance results from a lack of regulation of goals combined with unlimited desires/needs.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Development of Anomie/Strain Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay

1. Providing details from the text, apply Cloward and Ohlin’s Differential Opportunity Theory to understanding the criminal learning environments of gangs.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, Differential Opportunity

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. According to Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory, not all individuals respond to strain with crime and deviance. What types of strain are most likely to lead to deviant behavior and/or crime?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Robert Agnew, General Strain Theory

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. Cloward and Ohlin argued that the different kinds of illegitimate opportunities available in poor urban neighborhoods lead to three types of criminal subcultures. List and describe in detail the three types of criminal subcultures.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin, Differential Opportunity

Difficulty Level: Difficult

4. Describe how Durkheim would apply his version of Anomie Theory to contemporary American society.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Development of Anomie/Strain Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. What are some criticisms of Anomie/Strain theories?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Critiques of Anomie and Strain Theories

Difficulty Level: Hard