CCJ3011 Exam 2 Chapters 6 9 Theories and Vocabulary Chapter 6 Vocabulary Stratified society Strain Subculture Underclass Social class Culture of poverty Collective efficacy Concentration effect Transitional neighborhood the process whereby subculture is handed down from one an area undergoing a shift in population and structure usually the working and middle class families flee inner city poverty a segment of the population whose members are at a relatively similar people grouped according to economic or social class characterized by the lowest social stratum in any country they lack education and skills a set of values beliefs and traditions unique to a particular social class or the anger frustration and resentment experienced by people who believe they the unequal distribution of wealth and power economic level and share the same values norms and lifestyle a separate lower class culture characterized by cynicism helplessness and mistrust of social institutions schools government police etc passed down from one generation to the next needed to function in modern society cannot achieve their goals through legal means group within a larger society Cultural transmission generation to the next from middle class to lower class ridden areas the most disadvantaged population is consolidated in urban ghettos trust including intervention in the supervision of children and maintenance of public order of sources of strain Relative deprivation economic and social inequality conditions in lower class environments opposed the larger society social conditions prevent them from achieving success as defined by the larger society evaluate lower class youths and often prejudge them negatively irrational hostility evidenced by young delinquents who adopt norms directly opposed to middle class goals and standards that seem impossible to achieve are limited join gangs and pursue criminal careers as alternative means to achieve universal success goals social control exerted by cohesive communities and based on mutual the form of culture conflict experienced by lower class youths because values such as street smarts that have evolved specifically to fit the view that lower class youths whose legitimate opportunities the value system adopted by lower class youths that is directly anger frustration and adverse emotions produced by a variety envy mistrust and aggression resulting from perceptions of the standards by which authority figures such as teachers Middle class measuring rods Negative affective states Differential opportunity Delinquent subculture Reaction formation Status frustration Focal concerns Chapter 6 Theories Social structure theory o The view that disadvantaged economic class position is a primary cause of crime Social Disorganization Theories o Shaw and McKay s concentric theory Crime is a product of transitional neighborhoods that manifest social disorganization and value conflict Identifies why crime rates are highest in slum areas Points out factors that produce crime Suggests programs to help reduce crime Main focus poverty disorganization o Social ecology theory Strain Theories o Anomie theory The conflicts and problems of urban social life and communities including fear unemployment deterioration and siege mentality influence crime rates Accounts for urban crime rates and trends Main focus Social control fear collective efficacy unemployment Collective efficacy social control exerted by cohesive communities and based on mutual trust including intervention in the supervision of children and maintenance of public order People who adopt the goals of society but lack the means to attain them seek alternatives such as crime Points out how competition for success creates conflict and crime Suggests that social conditions and not personality can account for crime Explains high lower class crime rates Main focus frustration anomie effects of failure to achieve goals Social adaptations Conformity have goals and have the necessary means to attain them o Ex law abiding citizen Innovation have goals but do not have the means to obtain them Ritualism have no goals but have adequate resources o Ex drug dealer o Ex Paris Hilton Retreatist reject the goals and the means of society o Ex people who rebel against society the Amish people who withdraw themselves through drug use Rebellion substitute an alternative set of goals and means for conventional ones want an alternative lifestyle o Institutional anomie theory o Ex Taliban ISIS Material goods pervade all aspects of American life Explains why crime rates are so high in American culture Main focus frustration effects of materialism o Relative deprivation theory Crime occurs when the wealthy and the poor live close to one another Explains high crime rates in deteriorated inner city areas located near more affluent neighborhoods Main focus relative deprivation Relative deprivation envy distrust and aggression resulting from perceptions of economic and social inequality o General strain theory Strain has a variety of sources Strain causes crime in the absence of adequate coping mechanisms Identifies the complexities of strain in modern society Expands on anomie theory Shows the influence of social events on behavior over the life course Explains middle class crimes Main focus strain inequality negative affective states influence of negative and positive stimuli o Agnew s individual strain theory negative affective states 1 failure to achieve things you want resulting in anger Ex attack and escape source of strain and achieve goal illegally 2 disjunction of expectations and achievements Ex when people compare themselves to peers who seem to be doing a lot better financially or socially 3 removal of positively valued stimuli Ex break up with a boyfriend or girlfriend death of a loved one 4 presentation of negative stimuli Ex child abuse family or peer conflict school failure Cultural deviance theory o Miller s focal concern theory Citizens who obey the street rules of lower class life focal concerns find themselves in conflict with the dominant culture Identifies the core values of lower class culture and shows their association to crime Main focus cultural norms focal concerns Focal concerns values such as toughness and street smarts that have evolved specifically to fit conditions in lower class environments o Cohen s theory of delinquent gangs Status frustration of lower class boys created by their failure to achieve middle class success causes
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