Deviance, Crime and Social Stratification

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Deviance
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Any behavior that violates the norm; deviance cannot exist independently of norms; norms vary from culture to culture; deviance is relative
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Dysfunctions of Deviance
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1) Persistent and widespread deviance can impair and undermine organized social life 2) Undermines our willingness to play our roles and contribute to the larger social enterprise 3) Develop resentment and bitterness towards those who don't play by the rules 4) Morales, self-discipline, and loyalty suffer 5) Undermines trust within society
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Functions of Deviance
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1) Reacting publicly to deviance can create conformity; creates a community of \"good\" 2) Contours of the norm are sharpened when a deviant behavior is recognized 3) By directing attention to the deviant, a group may strengthen themselves; solidarity 4) Deviance is a catalyst for change 5) Deviance is often a vehicle for placing on a society's agenda the need for social repair and change.
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Social Control
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Methods and strategies that regulate behavior within society; societies seek to ensure that their members conform to basic norms by means of this. -Formal: Sanctions administered by a governmental/organizational agency of bureaucracy -Informal: Sanctions administered by a peer or other group
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Functionalist Perspective on Social Control
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An indispensable requirement for survival; without it societies could suffer massive breakdowns and chaos.
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Conflict Theorists' Perspective on Social Control
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Operates to favor powerful groups but disadvantages others.
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3 Main Types of Social Control
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1) Those that lead us to internalize our society's normative expectations 2) Those that structure our world of social experience 3) Those that employ various formal and informal social sanctions
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Internalization
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Process by which individuals incorporate within their personalities the standards of behavior prevalent within the larger society; norms become apart of someone's personality Critical steps to social control: 1) Learning the norms 2) Believing the norms are legitimate
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Culture-bound
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Being without experiences that take us out of patterned routines dictated by the institutions that make up our society
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Formal Sanctions
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The reactions of official agents of social control I.e., Courts, principals, cops
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Informal Sanctions
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The reactions to deviance that occur in small communities, in groups of friends, and in the family; often more effective than formal sanctions - especially in primary groups
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Anomie
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Durkheim; A social condition in which people find it difficult to guide their behavior by norms that they experience as weak, unclear, or conflicting.
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Merton's Theory of Structural Strain
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Americans who internalize the goal of material success but who do not have access to the institutionalized means are pushed by strong social structural strings toward the use of unconventional means
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Merton's 5 Responses to the Ends-Means Dilemma
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1) Conformity 2) Innovation 3) Ritualism 4) Retreatism 5) Rebellion
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Cohen's Status Frustration Theory
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Developed to explain lower class delinquency; lower class students can experience a form of culture conflict known as status frustration
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Cultural Transmission Theory
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Deviant behaviors that imitated from the culture that surrounds them and is passed from one generation to the next
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Sutherland's Theory of Differential Association
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Emphasizes the role that social interaction has on people's attitudes and behaviors; deviant behaviors are learned from intimate [deviant] groups that one spends most of their time
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Conflict Theory
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Ask the question, \"Which group all be able to translate its values into the rules of a society and make these rules stick?\"
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Richard Quinney's Theory of Class, State, and Crime
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Quinney said that the U.S. legal system reflects the interests and ideologies of the ruling capitalist class. Law makes illegal certain behavior that is offensive to the morality of the powerful and that threats their privileges and property.
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Crimes of Domination
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Capitalism strives to maintain itself against the internal contradictions eating away at its foundations; laws must be violated in order to secure the system
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Crimes of the Government
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Committed by officials of the capitalist state
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Predatory Crimes
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Burglary, robbery, drug dealing, and hustling; pursued out of the need to survive in a capitalist society
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Personal Crimes
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Murder, assault, rape; pursued by those who are already brutalized by the conditions of capitalism
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Labeling Theory
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Interested in the process by which some individuals become tagged as \"deviants,\" begin to think of themselves as deviants, and enter into deviant careers; say that the societal response to an act, not the behavior itself, determines deviance.
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Primary Deviance
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Behavior violates social norms but usually goes unnoticed by the agents of social control
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Secondary Deviance
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Deviance individuals adopt in response to the reactions of other individuals
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Control Theory
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Turns the question around and asks why people do not deviate; societies that have properly functioning institutions will have low deviance due to conformity.
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Hirshi's Control Theory
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Based on the assumption that deviance is normal/natural it is natural to follow our impulses(ID) The causes of conformity are the social bonds between the individual and the group
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If we could prevent crime among those below the age ___, Most conventional crime would be eliminated
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Below the age of 25
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Beccaria's deterrent would be most effective with
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In preventing rational, planned or intentional criminal behavior
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Components of the criminal justice system
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The police The courts The prisons
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Who has the highest incarceration rate?
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U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world
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Attachment
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The process of being involved in social relationships with others
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Involvement
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Involvement in conventional activities
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Commitment
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Peters to the strength of the investment people have made in conventional social ties and relationships
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Crime
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An act of deviance that is prohibited by law
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Criminal Justice System
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The active agencies of the state that include the police, the courts, and prisons
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Types of Crime
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1) Violent 2) Juvenile 3) Organized 4) White-collar 5) Corporate 6) Crime committed by government 7) Victimless
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Index Crimes
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The 8 types of crime the FBI reports on in its uniform Crime Reports -Against people (rape, robbery, assault, murder) -Against property (burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson)
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Organized Crime
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Refers to the large-scale bureaucratic organizations that provide illegal goods and services in public demand. I.e., druges, pornography, prostitution, gambling, loan-sharking
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Hate Crime
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(Bias Crimes); Crimes of hatred and prejudice
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White-Collar Crime
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Crime most commonly committed by relatively affluent persons, often in the course of business activities
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Victimless Crime
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An offense in which no one involved is considered a victim
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High-Tech Crimes
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Attempted to commit crime through the use of advanced electronic media.
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Defendant
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Person accused the crime
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Prosecutor
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Representative of the state
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Recidivism
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Relapse into criminal behavior
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Capital Punishment
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The imposition of the death sentence for a capital offense
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Social Stratification
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The term sociologists apply to the ranking or grading of individuals and groups into hierarchical layers; some individuals, by virtue of their roles or group memberships, are advantaged, while others are disadvantaged
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Social Differentiation
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The process by which a society becomes increasingly specialized over time; although positions may be differentiated, they need not be ranked with respect to one another
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Relationship between social stratification and social differentiation
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Social differentiation comes after stratification! Stratification cannot exist unless you have differentiation.
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Open System
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A system where people can change their status with relative ease -U.S. society is a relatively open system
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Closed System
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A system where people have great difficulty in changing their status -Hindu Caste System
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3 Components of Stratification
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1) Class - Economic standing 2) Status - Prestige 3) Party - Power
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Wealth
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Has to do with what people own at a particular point in time
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Income
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Refers to the amount of new money people receive within a given time interval
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Prestige
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Involves the social respect, admiration, and recognition associated with a particular social status
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Deference
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Behavior dramatizing and confirming a person's superior ranking
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Presentation Rituals
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We engage in symbolic acts, such as revealing regard and awe by bowing, scraping, and displaying a humble demeanor
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Avoidance Rituals
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We achieve the same end by maintaining a \"proper distance\" from prestigious figures
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Power
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Refers to the ability of individuals and groups to realize their will in human affairs even if it involves the resistance of others; affects the ability of people to make the world work on their behalf.
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The Objective Method
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Views social class as a statistical category. The categories are formed by sociologists and/or statisticians
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The Self-Placement Method
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(Subjective Method): Has people identify the social class to which they think they belong; Can be applied to a large population; However, is often times inspired by aspirations rather than current situation
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The Reputational Method
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People are asked how they classify other individuals; Valuable tool for investigating social distinctions in small groups and communities
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Life Chances
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The likelihood that individuals and groups will enjoy desired goods and services, fulfilling experiences, ad opportunities for living healthy and long lives
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Style of Life
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The magnitude and manner of their consumption of goods and services; people at different class levels tend to dress differently, eat different foods, buy different furniture, and watch different TV shows.
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Underclass
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A population of people, concentrated in an inner city, who are persistently poor, unemployed, and dependent on welfare
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Culture of Poverty Thesis
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The poor in class-stratified societies lack effective participation and integration within the larger society
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Poverty as Largely Situational
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The majority of the population will use welfare at some point
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Poverty as a Structural Feature of Capitalist Societies
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The cyclical movements between economic expansion and contraction - boom and bust - contribute to sharp fluctuations in employment
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Social Mobility
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In many societies, individuals or groups can move from one level (stratum) to another in the stratification system
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Vertical Mobility
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Involves movement from one social status to another of higher or lower rank
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Horizontal Mobility
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Entails movement from one social status to another of approximately equivalent rank
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Intergenerational Mobility
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Involves a comparison of social status of parents and their children at some point in their respective careers (e.g., assessed by the rankings of their occupations at roughly the same time); Entails a comparison of the social status of a person over an extended time
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According to the text, factors that are affected by a person's social class background.
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- Education - Health and life expectancy - Other life chances: one will enjoy desired goods and services fulfilling experience
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Household income distribution data collected in 1950 trough 2010 revealed?
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-Income for the bottom 3/5 shrinking -Income for the top 1/5 increasing
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Major provisions of welfare reform act (TANF) of 1996
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- Encouraging work - Eliminating long-term use of welfare - Handing welfare over to the states
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Three methods listed in the text that are used to identify social class:
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- Objective method: views social class as a statistical category (income, occupation etc) - Self report: people identify the social class to which they think they belong - Reputational: people are asked to rank other individuals. Not feasible in large population
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Socioeconomic Life Style
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A sequence of stages that beings with birth into a family with a specific social status and proceeds though childhood, socialization, schooling, job seeking, occupational achievement, marriage, and the formation and functioning of a new family unit
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Dual Labor Market
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An economy characterized by 2 sectors. The primary, or core, sector offers \"good jobs,\" and the secondary, or periphery, sector offers \"bad jobs.\"
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The Functionalist Theory of Stratification
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Stratification exists because it is beneficial for society
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The Conflict Theory of Stratification
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Stratification exists because it benefits individuals and groups who have the power to dominate and exploit others
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Marx's views on stratification and how social class is determined:
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Class was the only dimension to social class. You either own or don't own the means of dimension.
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Surplus Value
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The difference between the value that workers create and the value that they receive
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False Consciousness
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An incorrect assessment of how the system works and of their subjugation and exploitation by capitalists
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Class Consciousness
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One must recognize that they are oppressed and exploited, and they must have the conscious goal of gaining the power to change the situation
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According to the text, deviant behavior is ________.
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Socially constructed, found in all societies, a behavior which violates a norm
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Individuals learn deviance primarily in intimate groups of deviant others, such as small groups of friends. This view typifies ______ theory.
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Sutherland's Differential Association
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Which of the following theories of deviance focused its attention on the question, \"Why don't people deviate?\"
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Hirschi's Control Theory
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__________ is probably the most powerful single contributor to premature morbidity and mortality worldwide.
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Lower Socioeconomic Status
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The text considers gambling, drug use, and prostitution to be ____.
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Victimless Crimes
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According to Merton (Theory of Structural Strain), anomie represents a misalignment of __________ for individuals in the lower classes of society.
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Cultural goals & Institutionalized means
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A \"closed\" stratification system is most likely to contain \"statuses\" that are \"achieved\".
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False
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According to your text, social stratification is necessary before social differentiation can occur.
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False
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Sociologists define _________ as the ranking or grading of individuals and groups into hierarchical layers.
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Social Stratification
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The Census Bureau defines the threshold for poverty as \"the minimum amount of money families need to purchase a nutritionally adequate diet, assuming they use one-third of their income for food.\" In 2010, the Census Bureau's poverty threshold's dollar amount for a family of four was ________.
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$22,050
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