All Free Sociology MCQs with Answers

• A. criminals were socialized into an underworld of crime
• B. no act is intrinsically deviant
• C. biological failings drove some people into crime
• D. women were less likely to be arrested than menSearch Public Records

Explanation: Lombroso’s positivist theory linked criminal behaviour to inherited biological traits or atavistic features, rather than seeing crime as learned through socialisation. The other options belong to different sociological explanations or describe a gender pattern.

• A. rehabilitation
• B. deterrence
• C. reform
• D. recidivism

Explanation: Recidivism means returning to crime after a previous conviction or period of imprisonment. Rehabilitation and reform aim to reduce reoffending, while deterrence seeks to prevent crime through the threat of punishment.

• A. anti-social behavior orders
• B. Steering locks
• C. burglar alrams
• D. CCTVTry Prep Courses

Explanation: Target hardening makes crime more difficult by strengthening or protecting a potential target, as with steering locks, burglar alarms and CCTV. Anti-social behaviour orders regulate behaviour through legal controls but do not physically secure a target.

• A. New Left Realism
• B. Right Realism
• C. new criminology
• D. interactionism

Explanation: New criminology, influenced by Marxism, interpreted crime and deviance in relation to class power and the interests of the ruling class. Interactionism focuses more on labelling and social reactions, while the realist approaches have different emphases.

• A. Conformists
• B. innovators
• C. ritualists
• D. retrealists

Explanation: Innovators accept dominant cultural goals, such as wealth, but use illegitimate or unapproved means when legitimate opportunities are restricted. Conformists accept both goals and means, whereas ritualists abandon the goals while following the rules.

• A. criminality
• B. deviance
• C. recidivism
• D. degeneracy

Explanation: Deviance is non-conformity to norms accepted by a significant part of a community or society. Criminality is narrower because it refers specifically to behaviour prohibited by law.

• A. victims may not realise that a crime has been committed
• B. it is more difficult to apportion blame to corporate criminals
• C. legal systems are founded on individual not collective responsibility
• D. corporate offences cause less harm than crimes against an individualTrace Family History

Explanation: Corporate offences can cause extensive financial, social and physical harm, so it is incorrect to say they are less harmful than crimes against individuals. Hidden victims, difficulty assigning individual responsibility and legal systems built around individual liability all make prosecution harder.

• A. social exclusion
• B. individual pathology
• C. political marginalization
• D. relative deprivation

Explanation: Left Realists explain crime through social exclusion, political marginalisation and relative deprivation. Individual pathology is a biological or psychological explanation, not a central Left Realist concept.

• A. Normlessness
• B. meaninglessness
• C. social strain
• D. social adaptationRun Background Checks

Explanation: For Merton, anomie is the strain produced when society strongly promotes cultural goals but restricts access to legitimate means of achieving them. It therefore refers more specifically to social strain than to simple normlessness, Durkheim’s broader usage.

• A. stigma
• B. commitment
• C. aspiration
• D. motivation
• E. acceptance

Explanation: Labelling theory focuses on how society defines and attaches a stigma to people as deviant, which can shape their identity and future behaviour. Commitment, aspiration, motivation and acceptance are not its central concept.