Free Deviance and Social Control MCQs with Answers
98 Deviance and Social Control MCQs from Sociology, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.
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11. What is Howard Becker's famous definition of deviance ?
- A. deviant behavior is behavior that is labelled so by the law
- B. deviant behavior is behavior that people so label
- C. deviant behavior is that labelled by the perpetrators
- D. deviant behavior is that which causes public offence
Explanation: Howard Becker defined deviance as behaviour that people successfully label as deviant, making social reaction central to the concept. The act itself is not automatically deviant independently of how others define and respond to it.
Correct answer: deviant behavior is behavior that people so label12. Which of the following statements about crime and deviance is false ?
- A. the concept of 'deviance' is much broader than 'crime'
- B. deviance and crime very often overlap
- C. the concept of deviance can be applied to individuals and groups
- D. deviance is normally sanctioned by lawTake Sociology Courses
Explanation: Deviance is broader than crime because it includes violations of social norms that are not necessarily illegal, such as unusual dress or manners. Thus it is not normally sanctioned by law, although crime and deviance often overlap.
Correct answer: deviance is normally sanctioned by lawTake Sociology Courses13. Labelling theory encourages ________ as a way to completely avoid the stigmatization process?
- A. restitution
- B. legalization
- C. radical non-intervention
- D. decriminalization
- E. retribution
Explanation: Radical non-intervention advises authorities to avoid unnecessary intervention, because official reactions can create stigma and reinforce a deviant identity. Restitution and retribution are responses to wrongdoing rather than ways of avoiding labelling.
Correct answer: radical non-intervention14. Labelling theory came into prominence during which decade of the twentieth century ?
- A. 1950s
- B. 1980s
- C. 1940s
- D. 1960s
- E. 1970s
Explanation: Labelling theory became prominent in the 1960s through writers such as Howard Becker, Edwin Lemert, and Erving Goffman. The approach developed from interactionist sociology and challenged explanations that treated deviance as an individual defect.
Correct answer: 1960s15. Social Control theory attempts to explain_____________?
- A. conformity
- B. corporate crime
- C. Psychologically-based crime
- D. lower-class crime
- E. white-collar crime
Explanation: Social control theory asks why most people conform rather than offend, arguing that strong bonds to family, school, work, and society restrain deviance. It is therefore primarily an explanation of conformity, not a theory limited to a particular type of crime.
Correct answer: conformity16. What sociological theory of crime and deviance emphasizes sub-cultural belief systems as a major contributor to crime ?
- A. Social Control theory
- B. Anomie theory
- C. Lower Class Focal Value theory
- D. Social Process theory
- E. Strain theory
Explanation: Lower Class Focal Value theory explains crime through distinctive subcultural values or focal concerns that may support deviant conduct. Anomie and strain theories instead focus mainly on the gap between culturally approved goals and legitimate means.
Correct answer: Lower Class Focal Value theory17. According to Strain theory, ____ are those individuals who have traditional success goals but substitute deviant means by which to achieve them ?
- A. ritualists
- B. ret realists
- C. rebels
- D. innovators
- E. conformists
Explanation: Merton calls people who accept conventional success goals but use illegitimate means to achieve them innovators. Ritualists abandon or lower the goals while continuing to follow approved means, so they are the common distractor.
Correct answer: innovators18. Psychological positivism stresses the key role that _______ plays in the development of conformist of criminal belief systems?
- A. pre-natal nutrition
- B. hormones
- C. genetic abnormalities
- D. early childhood
- E. adolescence
Explanation: Psychological positivism links later conformist or criminal belief systems to experiences in early childhood, when personality and basic patterns of behaviour develop. Prenatal factors and hormones may influence behaviour, but they are not the central emphasis here.
Correct answer: early childhood19. Conflict theory's primary suggestion for reducing crime and deviance involves the_____________?
- A. Substantial reduction of economic inequality
- B. Subordination of the agents of social control
- C. redefinition of acts that are currently defined as criminal
- D. amelioration of social welfare activities
- E. repression of lower-class gang activities
Explanation: Conflict theory connects crime to unequal power and economic conditions, so it proposes reducing substantial economic inequality as a major remedy. Redefining crime addresses unequal lawmaking, but it does not directly remove the material inequalities emphasised in this question.
Correct answer: Substantial reduction of economic inequality20. The of "who defines deviance" has principally been addressed by what sociological theory ?
- A. Differential Association
- B. Conflict
- C. Positivism
- D. Social Control
- E. Functionalism
Explanation: Conflict theory asks who has the power to make rules and define some behaviours as deviant while protecting others from criminalisation. This focus on unequal power distinguishes it from positivism, which searches for causes within individuals.
Correct answer: Conflict