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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31. Which of the following is not a reason why corporate crime is more difficult to prosecute compared with individual crimes ?
- 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.
Correct answer: corporate offences cause less harm than crimes against an individualTrace Family History32. Which of these is not a concept associated with Left Realist explanations of criminal subcultures ?
- 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.
Correct answer: individual pathology33. Robert Merton's ideas on crime and deviance make use of the concept of anomie. What does anomie mean in Merton's work ?
- 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.
Correct answer: social strain34. The key concept in labelling theory is that of____________________?
- 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.
Correct answer: stigma35. Which of the following was not identified as one of the four major social bonds in Hirschi's Social Control theory ?
- A. religiosity
- B. commitment
- C. involvement
- D. belief
- E. attachment
Explanation: Hirschi identified attachment, commitment, involvement and belief as the four social bonds that restrain deviance. Religiosity may support belief, but it is not one of the four named bonds.
Correct answer: religiosity36. Sutherland's Differential Association theory emphasizes that crime and deviance are basically______________?
- A. due to poor parenting
- B. learned
- C. psychotic
- D. biological
- E. the result of being labelledAccess Government Careers
Explanation: Sutherland argued that criminal behaviour is learned through interaction with others, especially through definitions favourable to law violation. This rejects purely biological or psychological explanations of crime.
Correct answer: learned37. According to Strain theory, retreatants are likely to engage in what type of deviant activity ?
- A. Sexual assault
- B. terrorism
- C. counterfeiting
- D. drug abuse
- E. robbery
Explanation: Merton’s retreatists reject both culturally approved goals and the legitimate means of achieving them, often withdrawing into drug abuse. Robbery and counterfeiting generally represent attempts to pursue success through illegitimate means rather than retreatism.
Correct answer: drug abuse38. The sociologist responsible for the modern-day adaptation of strain theory is______________?
- A. Weber
- B. Cohen
- C. Marx
- D. Merton
- E. Chambliss
Explanation: Robert K. Merton adapted Durkheim’s idea of anomie into modern strain theory, explaining deviance as a response to the gap between cultural goals and legitimate means. Weber and Marx developed major theories of inequality, but not this adaptation.
Correct answer: Merton39. Biological positivists have tended to focus on what type of crime ?
- A. Violent
- B. juvenile
- C. drug-related
- D. white collarTry Prep Courses
Explanation: Early biological positivists such as Cesare Lombroso concentrated on serious and violent offenders, whom they regarded as showing inherited criminal characteristics. White-collar and drug-related crime became prominent concerns in later criminology.
Correct answer: Violent40. The rise in patriotism following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, is an example of what function of deviance ?
- A. Warning
- B. Solidarity
- C. Unification
- D. Authoritarian
- E. Boundary setting
Explanation: Durkheim’s view of deviance includes the promotion of social solidarity, because a shared threat can unite people around common values. The rise in patriotism after 9/11 illustrates this solidarity function rather than a warning or authoritarian function.
Correct answer: Solidarity