1
Q
Strain Theory
A
Strain Theory argues that people engage in deviant behavior when they experience a gap between societal goals and the legitimate means available to achieve them.
2
Q
Who are the key theorists of Strain Theory?
A
Émile Durkheim and Robert Merton.
3
Q
What question did Durkheim ask?
A
How can societies maintain social solidarity in modernity?
4
Q
What four features define modernity for Durkheim?
A
Industrialization, urbanization, secularization, and occupational differentiation.
5
Q
What is mechanical solidarity?
A
Found in traditional societies with low specialization.
6
Q
What is organic solidarity?
A
Found in modern societies with high occupational differentiation.
7
Q
What does Durkheim’s term anomie mean?
A
Normlessness—can be a property of societies or a psychological state of individuals.
8
Q
What did Merton argue causes strain?
A
A mismatch between cultural goals (success, wealth) and institutional means (legitimate ways to achieve them).
9
Q
What five adaptations did Merton outline?
A
Conformity, Innovation, Ritualism, Retreatism, and Rebellion.
10
Q
What is conformity?
A
Accepting both cultural goals and legitimate means.
11
Q
How do conformists behave?
A
They “play by the rules,” trusting effort will lead to success.
12
Q
Example of conformity?
A
A student studying hard, earning a degree, and seeking a career.
13
Q
What is innovation?
A
Accepting cultural goals but rejecting or replacing legitimate means.
14
Q
Why does innovation occur?
A
Due to structural strain—poverty, discrimination, or lack of opportunity.
15
Q
Example of innovation?
A
Selling drugs or committing fraud to gain wealth.
16
Q
How does Derek in American History X illustrate innovation?
A
He turns to extremist ideology as an alternative path to “success.”
17
Q
What is ritualism?
A
Rejecting or abandoning goals but rigidly following legitimate means.
18
Q
How do ritualists act?
A
They go through the motions, following rules for their own sake.
19
Q
Example of ritualism?
A
A bureaucrat who follows procedures without ambition.
20
Q
What is retreatism?
A
Rejecting both cultural goals and legitimate means.
21
Q
How do retreatists behave?
A
They drop out of society and seek escape, not success.
22
Q
Example of retreatism?
A
Chronic addicts or vagrants who withdraw from mainstream life.
23
Q
What is rebellion?
A
Rejecting and replacing both existing goals and means.
24
Q
How do rebels act?
A
They aim to change or overthrow the system.
25
Example of rebellion?
Revolutionaries or extremists forming new ideologies, such as Derek’s gang in American History X.
26
Which adaptation accepts both goals and means?
Conformity.
27
Which accepts goals but rejects means?
Innovation.
28
Which rejects goals but accepts means?
Ritualism.
29
Which adaptation rejects both goals and means?
Retreatism.
30
Which replaces both goals and means with new ones?
Rebellion.
31
Where did Social Disorganization Theory originate?
The Chicago School of Sociology.
32
Who were key contributors to SDT?
Park & Burgess and Shaw & McKay.
33
What is the Concentric Zone Model?
A model showing cities grow in patterns, with crime concentrated in Zone 2 (transition zone).
34
What three factors characterize socially disorganized areas?
Low socioeconomic status, residential instability, and ethnic heterogeneity.
35
What do the three factors that characterize socially disorganized areas conditions cause?
Weak informal social control and the spread of delinquent subcultures.
36
Which zone does Venice Beach represent?
Zone 2—the zone in transition.
37
What are the five zones in Park & Burgess’s model?
1) CBD, 2) Zone in Transition, 3) Working-class, 4) Residential, 5) Commuter.
38
How does Venice Beach show physical decay?
Graffiti, abandoned buildings, and poverty.
39
What does physical decay indicate?
Economic strain and lack of municipal investment.
40
What happened to Derek’s family economically?
They faced decline after the father’s death.
41
How does low SES affect attitudes?
It fuels resentment toward minorities and immigrants.
42
How is residential instability shown?
High turnover, shifting demographics, and weak community ties.
43
What is ethnic heterogeneity?
A mixed racial and ethnic population with differing norms.
44
How does heterogeneity affect social control?
It reduces trust and cohesion.
45
What does weak informal control look like in the film?
Youth skipping school and engaging in violence unchecked.
46
What did Shaw & McKay say about delinquency?
It’s culturally transmitted through generations.
47
How does American History X show generational delinquency?
Derek passes racist values to Danny and peers.
48
What replaces conventional norms in delinquency (AHX)?
Subcultural values of racism and violence.
49
What causes family breakdown in the film?
The father’s death and the mother’s struggles.
50
How is the school in AHX portrayed?
Ineffective and unable to engage students like Danny.
51
What about policing portrayal in AHX?
Reactive, not preventive; little cooperation with the community.
52
What role does the DOC gang play?
It provides belonging and identity for alienated youth.
53
What fuels the gang’s ideology?
Economic frustration and racial resentment.
54
What does the gang replace?
Family, school, and legitimate institutions.
55
Example of poverty?
Derek’s family’s decline after his father’s death.
56
Example of instability?
Constant population turnover.
57
Example of heterogeneity?
Racially mixed but tense community.
58
Example of weak institutions?
Ineffective school and absent father.
59
Example of gang subculture?
DOC gang’s identity and structure.
60
How does Venice Beach fit the theory?
It’s a classic zone in transition with poverty and weak control.
61
What do Derek and Danny’s behaviors represent?
Environmental responses to social disorganization.
62
What do subcultural theories build on?
Merton’s strain theory.
63
What do subcultural theories ask?
Why do delinquent gangs form, and how do boys join them?
64
Who proposed the 1955 theory of delinquent subculture?
Albert Cohen.
65
What causes status frustration?
Working-class youth failing in middle-class schools.
66
What is reaction formation?
Rejection and inversion of middle-class values.
67
What are Cohen’s three subcultural traits?
Non-utilitarianism, short-run hedonism, and versatility.
68
How does Danny experience status frustration?
Feels alienated by school and authority.
69
How does reaction formation appear?
They glorify violence and racism over respect and education.
70
What is non-utilitarianism in the DOC?
Crimes for expression or status, not profit.
71
What is short-run hedonism?
Pursuit of pleasure through violence and partying.
72
What is versatility?
Engaging in many deviant acts—assault, vandalism, drugs.
73
Overall, how does DOC fit Cohen’s model?
It’s a reactionary, working-class subculture redefining success through deviance.
74
What key concept did the DOC add to Cohens model?
Illegitimate opportunity structures.
75
What does this (What key concept did the DOC add to Cohens model?) mean?
Even deviant groups have unequal access to criminal networks.
76
What are their (DOC) three subculture types?
Criminal, conflict, and retreatist.
77
What defines a criminal subculture?
Organized profit-based deviance (e.g., mafia).
78
What defines a conflict subculture?
Violence and toughness in disorganized areas.
79
What defines a retreatist subculture?
Escapism through drugs and withdrawal.
80
What type best fits DOC?
A hybrid of conflict and criminal subcultures.
81
Why conflict subculture?
They gain status through violence in a disorganized community.
82
Example of conflict behavior?
Grocery store assault scene—violence, not profit.
83
How is Derek respected in prison?
Through violence and toughness.
84
Why also partly criminal subculture?
Organized hierarchy and ideological structure.
85
What are retreatist elements?
Substance abuse and withdrawal after ideology collapses.
86
What does Derek show after prison?
Retreatism—rejecting both gang and society.
87
What explains DOC’s formation?
Status frustration and reaction formation.
88
What replaces mainstream values?
Violence and hate as measures of success.
89
What subculture thrives in Venice Beach’s instability?
A violent conflict subculture.
90
How does Derek act as mentor?
Socializing youth into deviant norms.
91
What happens when ideology collapses?
Members drift into retreatism.
92
What two theories shape DOC’s behavior?
Cohen’s delinquent subculture and Cloward & Ohlin’s conflict subculture.
93
What do both Cohen’s delinquent subculture and Cloward & Ohlin’s conflict subculture theories show?
Collective adaptation to strain and blocked opportunity.
94
What triggers deviant identity in Venice Beach?
Disorganization and cultural marginalization.
95
How do Perry & Scrivens define RWE?
Hate-based ideologies promoting racial or ethnic superiority and hostility to democracy.
96
What does Perry & Scrivens framework emphasize?
A spectrum from online hate to violent extremism.
97
What are key ideas in Perry & Scrivens model?
Normalization of hate, networked extremism, and cultural infiltration.
98
What does “awful but lawful” mean?
Hateful expression that’s not illegal under criminal law.
99
What are the three engagement levels?
Passive engagement, content production, and IMVE (Ideologically Motivated Violent Extremism).
100
What is passive engagement?
Consuming or sharing extremist content casually.
101
What is content production?
Creating or spreading extremist propaganda online.
102
What is IMVE?
Direct participation in or support for violence inspired by ideology.
103
What are the four clusters of anti groups?
Anti-authority, anti-immigration, anti-women, and neo-fascist/accelerationist.
104
What defines anti-authority groups?
Resistance to government and state regulation (e.g., anti-lockdown, sovereign citizens).
105
What defines anti-immigration groups?
Opposition to multiculturalism and “Great Replacement” beliefs.
106
Examples of anti-immigration groups?
Soldiers of Odin, Pegida Canada, Canadian Nationalist Front.
107
What defines anti-women extremism?
Misogyny, Incel ideology, and gender-based violent extremism.
108
What defines neo-fascist or accelerationist groups?
Desire to collapse democracy and build a white ethnostate.
109
Examples of neo-fascist groups?
Atomwaffen Division, The Base, Order of Nine Angles.
110
What sections define hate crimes in the Criminal Code?
Sections 318 to 320.1.
111
What does Section 318 cover?
Advocating genocide.
112
What does Section 319(1) cover?
Public incitement of hatred likely to cause a breach of peace.
113
What does Section 319(2) cover?
Willful promotion of hatred against identifiable groups.
114
What does Section 320.1 allow?
Seizure or removal of hate propaganda from media or websites.
115
What groups are protected under these section 320.1 ?
Groups defined by race, religion, sex, orientation, gender identity, or disability.
116
What must be proven for these charges?
Intent to promote or advocate hate.
117
How does the UCR define hate crime?
Any criminal act motivated by bias or hatred toward an identifiable group.
118
What kinds of crimes can be hate-motivated?
Assault, vandalism, or threats.
119
What’s the difference from Criminal Code hate laws?
UCR focuses on motive; Code focuses on promotion offenses.
120
Why is UCR data limited?
It only includes reported cases—many go unreported.
121
Example of a UCR hate crime?
Vandalizing a mosque or assaulting someone due to race.
122
What does the Perry & Scrivens framework show?
A continuum of hate activity from speech to violence.
123
What does the CSIS model clarify?
Levels of engagement—speech, propaganda, and action.
124
What’s the Criminal Code’s focus?
Specific hate propaganda offenses.
125
What’s the UCR’s focus?
Any hate-motivated crime, broader in scope.
126
Overall, what does RWE threaten?
Public safety and democratic values.
CRM1300
flashcards
Decks in class (2)
# Cards
