Test Bank for Deviant Behavior, 12th Edition, Alex C. Thio, Jim D. Taylor, Martin D. Schwartz

TEST BANK FOR DEVIANT
BEHAVIOR, 12TH EDITION, ALEX
C. THIO, JIM D. TAYLOR,
MARTIN D. SCHWARTZ

, CHAPTER ONE

What Is Deviant Behavior?
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of the following statements about the definition of deviance is TRUE?
a) Almost all persons in a society will agree on the nature of deviant behavior.
b) Definitions of deviant behavior are determined by a nation’s economy.
c) There is usually a great deal of disagreement among people as to what they
consider deviant.
d) Few persons in a society are concerned about the definition of deviance.
Answer: C; Page Reference: 5; Bloom’s Category: Understanding
2. In 1965, J. L. Simmons asked a sample of the general public who they thought were
deviant. Which of the following did significant numbers of people feel were
deviant?
a) alcoholics and prostitutes
b) communists and atheists
c) psychiatrists and priests
d) all of the above
Answer: D; Page Reference: 4; Bloom’s Category: Understanding
3. Among sociologists, there is
a) much involvement in illegal deviant behavior.
b) little interest in the study of deviance.
c) widespread agreement about what behavior should be considered deviant.
d) a lack of consensus about what behavior should be seen as deviant.
Answer: D; Page Reference: 5; Bloom’s Category: Understanding
4. Which group is most capable of avoiding being falsely, erroneously, or unjustly
labeled deviant?
a) The affluent
b) The poor
c) The powerful
d) The powerless
Answer: C; Page Reference: 5; Bloom’s Category: Understanding
5. All of the following are definitions of deviance proposed by different sociologists,
EXCEPT that deviance is
a) behavior that is labeled negative by politicians and the police.
b) a departure from the normative standards of a common culture.
c) always immoral behavior.

, d) behavior eliciting anger or disapproval from large numbers of people.
Answer: C; Page Reference: 5; Bloom’s Category: Understanding
6. Which statement about the definition of deviance is TRUE?
a) Deviance should include only important violations of the norms.
b) All sociologists agree that deviance includes mundane, routine, and normal
violations of the norms.
c) Deviance is not an important subject anymore.
d) Sociologists cannot agree on a precise definition of deviance.
Answer: D; Page Reference:5 ; Bloom’s Category: Understanding
7. Which of the following types of people are examples of positive deviants?
a) the saint, the intellectual, and the genius
b) those who show bad manners at the dinner table
c) the badly scarred, the blind, and the deaf
d) murderers, rapists, and kidnappers
Answer: A; Page Reference: 5; Bloom’s Category: Understanding
8. Sociologists who are influenced by the positivist perspective of absolutism tend to
view deviant behavior as
a) an attribute that is dictated by those in power
b) an attribute that fades over time
c) an attribute that varies according to one’s culture
d) an attribute that inheres in the individual
Answer: D; Page Reference: 6; Bloom’s Category: Understanding
9. Sociologists who study the role of power in the definition of deviance have
discovered that the rich and powerful
a) are rarely deviant.
b) can avoid the label of deviance.
c) are prejudiced toward most types of deviant behavior.
d) ignore most forms of deviant behavior.
Answer: B; Page Reference: 5; Bloom’s Category: Understanding
10. According to sociologists who study the role of power in the definition of deviance,
deviance is any act that
a) violates the criminal law.
b) violates deeply held moral values.
c) the powerful consider to be a violation of some social rule.
d) involves the behavior of the poor.
Answer: C; Page Reference: 5; Bloom’s Category: Understanding
11. Definitions of deviance fall into two opposing perspectives, the positivist and the
a) traditional.
b) moral.
c) constructionist.