Study Guide: Crime & Underclass

Readings:

An Essay on Inequality in America

Glossary:
anomie theory Psychopath Law
crime deviant subculture total institution
Conformity Consensus cultural transmission
plea bargaining Underclass recidivism rate
Deviance status offences primary deviance
organized crime white-collar crime secondary deviance
differential association victimless crime labeling theory
anomie anomia Ethnocentrism
Ethnicity relative deprivation Anomie Theory
institutional discrimination Stereotypes Stratification
minority group Prejudice Racism
interpersonal violence Scapegoating  

Essays:

On your next exam you will be asked to demonstrate that you have read and mastered the course material.  You should take the time now to answer the following essay questions to create your study guide for that exam. Address the questions fully and completely in your own words and voice. Prepare your answers now. 

  1. According to Ritzer, what forces are driving McDonaldization?

  2. How can you personally subvert the process of McDonalization?

Short Answers:

The following short answer questions are from your readings and may well appear on your next exam. Each can be answered with a short paragraph of three or four sentences; please use your own words and voice. You are encouraged to answer these questions now to create your study guide for that exam.

  1. What are the six types of crime?

  2. What are the three major categories of white collar crime?

  3. Why is white collar crime difficult to police?

  4. What are public-order crimes?

  5. Define organized crime.

  6. What are the major sources of profit for organized crime?

  7. What are status crimes?

  8. According to the lecture, what is the "genetic predisposition" to commit crime?

  9. What is the "maturing out" process in relation to crime?

  10. What are some problems with the "three strikes" method of punishing crime?

  11. Describe the underclass in American society.

  12. Why are unemployment rates so high among the underclass?

  13. Since the 1960s inequality has been rising in America. What factors have contributed to this rise?

  14. What is the difference between wealth and income? How are the two in relation to inequality?

  15. Summarize inequality in America today.

Demonstrations, Illustrations, & Examples:

L.A. Gang Wars:

Human Trafficking:

 

Private Prisons (part 1):

 

Private Prisons (part 2):

 

Names to Know:

Emile Durkheim

Robert K. Merton

Edwin Southerland

Practice Quiz

Bibliography:

Barak, Gregg. ed.  1991.  Crimes by the Capitalist State: An Introduction to State Criminality. Albany: State University of New York Press. 
Box, Steven.  1983.  Power, Crime and Mystification.  New York: Tavistock. 
Braithwaite, John.  1984.  Corporate Crime in the Pharmaceutical Industry.  London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 
Currie, Elliot.  1985.  Confronting Crime:  An American Challenge. New York: Pantheon Books. 
Mokhiber, Russell.  1988.  Corporate Crime and Violence: Big Business Power and the Abuse of the Public Trust.  San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. 
Quinney, Richard. 1970. The Social Reality of Crime.  Boston:  Little, Brown. 
Wilson, James Q. and Richard J. Hernstein.  1985.  Crime and Human Nature. New York: Simon. 
Wilson, William Julius.  1990.  The Truly Disadvantaged : The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 
Wilson, William Julius.  1997.  When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor.  New York: Vintage Books. 

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Continuously updated. ©Frank Elwell