| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Anomie | Durkheim's term for the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective. |
| Anomie theory of deviance | Merton's theory of deviance as an adaptation of socially prescribed goals or of the means governing their attainment, or both. |
| Conformity | The act of going along with peers—individuals of our own status who have no special right to direct our behavior. |
| Control theory | A view of conformity and deviance that suggests that our connection to members of society leads us to systematically conform to society's norms. |
| Crime | A violation of criminal law for which some governmental authority applies formal penalties |
| Cultural transmission | A school of criminology that argues that criminal behavior is learned through social interactions |
| Deviance | Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society |
| Differential association | A theory of deviance that holds that violation of rules results from exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts. |
| Differential justice | Differences in the way social control is exercised over different groups |
| Formal social control | Social control that is carried out by authorized agents, such as police officers, judges, school administrators, and employers |
| Index crimes | The eight types of crime reported annually by the FBI in the Uniform Crime Reports: murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. |
| Informal social control | Social control that is carried out casually by ordinary people through such means as laughter, smiles, and ridicule. |
| Labeling theory | An approach to deviance that attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants while others engaged in the same behavior are not. |
| Law | Governmental social control |
| Obedience | Compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure |
| Organized crime | The work of a group that regulates relations among criminal enterprises involved in illegal activities, including prostitution, gambling, and the smuggling and sale of illegal drugs. |
| Sanction | A penalty or reward for conduct concerning a social norm. |
| Social control | The techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behavior in any society |
| Social disorganization theory | The theory that attributes increases in crime and deviance to the absence or breakdown of communal relationships and social institutions, such as the family, school, church, and local government. |
| Societal-reaction approach | Another name for labeling theory. |
| Stigma | A label used to devalue members of certain social groups. |
| Transnational crime | Crime that occurs across multiple national borders. |
| Victimization survey | A questionnaire or interview given to a sample of the population to determine whether people have been victims of crime |
| Victimless crime | A term used by sociologists to describe the willing exchange among adults of widely desired, but illegal, goods and services |
| White-collar crime | Illegal acts committed by affluent, "respectable" individuals in the course of business activities |
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