Sociological Perspectives on Crime, Deviance, Substance Abuse, and Health

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering sociological theories of crime and deviance, organized crime, violent crime dynamics, substance classification, addiction stages, health impairments, eating disorders, and Durkheim's typology of suicide.

Richard Quinney's Definition of Crime

A definition of human conduct created by authorized agents in a politically organized society, describing behaviors that conflict with the interests of segments of society holding the power to shape public policy.

Crimes of Economic Domination and Repression

Actions committed by elites to maintain their dominance within society.

Crimes of Accommodation and Resistance

Acts committed by the poor in order to survive and resist elite domination.

Steven Spitzer's Problem Populations

Populations over-produced by modern capitalist societies that become eligible for management when they disrupt capitalism, such as stealing from the rich, refusing to work, using drugs for escape rather than work productivity, refusing schooling, or proposing alternative systems.

Social Junk

A category of problem populations described by Steven Spitzer as costly but harmless (such as older adults and children), which is managed by social services.

Social Dynamite

A category of problem populations described by Steven Spitzer as costly and harmful (such as young unemployed males), which is managed by the criminal justice system.

Occupational Crime

Crime committed during the course of one's occupation, such as embezzlement or cheating customers.

White-Collar Crime

A high-status form of occupational crime.

RICO Act

Legislation enabling the prosecution of organized crime leadership if $2$ felonies committed over a $10\text{-year}$ period can be linked directly to the organization.

Power Control (Violence)

A dynamic where differential power exists between offender and victim, leading the offender to use violence to re-establish control.

Typical Murder Formula

A homicide resulting from the combination of actual interpersonal conflict, alcohol, and a weapon.

Impairment

The physiological or cognitive loss of some specific ability.

Disability

The loss of function that accompanies an impairment, given its meaning by cultural conceptions.

Handicap

Limitations placed on normal social or daily activities accompanying an impairment.

The Sick Role

A social status where a person, through no personal fault, cannot meet normal role obligations and is exempt from those responsibilities, but remains obligated to try to get better as soon as possible.

Fair Sentencing Act

Federal legislation reducing the crack-to-powder cocaine sentencing disparity from a $100:1$ ratio (which mandated a $5\text{-year}$ minimum for $500\text{ g}$ powder cocaine vs. $5\text{ g}$ crack) down to an $18:1$ ratio.

Depressants

Highly toxic and poisonous substances that mute physical and mental activity, to which addicts develop a huge tolerance capable of handling doses that could kill up to $12$ people.

Methadone

An opiate used to treat heroin addiction that satisfies physical dependence without producing a high unless combined with benzodiazepines.

Stimulants

A class of drugs that excite and sustain bodily activity and lower fatigue, including cocaine, crack, and methamphetamine.

Hallucinogen

A mood-altering category of drugs that causes hallucinations, including marijuana, LSD, PCP, and peyote.

Poppers (Amyl Nitrate)

A muscle relaxant originally formulated to treat chest pain (angina) that produces feelings of well-being and tranquility.

Ketamine

An anesthetic used on children and small animals during minor procedures that alters perception and, in heavy doses, causes a deeply detached, hypnotic state.

Addiction

A social process and state of excessive dependency defined by compulsive and repetitive behavior, increased dosage due to tolerance, and physical or psychological dependence.

Legalist Drug Perspective

A policy perspective maintaining that drug use is fundamentally a criminal issue best addressed through the criminal justice system.

Public Health Drug Perspective

A policy perspective asserting that drug use is a public health issue best managed through public health systems.

Protoplasmic Poison

A property of alcohol describing how it strips oxygen from red blood cells, killing them and adversely affecting every organ system.

Problem Drinkers

Individuals who repeatedly miss classes, employment, or normal daily responsibilities as a direct result of alcohol consumption.

Pre-Alcoholic Stage

The initial stage of alcoholism where a person discovers alcohol reduces tension and begins drinking increasingly to relieve stress, building tolerance.

Prodromal Stage

The second stage of alcoholism marked by occasional blackouts, amnesia, pre-drinking, consuming alcohol for the drug itself rather than social reasons, and the emergence of guilt and denial.

Crucial Stage

The third stage of alcoholism characterized by a complete loss of control over alcohol intake, where the individual drinks continuously until running out of alcohol or passing out.

Chronic Stage

The final stage of alcoholism marked by continuous drinking, multi-day benders, and severe ethical deterioration.

Obesity

A condition characterized by being $50\text{ lbs}$ over ideal body weight, placing the individual at risk for illness.

Morbid Obesity

A health condition in which excess body weight causes immediate health distress.

Anorexia Nervosa

An eating disorder characterized by purposeful starvation.

Bulimia Nervosa

An eating disorder characterized by cycles of bingeing followed by purging.

Altruistic Suicide

A type of suicide identified by Émile Durkheim that is undertaken directly for the benefit of others.

Egoistic Suicide

A type of suicide identified by Émile Durkheim resulting from personal problems compounded by a lack of social support and integration.

Anomic Suicide

A type of suicide identified by Émile Durkheim that occurs when an individual's life feels completely meaningless or lacks social direction.

Fatalistic Suicide

A type of suicide identified by Émile Durkheim occurring when an individual experiences severe overregulation and feels they have no other options, such as prisoners of war or kidnapping victims.

Correlative features, corporate crime

Complex and sophisticated, intermingled with legitimate behavior, victimization tends to diffuse, large monetary sums, steal by manipulating symbols, rarely prosecuted, does not fit the real crime stereotype, the media does not fully cover it, do not see themselves as real criminals.

Opiate

heroin, methadone, fentanyl, oxycontin, and morphine