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Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank

Chapter 6 Deviance and Social Control

6.1 True/False Questions

1) Sociologist Erving Goffman (1963) used the term stigma to refer to characteristics that discredit people, including
violations of norms of ability and violations of norms of appearance.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 154
Skill: Knowledge

2) Sociologically, an act cannot be classified as deviance if it does not cause physical or emotional harm to another
individual.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 154
Skill: Application

3) Human sexuality illustrates how a group's definitions of an act, and not the act itself, determines whether or not it is
considered deviant.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 155
Skill: Knowledge

4) Shaming is MOST effective as a sanction when it is used by a formal organization such as a court of common pleas
or other public tribunal.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 156
Skill: Comprehension

5) The theory of differential association suggests that people who associate with certain groups receive an "excess of
definitions" about either deviance or conformity.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 157
Skill: Application

6) Labeling theory, differential association theory, and control theory all represent the conflict perspective.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 157-159
Skill: Comprehension

7) Control theory relies on attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief to explain the social bonds people
develop with their respective groups and society.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 159
Skill: Knowledge

8) Stripping an individual of his or her identity as a group member is an example of using a degradation ceremony to
brand someone as an outsider.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 160
Skill: Application

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 1


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
9) By employing techniques of neutralization, even the most dedicated deviants can view themselves as conformists.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 161
Skill: Knowledge

10) Functionalists believe deviance has no useful purpose in society and only contributes to social chaos.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 163
Skill: Knowledge

11) Based on strain theory, there are four deviant models of adaptation and one mode considered to be socially
acceptable.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 163-164
Skill: Comprehension

12) Based on the research of Martín Sánchez-Jankowski, the reasons urban youth join gangs include recreation, leisure,
and to protect the community.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 166
Skill: Knowledge

13) The text points out a number of high-profile examples of white-collar crime by large corporations for which
violators never went to jail.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 166-167
Skill: Comprehension

14) Crime "in the suites" (white-collar crime) actually costs the American taxpayer more in terms of dollars lost than
"crime in the streets."
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 167
Skill: Knowledge

15) Violent crime in America is rather consistent from state to state in terms of the number of incidents and ratio of
incidents to the state's population.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 167
Skill: Knowledge

16) Functionalists would contend that the growing crime rates among women are the result of changing social classes
and gender roles giving women greater access to illegitimate opportunities.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 168
Skill: Comprehension

17) Although African Americans are disproportionately represented in the state prison population, the majority of
prisoners are white.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 170
Skill: Knowledge

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 2


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
18) The chances of receiving the death penalty are greatly affected by geography (where the murder took place), social
class, and gender.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 174
Skill: Comprehension

19) According to Thomas Szasz, the medicalization of deviance has led to more accurate understanding of the causes of
deviance.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 178
Skill: Knowledge

20) Because deviance is inevitable, the more important focus is to find ways to protect people from harmful deviant
acts, to find ways to tolerate behavior that is not harmful, and to develop a system of fair treatment for deviants.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 180
Skill: Comprehension

6.2 Multiple Choice Questions


1) Napoleon Chagnon's visit to the Yanomamö tribe, where he observed tribe members appearing naked in public,
using hallucinogenic drugs, and letting mucus hang from their noses, is a good example of ________.
A) nonconforming behavior
B) the need for social sanctions
C) the cultural relativity of deviance
D) the need for absolute standards in defining deviance
Answer: C
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 153-154
Skill: Application

2) Violations of norms and rules that are written into law are officially called ________.
A) ethics
B) values
C) folkways
D) crimes
Answer: D
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 154
Skill: Knowledge

3) The concept of the relativity of deviance is BEST illustrated by which of the following statements?
A) It is not the act itself, but the reaction of others to the act that makes it deviant.
B) The nature of one's behavior is the most important aspect in determining deviance.
C) Deviance is most related to functionalism because it creates a dysfunction for society.
D) Deviance is analogous to mental illness.
Answer: A
Diff: 6 Page Ref: 154
Skill: Evaluation

4) The relativity of deviance is MOST aligned with which sociological perspective?


A) structural functionalism
B) symbolic interactionism
C) the conflict perspective
D) the neo-conflict perspective
Answer: B
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 154
Skill: Comprehension
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 3
Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
5) Erving Goffman used the term ________ to refer to characteristics that discredit people.
A) master status
B) role
C) stigma
D) sanction
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 154
Skill: Comprehension

6) A group’s usual and customary social arrangements, on which its members depend and on which they base their
lives, is called ________.
A) social control
B) sanction
C) social order
D) social guideline
Answer: C
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 156
Skill: Knowledge

7) What is a group's formal and informal means of enforcing norms called?


A) social solidarity
B) the social imperative
C) social control
D) social bond
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 156
Skill: Comprehension

8) Why did the "XYY" chromosome theory fall out of favor as an explanation for criminal behavior?
A) It was discovered there are no longer any XYY chromosome configurations among men.
B) Research did not support the theory.
C) The work of the theorist who proposed the theory was plagiarized.
D) The theory only explains deviant and criminal behavior among females.
Answer: B
Diff: 4 Page Ref: 156
Skill: Analysis

9) Suicide bombers in Iraq are accorded high praise by those who oppose an American presence in the Middle East
and are considered heroic warriors. Such honor and praise is an example of a ________.
A) positive sanction
B) negative sanction
C) degradation ceremony
D) shaming
Answer: A
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 156
Skill: Application

10) Explanations for deviance that focus on genetic predispositions to explain why individuals commit deviant acts are
MOST aligned with which discipline?
A) sociobiology
B) sociology
C) psychology
D) anthropology
Answer: A
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 156
Skill: Comprehension

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 4


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
11) Which of the following theories of deviance is LEAST associated with sociobiology?
A) intelligence theory: low intelligence leads to deviant and criminal behavior
B) social learning theory: we learn deviance from our peers
C) XYY" theory: the extra Y chromosome in males causes criminal behavior
D) body type theory: people with muscular bodies are prone to be criminals
Answer: B
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 156-157
Skill: Application

12) The two disciplines that would be MOST concerned with addressing qualities within the individual to explain
deviant behavior are ________ and ________.
A) anthropology; sociology
B) sociology, psychology
C) sociobiology; psychology
D) criminology; political science
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 157
Skill: Comprehension

13) The theory of behavior in which people who associate with some groups learn an "excess of definitions" of
deviance, increasing the likelihood that they will become deviant is ________.
A) conflict theory
B) social control theory
C) strain theory
D) differential association theory
Answer: D
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 157
Skill: Application

14) Differential association theory was developed by sociologist ________.


A) Robert K. Merton
B) Frank Tannenbaum
C) Walter Reckless
D) Edwin Sutherland
Answer: D
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 157
Skill: Knowledge

15) Sociologists who believe we help to produce our own orientations to life by joining specific groups is MOST
aligned with which sociological perspective?
A) functional
B) conflict
C) symbolic interactionist
D) neo-conflict
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 157
Skill: Comprehension

16) Based on differential association theory, what is the MOST likely background shared by juvenile delinquents?
A) They come from regions populated by large numbers of minorities.
B) They are concentrated in urban areas with a population over 25,000.
C) They are common in families living in poverty.
D) They are from families that have a history of being involved in crime.
Answer: D
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 158
Skill: Application

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 5


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
17) Inner and outer controls that work against our tendencies to deviate is known as what theory?
A) rationalization theory
B) judgment theory
C) self-control theory
D) control theory
Answer: D
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 158
Skill: Knowledge

18) The sociologist responsible for developing one of the first control theories that addressed the inner controls of the
individual and outer controls of society was ________.
A) Travis Hirschi
B) Jackson Toby
C) Walter Reckless
D) F. Ivan Nye
Answer: C
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 159
Skill: Knowledge

19) According to control theory, when are inner controls MOST effective in deterring deviant behavior?
A) When we fear punishment from authorities such as parents or the court system.
B) In the presence of strong attachments, commitments, and involvement with other members of society.
C) When they are applied to members of the middle or upper classes.
D) In situations where there is a strong police presence.
Answer: B
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 159
Skill: Application

20) Susie is a first-year college student. Although she wants to be popular, she has refused invitations to attend underage
drinking parties. Susie has a strong respect for authority, even when it conflicts with a simple matter such as
attending a college party. Susie's decision in this situation demonstrates a quality of control theory called ________.
A) pushes
B) inner control
C) formal control
D) pulls
Answer: B
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 159
Skill: Application

21) The significance of names or reputations given to people when they engage in certain types of behavior is the focus
of ________ theory.
A) strain
B) control
C) labeling
D) differential association
Answer: C
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 159
Skill: Comprehension

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 6


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
22) In which of the following settings would shaming be LEAST effective?
A) a family
B) a close knit society, such as the Amish
C) a small religious cult
D) a large inner-city neighborhood
Answer: D
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 160
Skill: Application

23) Ritualistic procedures intended to humiliate norm violators and mark them as being moral outcasts of the group to
which they once belonged are called ________.
A) sanctions
B) profiling
C) degradation ceremonies
D) stereotyping
Answer: C
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 160
Skill: Application

24) The term degradation ceremony was coined by sociologist ________.


A) Harold Garfinkel
B) Erving Goffman
C) Talcott Parsons
D) Herbert Spencer
Answer: A
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 160
Skill: Knowledge

25) In The Scarlet Letter, why was Hester Prynne required to wear a scarlet "A" on her dress?
A) Sociologically, this served as a negative sanction and an example of shaming.
B) Psychologically, it provided her the opportunity to face what she had become.
C) It indicated she was at the head of her class in what she had done.
D) It was a "badge of honor" that many other women wished they could achieve.
Answer: A
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 160
Skill: Application

26) In an effort to resist the label of "deviant," most people will develop rationales to justify their deviant acts. Sykes
and Matza refer to these rationales as ________.
A) ideologies
B) techniques of neutralization
C) strategies of justification
D) labeling
Answer: B
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 161
Skill: Comprehension

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 7


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
27) Matthew and Ryan are devout Christian Fundamentalists and believe that homosexuality is against God's will and
that homosexuals deserve to be punished. They spend a couple of evenings each week in gay bashing activities that
include physical violence and verbal assaults. Based on their rationalization, which technique of neutralization is
MOST applicable for Matthew and Ryan to maintain positive self-images?
A) denial of a victim
B) denial of injury
C) denial of responsibility
D) condemn the condemner
Answer: A
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 161
Skill: Application

28) When Anthony worked as a prison counselor, he would often ask property offenders why they committed the crime.
The overwhelming response was, "I had to feed my family." How would Sykes and Matza classify this response?
A) denial of responsibility
B) appeal to higher loyalties
C) condemnation of the condemners
D) denial of injury
Answer: B
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 161
Skill: Application

29) The early sociologist who argued that deviance might be functional for society was ________.
A) Max Weber
B) Henri Saint Simon
C) Emile Durkheim
D) Karl Marx
Answer: C
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 163
Skill: Knowledge

30) Which type of sociologists would consider deviance to be a natural part of society?
A) functionalists
B) symbolic interactionists
C) conflict theorists
D) neo-conflict theorists
Answer: A
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 163
Skill: Application

31) All of the following theories follow the principles of symbolic interactionism EXCEPT for which one?
A) differential association theory
B) control theory
C) labeling theory
D) strain theory
Answer: D
Diff:3 Page Ref: 163
Skill: Application

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 8


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
32) The ________ theory developed by Robert Merton is based on the idea that most people want to attain cultural
goals, but not everyone has the legitimate means of achieving them.
A) illegitimate opportunity
B) strain
C) labeling
D) control
Answer: B
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 163
Skill: Knowledge

33) According to strain theory, the underlying cause of deviance is that people experience a sense of normlessness. This
sense of normlessness is referred to as ________.
A) anomie
B) latent dysfunction
C) mass hysteria
D) retreatism
Answer: A
Diff:2 Page Ref: 163
Skill: Comprehension

34) John desires the best things in life—a fast car, designer clothes, and membership in exclusive clubs. But rather than
work his way through the system, he has discovered he can have all these things by selling crack cocaine in the
inner city. How would Merton classify John?
A) a ritualist
B) a conformist
C) a rebel
D) an innovator
Answer: D
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 164
Skill: Application

35) Based on Merton's typologies, what do drug addicts, the homeless, nuns living in a convent, and monks living in a
monastery have in common?
A) They all conformists.
B) They are all retreatists.
C) They are all rebels.
D) They are all ritualists.
Answer: B
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 164
Skill: Application

36) According to Cloward and Ohlin, what is the underlying cause of deviance and delinquency in unstable slums of a
city?
A) illegitimate opportunity structures
B) the racial composition of the city
C) a rival struggle for power
D) unethical police behavior
Answer: A
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 165
Skill: Comprehension

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 9


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
37) Cloward and Ohlin addressed the street hustler as a role model for youth and the methods used to earn easy money
through a life of crime. What did they call this career path of delinquency?
A) containment theory
B) social bond theory
C) the theory of differential association
D) illegitimate opportunity structure
Answer: D
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 165
Skill: Knowledge

38) The term white-collar crime was coined by sociologist ________ to refer to crimes that people of respectable social
status commit in the course of their occupation.
A) Robert Merton
B) Frank Tannenbaum
C) Erving Goffman
D) Edwin Sutherland
Answer: D
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 166
Skill: Knowledge

39) All of the following acts qualify as white-collar crime EXCEPT ________.
A) a bank teller robbing the First National bank
B) bribing a police officer to refrain from writing a speeding ticket
C) an executive writing off the corporation's million-dollar fine as investment capital
D) a businessperson classifying parking tickets as job hunting expenses on an income tax return
Answer: A
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 166
Skill: Comprehension

40) According to sociologist Martín Sánchez-Jankowski, boys in urban areas are motivated to join gangs for a number
of reasons. Which of the following reasons LEAST qualifies as one of the reasons Jankowski discovered why urban
youth join gangs?
A) to escape broken homes
B) access to money
C) to help the community
D) recreational opportunity
Answer: A
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 166
Skill: Knowledge

41) Based on the 2011 edition of the Statistical Abstract in the United States, the state with the lowest rate of violent
crime in America is ________, while the state with the highest rate of violent crime is ________.
A) Wyoming; New York
B) Montana; New Jersey
C) Colorado; California
D) Maine; Nevada
Answer: D
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 167
Skill: Knowledge

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 10


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
42) The crime with the highest increase among women between 1992 and 2009 was ________.
A) drug offenses
B) stolen property
C) bank robbery
D) murder
Answer: B
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 168
Skill: Knowledge

43) Sociologists who view law as an instrument of oppression used to control workers are aligned most with which
sociological perspective?
A) the functionalist perspective
B) the conflict perspective
C) the symbolic interactionist perspective
D) the structuralist perspective
Answer: B
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 168-169
Skill: Application

44) How would conflict theorists classify migrant workers, seasonal employees, and members of the workforce who are
subject to layoffs?
A) bourgeoisie
B) proletariat
C) petty bourgeoisie
D) working poor
Answer: D
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 169
Skill: Application

45) What are the two MOST significant “anchors” that insulate a person from a life of crime and imprisonment?
A) a good lawyer and big expense account
B) neighborhood and income
C) race and ethnicity
D) marriage and education
Answer: D
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 170
Skill: Knowledge

46) What is the MOST common martial status found among inmates in U.S. state prisons?
A) married
B) divorced
C) widowed
D) never married
Answer: D
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 171
Skill: Knowledge

47) The percentage of former prisoners who are rearrested is known as ___________.
A) reimprisonment
B) recidivism
C) three-strike law
D) criminal justice
Answer: B
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 173
Skill: Knowledge

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 11


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
48) Of the following, the crime with the highest recidivism rate within three years of release from prison is ________.
A) murder
B) rape
C) drug violations
D) car theft
Answer: D
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 173-174
Skill: Knowledge

49) A serial killer has recently been convicted of the charges brought against him. In which state is he MOST likely to
receive the death penalty?
A) New York
B) Michigan
C) Texas
D) North Dakota
Answer: C
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 176
Skill: Application

50) Because of ________, deviance is often seen as mental sickness rather than problematic behavior.
A) capital punishment
B) reactions to deviance
C) the symbolic interactionist approach
D) the medicalization of deviance
Answer: D
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 178
Skill: Comprehension

51) How did psychiatrist Thomas Szasz describe mental illness?


A) He believed mental illness and homelessness were two sides of the same coin.
B) He said mental illness was neither mental nor an illness.
C) He embraced Freudian psychology as being the best explanation for mental illness.
D) He believed mental illness was the cause of most deviance, delinquency, and crime.
Answer: B
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 178
Skill: Knowledge

52) How a society treats its deviants is one measure of how humane it is. What would an examination of prisons and
mental hospitals in the United States suggest regarding this standard?
A) The United States is the most humane society in the world.
B) Prisons are a last resort in dealing with deviants.
C) U.S. prisons emphasize prisoner rehabilitation and mental hospitals cure the mentally ill.
D) They are both used as warehouse for the unwanted.
Answer: D
Diff: 6 Page Ref: 179-180
Skill: Evaluation

6.3 Short Answer Questions


1) Why is the relativity of deviance MOST aligned with the symbolic interactionist perspective?
Answer: Deviant acts often take the form of symbols that convey meaning. This meaning is a matter of
interpretation, which is the fundamental basis of symbolic interactionism, that is, the symbols and the
meanings they convey. Whether the act is deviant or not is often a matter of small group interaction.
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 154
Skill: Knowledge

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 12


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
2) What is the relativity of deviance?
Answer: The relativity of deviance refers to the fact that different groups have different norms and what is deviant
in one group is not necessarily deviant in another.
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 154
Skill: Comprehension

3) What is the relationship between norms and social order?


Answer: Without norms there would be no social order, only chaos.
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 156
Skill: Application

4) What is the major difference between psychological and sociological theories in explaining deviance?
Answer: Psychological theories examine the cause of deviance originating within the individual. Sociological
theories examine the cause of deviance originating from outside the individual.
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 157
Skill: Application

5) In control theory, what is the difference between inner and outer controls?
Answer: Inner controls include our internalized morality, conscience, religious principles, ideas of right or wrong,
fear of punishment, and feelings of integrity. Outer controls include people and agencies that influence us
not to deviate such as family, friends, and the police.
Diff: 6 Page Ref: 159
Skill: Evaluation

6) Based on control theory, what are the four qualities that determine one's bond with society?
Answer: (1) attachment;
(2) commitment;
(3) involvement;
(4) belief
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 159
Skill: Knowledge

7) What is the purpose of a degradation ceremony?


Answer: It brands someone as an outsider, strips them of their personal identity, and forces them to account for
their behavior.
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 160
Skill: Knowledge

8) What was the single greatest difference that explains why members of their community perceived the "Roughnecks"
and "Saints" differently?
Answer: The social class of the two groups was the greatest difference, as the Saints were from "respectable"
middle-class families and the Roughnecks were from "less respectable" working-class families.
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 162
Skill: Application

9) Why is conformity considered the only nondeviant mode of adaptation?


Answer: Conformity is the only mode of adaptation that involves both an acceptance of cultural goals and an
acceptance of institutionalized means to achieve them.
Diff: 6 Page Ref: 163
Skill: Evaluation

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 13


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
10) According to Merton's strain theory, what are the four typologies of adaptation that qualify as being deviant?
Answer: (1) innovation;
(2) ritualism;
(3) retreatism;
(4) rebellion
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 164
Skill: Knowledge

11) Why does illegitimate opportunity structure qualify so well as an explanation of deviance in the urban slums?
Answer: lack of employment, perceptions of what is available for work being beneath the dignity of the individual,
"hustlers" (pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers, and others) becoming role models for youth, availability of
temptations of all kind, and lack of social structure and social control
Diff: 4 Page Ref: 165-166
Skill: Analysis

12) Based on the research of Martín Sánchez-Jankowski, what are the primary reasons urban male youth join gangs?
Answer: Urban male youth join gangs primarily to gain access to money, to have recreation including girls and
drugs, to maintain anonymity when committing crimes, for protection, and to protect their local
communities from outsiders.
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 166
Skill: Knowledge

13) How has criminal behavior among women changed in recent years, based on statistics from 1992 and 2009?
Answer: Rates of at least twelve types of crimes committed by women have increased in percentage; nine of those
crimes have had a double digit increase.
Diff: 6 Page Ref: 168
Skill: Evaluation

14) What are the three components that make up the criminal justice system?
Answer: (1) the police;
(2) the court system;
(3) the prison system
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 168
Skill: Knowledge

15) What are the three classifications of workers based on the conflict perspective?
Answer: (1) the capitalist class;
(2) the working class;
(3) the working poor
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 169
Skill: Knowledge

16) Define recidivism and identify the recidivism rate for violent offenders three years after they have been released
from prison.
Answer: The recidivism rate is the percentage of former inmates who are rearrested. For violent offenders three
years after their release from prison, two out of three (62 percent) are rearrested and about half (52
percent) are reincarcerated.
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 173-174
Skill: Knowledge

17) Since the new laws governing the death penalty were enacted following Furman v. Georgia, what is the breakdown
of the offenders executed based on race?
Answer: Since then, 65 percent of those put to death have been white and 35 percent African American.
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 174-175
Skill: Knowledge

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Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
18) What is the major difference between serial killers and mass murderers?
Answer: Both serial killers and mass murderers kill a number of people. Serial killers extend their killing spree
over a period of time while mass murderers do their killing at one time.
Diff: 4 Page Ref: 175
Skill: Analysis

19) How did Thomas Szasz characterize mental illness?


Answer: Szasz said that mental illness was neither mental nor illness but problem behaviors associated with poor
coping skills.
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 178
Skill: Application

20) How is homelessness related to mental illness?


Answer: Homelessness and mental illness are reciprocal. Mental illness can cause homelessness, and living on
cold, hostile streets can lead to unusual thinking and behaviors.
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 179
Skill: Knowledge

6.4 Essay Questions


1) How would a sociologist define deviance? How does the sociological definition of deviance differ from commonly
held assumptions about deviance?
Answer: Deviance is defined as a violation of a group's norms. Using this definition means that what people
consider deviant varies from one culture to another, and from group to group within a society. Because
deviance is relative, it is not the act itself, but the reactions to the act that make something deviant. People
can also be considered deviant because of their attributes that violate the norms of ability, norms of
appearance, and involuntary membership in some groups. Commonly held definitions of deviance attach
moral judgments to acts considered deviant. Sociologists only stress differences in behavior without
making such judgments.
Diff: 5 Page Ref: 154
Skill: Synthesis

2) Why are sanctions an important part of understanding deviance?


Answer: Sanctions are expressions of disapproval of deviance (negative sanctions) or rewards for conforming to
norms (positive sanctions). Both positive and negative sanctions can be formal or informal. In general, the
more seriously a society values a norm, the harsher the penalty for its violation and the more formal its
application. Positive sanctions are given for conformity to norms but because conformity is expected by
members of society, one must usually exceed expectations to achieve formal recognition. Society guides
the behavior of members of society by publicizing negative sanctions, through the media, by issuing fines,
various degradation ceremonies, and shaming. Society encourages conformity through public recognition
and formal and informal awards.
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 156
Skill: Application

3) Discuss three theories, either rejected or commonly accepted, that have used biological explanations to explain
deviance.
Answer: (1) Men are more likely to commit violent crimes than women are because of genetic selection over the
course of millennia. Men required little effort to pass on their genes compared to women, who had to
nurture the children they bore. For this reason, women with characteristics of empathy, self-control, and
less risk-taking were more likely to raise female children successfully, and these children carried on the
same characteristics. Such genetic selection led to the gender crime differences we see today.
(2) The "XYY" theory: An extra Y chromosome in males was believed to lead to violent behavior. This
theory was an early explanation for men more likely becoming criminals., but it fails to explain violent
behavior in women.
(3) It was believed that boys with "squarish, muscular" bodies were more likely to commit street crime,

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 15


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
such as muggings, rapes, and burglary. Today, it is understood that all types of crimes are committed by
offenders representing all body types.
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 156-157
Skill: Comprehension

4) How do biological and psychological theories of deviance differ from sociological theories? What are some of the
major theories aligned with these disciplines?
Answer: Biologists and psychologists explain deviance by looking at the characteristics within the individual.
Biologists focus on genetic dispositions, while psychologists focus on personality disorders. In contrast,
sociologists look for explanations outside the individual and focus on the social factors that influence
some people rather than others to break the norms. Biological explanations of crime include theories of
violent crime and gender, "XYY" chromosome theory, and body type theory. Psychological theories
include antisocial and personality disorder theories. Sociological theories include differential association
theory, labeling theory, strain theory, and others.
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 156-163
Skill: Evaluation

5) Briefly explain the focus of differential association, control, and labeling theories in the explanation of deviance.
Answer: Differential association theory is based on the idea that people learn to deviate through associating with
others who deviate from the norms. Control theory, in contrast, is based on the idea that everyone is
drawn to commit deviant acts, but most of us conform because of an effective system of inner and outer
controls. People who have less effective controls deviate. Labeling theory focuses on the significance of
reputations, how they help set us on paths that propel us into deviance or that divert us away from
it. All three theories are aligned with the symbolic interactionist perspective.
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 157-159
Skill: Comprehension

6) What are the five techniques of neutralization identified by Gresham Sykes and David Matza? Provide an example
of each.
Answer: (1) Denial of responsibility. Jennifer was encouraged by her roommate to attend a party. Jennifer really
didn't want to go, but finally consented. When she failed the sociology exam the next day because she did
not study, she blamed her roommate.
(2) Denial of injury. Alice just stole a laptop computer from someone living in her dorm. Alice believes
the victim can simply buy a new one after her insurance company reimburses her.
(3) Denial of a victim. Fundamentalist Christians occasionally go gay bashing and justify it because gays
are sinners and deserve to be punished.
(4) Condemn the condemners. When stopped for speeding, Patrick responded to the officer, "Weren't you
ever in a hurry to get somewhere? Did you get a ticket?"
(5) Appeal to higher loyalty. When Keith was asked why he committed the house burglaries, he said it
was "to feed my family."
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 161
Skill: Application

7) According to Durkheim, list three main functions that deviance provides for society. Provide an example or
illustration of each.
Answer: (1) Deviance clarifies moral boundaries and affirms norms. When an offender is brought to justice it
reminds everyone of the law or moral code of a culture. Police officers remind us of the speed limit when
we are observed exceeding it excessively.
(2) Deviance promotes social unity. During a rally by the Ku Klux Klan in 1995, faculty, students, and
community members gathered together at the university to protest the speeches and sign a group statement
advocating multicultural unity.
(3) Deviance promotes social change. Homosexuality was once punishable by death in the colonies.
Today there are advocate organizations and special events for gays and lesbians.
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 163
Skill: Application

8) In terms of cultural goals and means to attain them, describe each of the five modes of adaptation that Merton
outlined in strain theory.
Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 16
Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
Answer: Merton identified five different modes of adaptation that individuals use in responding to society's
approved cultural goals and society's approved means to achieve them.
(1) The conformist is considered as the only non-deviant because he or she accepts society's goals and
society's means to achieve them. The other four modes of adaptation are considered as being deviant.
(2) The ritualist accepts the means to achieve goals and in many respects is a model citizen but rejects the
approved cultural goals. The goals may be out of reach or simply not the prime focus of the individual's
efforts.
(3) The retreatist rejects both the culturally approved goals and the culturally approved means to achieve
them.
(4) The rebel rejects either the approved goals or the means to achieve them (or both) but substitutes a
goal or means in their place.
(5)The innovator accepts culturally approved goals but rejects the approved means to achieve them.
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 164
Skill: Knowledge

9) Based on the research of Martín Sánchez-Jankowski, what are the primary reasons urban male youth join gangs?
Answer: According to sociologist Martín Sánchez-Jankowski, boys in urban areas are motivated to join gangs for a
number of reasons. After following gangs of all types for over ten years, Sánchez-Jankowski found that
the motive for boys joining a gang was not because of living in a broken home or seeking a substitute
family, but rather to gain access to money, to have recreation (girls and drugs), to maintain anonymity in
community crimes, to get protection, and to help the community. In some of the neighborhoods, gangs
protect residents from outsiders and the boys saw the gang as an alternative to the dead-end, which they
considered jobs held by their parents.
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 166
Skill: Application

10) Discuss how conflict theorists explain deviance.


Answer: Conflict theorists take the position that the group in power ensures that its definitions of deviance are
those that are accepted by mainstream society. Conflict theorists maintain that the law is an instrument of
oppression and exploitation. The law is used to maintain the privilege of the few over the many. Because
the marginal working class have little income and are desperate, they commit highly visible property
crimes. The elites manipulate the criminal justice system and use it to punish the crimes of the poor and
divert their own criminal activities away from this punitive system.
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 168-170
Skill: Comprehension

11) What are some common characteristics, outlined in the text, shared by the American prison population?
Answer: (1) Most prisoner inmates are young men, under age 35.
(2) Almost 40 percent of all prison inmates are African Americans.
(3) Most prison inmates are single.
(4) More than 90 percent of all prison inmates are male.
(5) Most prison inmates do not have a college education.
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 170-171
Skill: Knowledge

12) What are the similarities and differences between serial killers and mass murderers? Why do each of these groups
present such a potential danger to society?
Answer: Serial killer and mass murderers both kill multiple victims. Serial killers commit independent acts where
they kill one or two victims at a time over an extended period and often do so for some ritualistic purpose,
such as to rid the world of prostitutes. Mass murderers kill multiple victims but do so at the same time.
Both types of killers pose unique threats to the public. Serial killers may be very charming and
charismatic and show no visible sign of their potential as victimizers. Ted Bundy is an example of such an
individual. Mass murderers often "snap" and react in a violent rage of killing coworkers, family members,
or others with whom they regularly interact. They do so without warning and the ultimate cause of their
provocation may be distantly removed from the actual act.
Diff: 6 Page Ref: 175
Skill: Evaluation

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 17


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
13) Discuss capital punishment and bias. Who is most commonly sentenced to the death penalty? How do factors such
as geography, social class, gender, and race or ethnicity affect the likelihood that a defendant will be given the death
penalty?
Answer: Since 1977, 65 percent of those who received the death penalty were white or Latino, and 35 percent were
African American. African Americans and Latinos who killed whites are more likely to receive the death
penalty, as are people with little education. Those who commit murder in Texas, Virginia, or Oklahoma
are more likely to be executed. Rich people and women are sentenced to death at significantly lower rates
than poor people and men.
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 175-176
Skill: Comprehension

14) Discuss the medicalization of deviance and how Thomas Szasz would respond to this concept.
Answer: The medicalization of deviance is transforming all deviance to a medical matter to be treated by
physicians. By doing so, the deviant can assume the sick role and not be held accountable for his or her
actions. They will also be excused from their normal responsibilities and can use medical insurance to
find a "cure." Szasz would oppose the medicalization of deviance. He criticizes mental illness, something
that most people would agree is a medical condition, being classified as a medical problem. Szasz argues
that mental illnesses are neither mental nor an illness. Rather, they are simply problem behaviors. Some
problem behaviors have organic causes and can be treated with drugs. Other forms are the result of people
failing to cope well with the challenges of daily life. In other words, individuals may use inappropriate
ways to cope with their problems without being deviant in their behavior. His ideas highlight the
importance of social experiences as a basis for bizarre behaviors and deviance in general.
Diff: 2 Page Ref: 178
Skill: Comprehension

15) Given Durkheim's theory that deviance is inevitable, why is there a need for a more humane approach to dealing
with deviance in the United States?
Answer: If, as Durkheim suggests, that deviance is inevitable, then one way to measure whether we live in a
"good" society is to examine how the society treats its deviants. This treatment includes how we protect
people from deviant behaviors that are harmful to themselves and others, how we tolerate deviance that is
not harmful, and how we establish fairer systems of treatment for deviants. Based on how the U.S. treats
people who are deviant, we can conclude that the United States needs to develop a more humane way of
treating people who do not conform to the norms of the society. This is evident by a review of the
spiraling prison population, the use of the death penalty, biased reactions to crime by the police and
courts, and how people who engage in deviant but harmless behaviors are treated by society.
Diff: 5 Page Ref: 179-180
Skill: Synthesis

6.5 Open Book Questions


1) In Cultural Diversity around the World: "Human Sexuality in Cross-Cultural Perspective," the differences between
the Zapotec Indians’s ideal and real sexual norms are described. Give an example of the difference between ideal
and real sexual norms in American society. How would people in American culture react if the couple did not have
mutual orgasm or if one party was actually unfaithful to the other?
Answer: Ideally, people are supposed to refrain from sexual intercourse until they marry, and then engage in
intimate sexual behavior only with their spouse. In reality, the majority of people have sex before
marrying, and many, after marrying, have relationships with partners other than their spouse. In American
society not reaching mutual orgasm is not unusual. Satisfying the other party, even if not at the same time,
is acceptable in most relationships. There is also therapy for problems such as these. Infidelity presents a
more serious issue. In some cases, the "victim" will seek out another lover when he or she discovers the
unfaithfulness of their spouse. This usually doesn't solve anything and without professional help and a
great deal of forgiveness, the relationship is doomed for divorce. Fortunately, the scorned woman won't
solicit the assistance of her girlfriends to tie up the cheating husband, urinate on him, and then slaughter
and eat his favorite hunting dog!
Diff: 5 Page Ref: 155
Skill: Synthesis

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Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
2) Why are negative and positive sanctions an important part of understanding deviance?
Answer: Sanctions are expressions of disapproval of deviance (a negative sanction) or rewards conforming to
norms (positive sanction). Both positive and negative sanctions can be either formal or informal. In
general, the more seriously a society values a norm, the harsher the penalty for its violation and the more
formal its application. Positive sanctions are given for conformity to norms but because conformity is
expected by members of society, one must usually exceed expectations to achieve formal recognition.
Society guides the behavior of members of society by publicizing negative sanctions, through the media,
by issuing fines, various degradation ceremonies, and shaming. Society encourages conformity through
public recognition and formal and informal awards.
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 156
Skill: Application

3) Why are shaming and degradation ceremonies less effective in urban societies rather than smaller, preindustrial
societies?
Answer: Shaming is more likely to be successful in preindustrial societies and close-knit ones in which the totality
of social likeness is what holds the group together. Shaming then is more effective because it is necessary
that the person being shamed cares what other people think of him or her. In preindustrial societies, most
people are closely connected with all the people around them. Relationships are lifelong and intimate and
there are more open lines of communication. Groups are small and everyone has knowledge of other
people's reputations. In industrial societies many people live anonymously, so they could not care less
what the strangers around them think about them. There is less emphasis on personal relationships, and
society is anonymous and mobile.
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 160
Skill: Application

4) List and discuss the five techniques of neutralization identified by Gresham Sykes and David Matza. Why do people
utilize these techniques? Provide an example of each.
Answer: Techniques of neutralization are used by people who engage in deviant acts to maintain a positive self-
image and to compensate against the labeling of others. The five techniques of neutralization and an
example of each are as follows:
(1) Denial of responsibility: "I only sold drugs because I couldn't get a regular job. If someone would have
hired me, I would have been a model citizen."
(2) Denial of injury: Denies that anyone was harmed by the act. "I may have stolen social security checks,
but I only took checks from rich people. They'll never miss it."
(3) Denial of a victim: Asserts that the victim of deviance "had it coming." Examples of denial of a victim
are employed by individuals engaged in gay bashing, people who commit hate crimes, and when
individuals commit acts of violence or theft against others who they feel have offended them (or others),
such as a shop owner overcharging the public or an exceptionally insensitive professor.
(4) Condemnation of the condemner: The deviant points to the behavior of the individual sitting in
judgment of them and asks who holds them accountable for their behavior. A motorist receiving a
speeding ticket asks the trooper if he or she was ever in a hurry to get home or a person being audited by
the IRS asks the auditor who reviewed his or her taxes.
(5) Appeal to higher loyalty: The deviant received nothing personal from the act, but committed it for the
benefit of others. "I sold drugs so I could feed my family." "I take part in drive-by shootings because the
gang needs me."
Diff: 5 Page Ref: 161
Skill: Synthesis

5) A few years ago President Bill Clinton was accused (several times) for "womanizing" that included a well-
publicized tryst with a young White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. How might the president use
techniques of neutralization to justify or at least excuse his behavior?
Answer: The president could rationalize his behavior a number of ways, employing these techniques of
neutralization.
(1) Denial of responsibility: "The women accusing me made the first move. They wanted to be with me
because of my status." (It was reported that Miss Lewinsky showed the president her thong when she
passed him in the office one day, which started the escalating events.)
(2) Denial of injury: "No one was hurt. It wasn't as though I forced myself on these women."

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Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
(3) Denial of a victim: This technique is a little more difficult to visualize but someone with an
exceptionally powerful ego would argue that these women were not victimized but privileged to have
known the president in such an intimate manner.
(4) Condemnation of the condemners: "What middle-aged American male doesn't want to be popular with
the ladies, especially one less than half his age?" In addition, many of the Republicans pointing fingers at
the president were documented to have had affairs of their own.
(5) Appeal to higher loyalty: This technique is a bit hard to visualize. I couldn't possibly think he "did it
for the country" or "because Hillary wanted me to." But at least three of the techniques would have given
President Clinton reasons to consider himself a victim of circumstance and not responsible for his
behavior.
Diff: 5 Page Ref: 161
Skill: Synthesis

6) Symbolic interactionists emphasize the importance of the meanings attributed to behaviors by the actors. What
meanings did the "Saints" and the "Roughnecks" give to being apologetic to teachers and police? How did these
different meanings result in very different outcomes when members of each group were caught committing crimes?
Answer: For the Saints, being apologetic was an acceptable form of manipulation of people in authority. Even if
their apologies may have been viewed as insincere, their willingness to appear contrite granted them
lenient treatment. For the Roughnecks, apologizing, even insincerely, would have been unmanly. Their
norms would have required them to confront any authority figure who challenged them. Their hostile
reactions to being accused of crimes provoked harsh responses from teachers and the police.
Diff: 6 Page Ref: 162
Skill: Evaluation

7) After reading “The Naked Pumpkin Runners and the Naked Bike Riders: Deviance or Freedom of Self-
Expression?” develop reasons why it is illegal for the runners and riders to appear naked in public. Discuss reasons
why the runners and riders are compelled to display their deviant behavior.
Answer: The cultural context of 21st-century North America sets the public decency standards to which people in
Boulder, Colorado are expected to adhere. The law states that it is illegal to expose genitalia, and
“genitalia” has been defined to encompass specific regions of the body that are expected to be covered in
public. The runners and riders may be participating in this deviant behavior for a number of reasons.
Some of the possibilities include a declaration of freedom, a celebration of youth, an expression of the joy
of being alive, a statement of free speech, and a desire to alter public decency standards to embrace a
more tolerant level of bodily exposure.
Diff: 6 Page Ref: 165
Skill: Evaluation

8) In Down-to-Earth Sociology, "Islands in the Street: Urban Gangs in the United States," the reasons for joining street
gangs are described. How do these reasons apply to strain theory and illegitimate opportunity theory?
Answer: The reasons for joining gangs identified by Sánchez-Jankowski apply to both strain and illegitimate
opportunity theories. Gang membership can be considered a version of innovation (from strain theory).
Through gang membership, important advantages are received (e.g., money, recreation, protection, an
opportunity to help their community) that are not available to them from conventional sources. Similarly,
gang membership provides members illegitimate opportunities to get what they want and need through
criminal activities that include drug sales, theft, fencing, and even contract murder.
Diff: 3 Page Ref: 166
Skill: Application

9) Figure 6.1 "How Safe Is Your State? Violent Crime in the United States" shows a very diverse crime rate in
America by region and state. How does the state rank where your university is located? What are some reasons
some states are prone to crime while others are relatively crime free?
Answer: To find the crime rate of a state, the general category can be found by examining Figure 6.1. A more
specific crime rate can be found doing an Internet search of the Uniform Crime Report. Some reasons one
state may have a lower crime rate than others:
(1) geographic location;
(2) cultural standards within the region where the state is located;
(3) population density;

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 20


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
(4) population makeup, being more homogeneous or heterogeneous;
(5) and weather.
Diff: 6 Page Ref: 167
Skill: Evaluation

10) After reading Cultural Diversity around the World: “Dogging” in England, provide reasons why this behavior is
treated lightly in England and would probably be totally unacceptable to the public in the United States.
Answer:
(1) The U.S. and Britain have different cultural beliefs on how sexual relations are to be treated.
(2) No one is being directly harmed or financially burdened by the “dogging field.”
(3) Some in England believe that the participants would have nowhere else to go and could suffer
emotionally as a result.

Diff: 6 Page Ref: 173


Skill: Evaluation

6.6 Line Art Questions

1) In Table 6.1, "How People Match Their Goals to Their Means," under the column "Do They Feel the Strain That
Leads to Anomie?" the table lists "No" under conformity. What is inherently wrong with this assumption? Provide
at least one publicized real-life example to back up your answer.
Answer: As one's material possessions become greater in number, expense, and complexity, so do the
responsibilities of maintaining them. A Jaguar, for example, is more expensive and complicated than
maintaining an economy-priced Ford or Chevrolet. Summer homes along the shore and a ski lodge in the
mountains are great for recreational purposes, but these add considerable expense for upkeep, taxes, and
use. As our material possessions increase, we don't just own them, they own us. When these possessions
are out of service or in need of maintenance it can be expensive and cause a sense of chaos. A good
argument can be made on how the ritualist would actually suffer less strain because the ritualist has
abandoned the money motive and an obsession with materialism that has been common among
conformists. Real-life examples of "conformists" who became criminals include Ken Lay of Enron and
Martha Stewart for insider trading. Any news article addressing police corruption or bribery of a public
official would also serve as an example.
Diff: 5 Page Ref: 164
Skill: Synthesis

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 21


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank

2) Examine Table 6.2, "Women and Crime: What a Difference a Few Years Make." What is the problem with using
only percentage changes for the crimes? Why would including the actual rate of the crimes specified for women be
more descriptive?
Answer: Car theft is rated as a 65 percent increase. However, for every 100 car thefts in 1992, if two were
committed by women, and in 2009 five were committed by women, this would represent a 150 percent
increase. Illegal drug use is up only 14 percent. If 40 of every 100 drug offenders were women in 1992, a
14 percent increase would now mean 45 out of 100 drug offenses were committed by women. Looking at
the raw numbers also conveys an understanding of the seriousness the change actually presents.
Diff: 4 Page Ref: 168
Skill: Analysis

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Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
3) Based on Table 6.3, "Inmates in U.S. State and Federal Prisons," what is the profile of the LEAST likely individual
to be a prison inmate?
Answer: White females over 44 years of age who are married and have some college education are the least likely
prison inmates. As the level of education and age increases the probability of being an inmate decreases
considerably. The same potential not to be an inmate applies to a white male over 44 years of age who is
married with some college as well, but not as significantly.
Diff: 4 Page Ref: 171
Skill: Analysis

4) Figure 6.2, "How Much Is Enough? The Explosion in the Number of U.S. Prisoners," shows the U.S. prison
population has increased nearly tenfold since 1970. What are some reasons for this massive increase in the prison
population and what are some alternatives to building more prisons?

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 23


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
Answer: Many analysts believe the massive increase in the prison industry is a "neo-conservative" movement to
provide means for industrialists and entrepreneurs to amass greater wealth. If there is any truth to this, it
would open a number of viable options to reduce the prison population. Attacking some of the reasons for
criminal behavior would be a beginning. Providing opportunities for the homeless, increasing
opportunities for minorities, and cleaning up inner city slums may be ways to begin. These efforts would
not see immediate results. Adding more prison cells is very expensive and takes resources away from
health, education, and other programs needed by all Americans. One question Americans who remember
the 1970s can ask themselves is, "Do I feel nine or ten times safer today than I did then?" With nearly ten
times more people locked up, they should.
Diff: 4 Page Ref: 172
Skill: Analysis

5) Based on Figure 6.3, "Recidivism of U.S. Prisoners," what are some reasons offenders convicted of car theft have
the highest recidivism rate and those convicted of murder have the lowest?
Answer: The number of cars in America is one reason. Car theft is also a low risk offense for the offender in regard
to any danger of being harmed during the theft. Car theft also rates as one of the least cleared crimes.
Individuals convicted of car theft are likely to receive shorter jail sentences, placing them back in
circulation at an early age when they are still in their crime prone years. Offenders convicted of murder
receive the longest sentences, which takes them out of society for long periods and, quite often, for life.
Those who are released are released later in life when they are past their crime-prone years. In addition,
unlike car theft, which has a profit motive, there is seldom a clear, premeditated reason for homicide that
would justify its reoccurrence.
Diff: 5 Page Ref: 174
Skill: Synthesis

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 24


Henslin, Essentials of Sociology, 10/e Testbank
6.7 Matching Questions

Skill: Knowledge

Match the term with the definition.

1) deviance A) an expression of disapproval for breaking a norm,


Diff: 1 Page Ref: 154 ranging from a mild, informal reaction to a formal
one
2) social order
B) Robert Merton's theory based on cultural goals and
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 156
the institutionalized means to achieve them
3) social control
C) an extreme form of shaming, the individual is
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 156 stripped of his or her identity as a group member
4) negative sanction
D) inborn tendencies to commit deviant acts
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 156
E) the percentage of released convicts who are
5) positive sanction rearrested
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 156
F) the killing of three or more victims in separate events
6) genetic predisposition
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 156 G) ways of thinking or rationalizing that help people
deflect society's rules
7) personality disorder
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 157 H) the violation of rules or norms

8) degradation ceremony I) a group's usual and customary social arrangements


on which its members depend and which they base
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 160
their lives
9) techniques of neutralization
J) to make deviance a medical matter; a symptom of
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 161 some underlying illness that needs to be treated by
physicians
10) strain theory
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 163 K) crimes committed by people of respectable and high
social status in the course of their occupations
11) white-collar crime
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 166 L) another term for the death penalty

12) recidivism rate M) a group's formal and informal means of enforcing


Diff: 1 Page Ref: 173 norms

13) capital punishment N) reward or positive reaction for following norms


Diff: 1 Page Ref: 174 ranging from a smile to a prize

14) serial murder O) the view that a personality disturbance of some sort
causes an individual to violate social norms
Diff: 1 Page Ref: 175

15) medicalization of deviance


Diff: 1 Page Ref: 178

1) H; 2) I; 3) M; 4) A; 5) N; 6) D; 7) O; 8) C; 9) G;
10) B; 11) K; 12) E; 13) L; 14) F; 15) J

Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 25


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attained a height unknown to the most skilful naturalists of our grand
European museums, if the fatal accident through which my poor
father lost his life had not all at once put an end to my passion for
animals. After this unfortunate calamity it was impossible for me not
to see in each animal of my collection an accomplice of the tiger
which had deprived my parent of existence. This antipathy, day by
day growing stronger, caused me at first to neglect the brutes, and
afterwards to punish them with far more severity than I had hitherto
been accustomed to exhibit towards them. They soon perceived this,
since animals have stronger instincts perhaps than men, and
thereupon they repaid me with hatred and spite for the rigour with
which I ordinarily treated them. They became wicked and vindictive;
and I, on my part, became only the more inflexible. A struggle
commenced between us, which was carried to a point when I was no
longer able to rule them except by threats and red-hot bars of iron.
This was the result; if, in order to punish and to tame them, I no
longer allowed any one among them to leave his cage, I was obliged
from motives of prudence to refrain from entering any of their dens.
On both sides there was a permanent state of anger and hostility,
and I must say there was no end to the wicked tricks they played me.
The last one they were guilty of was of so cruel, and indeed terrible a
character, that if I were to pass it over in silence, the origin of my
prodigious troubles would be rendered in a great measure
unintelligible. One alone was guilty of this deed, though all were in a
degree parties to it by reason of their undisguised animosity towards
me.
Vice-Admiral Campbell, who at that time was commander of the
English naval station in Oceania, was in the habit, every time he
touched at Macao, of visiting my bazaar, and of making purchases
for his aviaries and ship menageries of such things as parroquets,
birds from the Island of Lugon, or tame tigers, which served to
amuse him during his passage from one island to another, and
throughout the long anchorages he was occasionally compelled to
make up some wearisome and disagreeable inlet.
I may here say a few words on the importance of the English
stations in the Chinese and Australian seas. The object of these—
which, by the way, is not always attained—is to protect the lives and
properties of Europeans from the descents of Chinese and Malay
pirates, a numerous and terrible race. These formidable sea-
serpents, who are to Oceania what the Algerians were in former
times to the Mediterranean, recognise no authority under heaven—
neither that of the Emperor of China, backed by his mandarins; nor
that of the sultans who reign over some few large islands, like
Borneo and Mindanao; nor even that of the English and Dutch
viceroys, representatives of powerful nations, it is true, but who find
considerable difficulty in making their flags respected in these distant
seas.
The Malay pirates may be said to brave everything, and to be
everywhere. The archipelago of Sooloo, which contains no less than
160 islands, is entirely peopled by them. At an appointed time they
will sail forth over the waters with a fleet of, perhaps, 500 junks,
manned by 5,000 sailors, and lie in ambuscade for unsuspecting
merchantmen. The booty which they secure they divide among
themselves; and the prisoners whom they take are only set at liberty
on the receipt of a considerable ransom: too frequently they are
killed. These water-rats have sometimes pushed their audacity so far
as to make descents in the very midst of such great centres of
commerce as the islands of Sumatra and Java; and on one occasion
they even dared to come and buy powder and ball at Macao. What is
quite as remarkable, too, the merchants of this place did not hesitate
a moment to sell them all the ammunition they required: in this
respect reminding one of those mercenary Dutchmen who, when
besieged by the Spaniards, made a practice each evening of selling
to their adversaries—no doubt at remunerative prices—the cannon-
balls which they had fired against their town during the day. These
pirates are apparently indestructible; they have lasted for centuries
as it is, and they bid fair to last for centuries more.
It is to protect its subjects against the poisoned daggers of these
swarming bandits that England, as I have mentioned above, is
constantly sending forth ships to innumerable points on the sea-
coast of China, and to the interminable shores scattered round
about.
These vessels often remain for entire years in localities which are
believed to be menaced with a visit from these formidable corsairs. It
is then that the officers take up their quarters on shore, that tents are
pitched, and houses even are constructed, where naval men can
manage to lodge in something like comfort.
This particular kind of naval campaign is much dreaded by the
English sailors, obliged to contend at the same time against
tempests, pirates, and fevers of every kind and colour; and, above
all, with the wearisomeness arising from the monotonous kind of life
they are here forced to lead, and which may be described as the
yellow fever of the mind.
Vice-Admiral Campbell, who commanded, as I have already said,
at one of these stations, had hoisted his pennant on board Her
Majesty’s steam frigate Halcyon.
The admiral was preparing to leave the roads of Macao on the
very day that he came with all his staff—captains, lieutenants,
commanders, and officers of every grade—to view my menagerie.
Some of these gentlemen had brought their wives with them,
whence I concluded that their stay at the station to which they were
about to proceed would be an unusually long one.
Fortunately, I had received a short time previously some
considerable additions to my stock of animals; and I can truly say
that my establishment at this time was alike worthy of the attention of
men of science and of amateurs. Besides birds from every clime,
which enriched my aviaries, I possessed gazelles from Egypt, bisons
from Missouri, goats from Cashmere, ant-eaters, jaguars, leopards
from Senegambia, otters, polar bears, black panthers, lynxes,
moose-deer from Canada, rhinoceroses with one horn, llamas from
Brazil, lions from Bengal, and a magnificent selection of tigers. But
the cream of my collection was its endless variety of apes: waggish,
wicked, shy, wild, grave, pensive, sinister, intellectual, stupid,
melancholy, and grotesque. I had ourang-outangs, gibbons,
baboons, papios, mandrills, wanderoos, monkeys, macaques, patas
monkeys, malbroncks, mangabeys, lemurs, talapoins, cluks, and
magots. Of all these apes, there were four that seemed to divide
among themselves the curiosity of the large party at that moment
assembled in my museum.
Firstly, there were two baboons of unequalled strength and ferocity
—as large as men, as intelligent as men, and, I was about to add, as
wicked as men. They made their cage shake again with their violent
movements, they often turned it over even; and, in an excess of
anger, would twist the iron bars through which they made a point of
insulting every one that stopped to gaze at them, as though these
stout metal rods were so many sticks of pliant wax. How was it that
visitors generally were so pleased with them? Could it have been
because they were so supremely wicked? I am half afraid that this
was the reason.
The two other apes who divided the sympathies of the visitors with
the big baboons were a male and female chimpanzee, both
possessing youth, and, I may add, even grace. The male
chimpanzee was gentle as a young girl, delicate, sensible,
understanding everything, approaching as near the limits of
intelligence as is permitted to a being deprived of the Divine light of
reason. He was fond of children, played with them, and appeared to
have a taste for music, since he invariably left off eating whenever
he heard the sounds of an instrument.
With me he filled the office of a footman. At dinner he held the
plates, and handed round the wine; he even ate at table when I
invited him. The trifling marks of attention which I occasionally paid
him made the other apes jealous, almost to frenzy.
With regard to his companion, who was likewise a young
chimpanzee, she differed from most female apes, who are fond of
ribbons, lace, and embroidered handkerchiefs, and appeared
perfectly contented with her own natural grace and prettiness. She
was never so happy as when some one gave her a beautiful flower,
which she would either place behind her ear, or else regard with
looks of melancholy for entire hours.
I had named my two baboons, the one Karabouffi the First, the
other Karabouffi the Second; and I had given to the male
chimpanzee the name of Mococo, and to the female that of Saïmira.
Mococo loved Saïmira very much; and it is quite certain that
Saïmira on her part loved Mococo in return.
Karabouffi the First had also a hidden and terrible love for Saïmira.
Nothing could exceed the black jealousy of this ferocious baboon.
Whenever the two young chimpanzees, who enjoyed the liberty of
perambulating the galleries of the museum, passed in front of his
cage, his terrible claws became rigid as iron hooks, his eyes flashed
forth angry and vindictive glances, as he curled up his blue lips, and
gnashed his teeth. On these occasions terror reigned throughout the
menagerie, and even the lions and tigers seemed lost in reflection.
There was not a single one of these animals that did not at times
recall to me, point by point, the characters, desires, and passions of
men. I became convinced with Buffon, who has written so many
admirable pages on natural history, that if, instead of beating and ill-
treating them and making them constantly suffer, we were only to
study them, and take a real and active interest in such an
occupation, we should penetrate an immense and unexplored world
of ideas and sensations, where as yet we can be hardly said to have
placed our feet.
Vice-Admiral Campbell was so delighted with the grimaces, the
tricks, the eccentricities, and I must also add the ferocity, of my
boarders, that he immediately purchased an ape and a monkey.
Whereupon every officer, out of deference to his superior, selected in
like manner an ape and a monkey.
I confess I could not bring myself to part with Mococo and Saïmira,
for it was necessary to sell both or to keep both; but Vice-Admiral
Campbell’s lady wished so much to possess them, that I had no
alternative except to resign them to her. I knew, moreover, that she
would take as much care of them as I myself had been in the habit
of; nevertheless, I asked her to promise me never to leave them in
the power of their prime persecutor, Karabouffi the First. She gave
me her word, and I abandoned my two young chimpanzees with
confidence to her keeping. The poor things appeared even more
afflicted than myself at our separation, for they embraced me like two
children, and moistened my hands with their tears. Overcome by
these marks of affection, I was on the point of taking them back
again; but I recollected that I was a trader, and that a trader must sell
the wares in which he deals: interest therefore had its way.
As all the gentlemen belonging to the station bought, as I think I
have already said, my animals in pairs, it happened that, owing to
my having an odd ape, one of the two baboons, Karabouffi the
Second, was left on my hands. For want of a female to pair with him,
he was condemned to remain in the menagerie, a circumstance
which irritated him to that degree as to cause him to utter shrieks of
rage on seeing his companions about to be taken away while he
alone was to be left behind.
His companions in their turn, pitying the lot of their unfortunate
comrade who remained a captive behind the iron bars, uttered the
most plaintive cries, and sought to prevent themselves from being
conveyed on board the vessels which were to carry them to the
distant station. It became necessary, therefore, to have recourse to
the whip.
As may be supposed, all Macao was in commotion at the event.
However, the law was strong, and the whole of the apes were
eventually embarked.
It would be impossible to give an idea, either by the aid of
language or of painting, of the dark and revengeful looks which the
solitary baboon directed towards me when I re-entered the
menagerie after his companions’ departure.
I question whether the most irritated and malignant of men,
burning with feelings of suppressed hatred, ever condensed such
unmistakable threats of vengeance into his eyes as I could read in
those of the infuriated baboon. I saw there a positive hankering after
blood, and that blood, moreover, my own.
Nearly a year had elapsed since this extensive sale of apes, on
which I had, as the reader may suppose, realised enormous profits,
when one night I woke up suffocated by a dense smoke which
seemed to rise from the crevices in the floor of my room. This
flooring, which was composed of very thin boards, extended above
the menagerie. I found myself positively choking, and rose from my
bed with infinite difficulty, and directed my steps towards the window,
which I immediately flung open. Indeed, I opened every window and
door so as not to perish of suffocation. But directly the air had
penetrated into the apartment, it was no longer smoke that I had to
contend with, but fire, which, running along the cracks of the floor,
enveloped ere long the whole house in a blaze.
My first thought was to save my poor mother, but I was, alas! too
late. The back part of the house, where her room was situated, was
the first to be filled with smoke, and my poor mother must have been
suffocated before she could call out for assistance. For myself, I was
dragged from the room where I wished to die. My neighbours saved
me, carried me into the street, and placed me on a stone bench,
from whence I saw my entire establishment consumed before my
eyes. Through the broken door, through the open entrance of the
bazaar, I was a witness of a spectacle which I shall never forget.
In the midst of the devouring flames, which were roasting my finest
birds, and in which my superb tigers were writhing with fearful cries,
nobody meanwhile daring to approach near enough to attempt to
rescue them, the baboon, a lighted brand in each hand, danced,
chuckled, grinned, and frisked about with a hideous kind of joy. His
attitude, his impudent looks, indeed everything about his frightful
expression, sufficiently proved him to be the author of the
conflagration—he who, in the course of a long-meditated night of
vengeance, had managed to procure some matches with which he
had seen the keeper of an evening light up the bazaar; he who,
breaking his chains and the bars of his cage, had first turned on the
gas, and after allowing it to escape had then set light to it. Such was
the supreme vengeance of this terrible baboon, Karabouffi the
Second.
One of my neighbours shot him as he was dancing in the midst of
the flames. But I was not the less ruined; I had not the less lost my
excellent mother.
Under the weight of so many afflictions, and so much misery, I
resolved to change my profession; remembering rather late my poor
father’s admonition. For more than two years I traded in ivory,
feathers, and furs; but not being versed in this kind of traffic, I made
only moderate profits, and entertained no hope whatever of realising
any very great ones in future. Moreover, this mode of life, less active
than what I had been accustomed to, did not please me; my former
pursuit was continually recalled to my mind by the enticing nature of
my studies in natural history. I regretted it even for the dangers with
which it was beset, and of which I have already spoken. At last, after
a good deal of hesitation, I determined to follow it again. I was still
young; several thousand piastres were lying to my credit with M.
Silvao, banker at Goa. I had the means of re-establishing my
business; but it was necessary for me to undertake two or three
journeys to the islands of Oceania, and join the great hunters of wild
beasts and birds of prey, with whom I counted upon scouring the
woods and swamps. It was a hardy and adventurous course to
follow; still there was no other way of re-stocking my establishment
at Macao. I hesitated for a time, I admit; but after awhile I took leave
of my few relations and my numerous friends, and made the final
preparations for my voyage. I ought not to omit to say that I had
chartered a Chinese junk on my own account, and that I had it at my
service for an entire year. My first destination was Australia, that
immense island, as large as a continent, where I was certain,
according to the accounts of travellers, to find some of the most
varied and least known animals of creation.
I set sail on the 3rd of July, 1850, in the junk which I had
chartered, and which did not make up for its great weight by any
unusual strength. It was an old tub of a thing, none the better for its
numerous voyages to Corea and Japan. Formerly it had been able to
resist bad weather, but, for all that, it could only boast at the present
time of somewhat shaky ribs and planks, scarcely to be relied on in
rough weather, for anything that Master Ming-Ming, its very indulgent
captain, might say.
My first point of debarkation being New Holland or Australia, we
steered direct south on quitting Macao.
For eight days we were favoured by a wind which carried us
straight in this direction. So we soon found ourselves in the midst of
the archipelago of the Philippines, spite of the want of agreement
prevailing among the crew, which was composed of eight Chinese,
eight Malays, and eight Portuguese, three nations holding each other
in the greatest possible aversion, detesting one another as much as
the Genoese formerly detested the Corsicans, and the Corsicans the
Genoese, and settling all disputes by the arbitration of the knife.
While passing the Island of Mindanao, and at the moment of
entering the Sea of Celebes, we sprung a leak, and as if to make up
for the fine weather we had already enjoyed, the sky became
overcast, and squalls began to blow from every point of the
compass.
Throughout ten entire days we endeavoured to pass the Straits of
Mindanao. The wind and currents, however, always drove us
towards the west, and the greater the efforts which we made to resist
this deviation from our course the more the leak in the junk
increased.
To aggravate our position in the midst of a sea of itself sufficiently
dangerous, the crew refused to work at pumping out the water which
was gaining on us every hour. Chinese, Malays, and Portuguese
alike refused to perform this task as being too laborious for them;
laborious it may have been, but on it, nevertheless, the safety of all
depended.
Captain Ming-Ming, I could only too plainly see, had no power
whatever over his incongruous crew; I even suspected him of having
formerly exercised the profession of pirate in company with the eight
Malays, who placed him on a footing of such perfect equality as
unmistakably indicated the bonds of an old and equivocal fraternity,
and deprived him of any kind of authority over them. The discovery
was not very assuring for me, who knew so well, as I have already
explained, the utterly savage character of these untamable brigands.
This revelation, I confess, startled me; I nevertheless dissembled my
fears, but took the precaution of loading a couple of pistols, and
placing one in each of my two side pockets.
The crew would not work at the pumps, and the water was
continually rising in the hold. Not by any means such good sailors as
the Chinese and Malays, the Portuguese portion of the crew became
alarmed at the fate which evidently threatened us, and proposed to
make for some port. This the Malays and Chinese opposed, and
their will carried the question, which only helped to confirm me in my
suspicions of their former character, as they evidently did not wish to
show themselves in any port which boasted of a regular police.
Moreover, what port should we make for? In the first place, where
were we? Were we above or below the Equator? Were we sailing
along the Strait of the Moluccas or of Macassar?
Master Ming-Ming, more learned in the art of smoking opium than
in that of navigating a vessel, was not the man to have informed us.
The sky was black, the wind blew our great bamboo sails into
shreds, and the waves seemed as though they would engulf us.
When it was no longer possible to overcome the danger which had
now become most imminent, this confused medley crew began one
and all to change their minds. The instinct of preservation awoke
within them when it was too late. They attempted to clear the water
out of the junk; but the pumps would no longer act. Fear then took
possession of these bandits, every one of whom, Malays,
Portuguese, and Chinese, greedily sought land on the horizon,
although the chance was that they would be hung as pirates as soon
as they set foot on shore. During this anxious time I could do nothing
beyond looking to the preservation from sea water of my good arms,
my nets, and the various traps with which I had left Macao, in the
hope of replenishing my menagerie. Alas! what was the use of all
these precautions? Was I destined to escape myself from my
present critical position?
On the twenty-eighth day of our voyage, there was no other
course left us but to abandon ourselves to the discretion of the
tempest. Master Ming-Ming therefore left the junk to itself. I don’t
think, although I have seen many hurricanes on the coasts of Japan,
whilst sailing with my father, that the winds and waves were ever so
frightfully disturbed as they were on this occasion. The old junk
bounded on the crest of the sea like an elastic ball on the ground.
After three days passed between life and death, we perceived a
point black as ink, standing out from the lurid sky on the horizon. The
Malays, whose eyes have an infallible power of penetration, affirmed
that it was land. We sped along with all the violence of a hurricane.
The night having almost immediately supervened, we had not time to
calculate if, when the light of day re-appeared, we should have
reached or passed this wished-for land. And what a night it was for
us, with neither sails, nor masts, nor rudder, with the wind blowing
great guns, and the junk seeming as though it were splitting in
pieces on every side!
CHAPTER II.
We are Shipwrecked.—I alone escape.—I find myself on an unknown island.—A strange form
appears to me and vanishes.—A deluge of Apes.—I am cudgelled with a rattan cane.—
Am saved at length by my cravat.—I am parched with thirst.—I discover water.—Four
thousand of us drink in company.—Ingenious way of procuring fruit from the top of a tall
tree.—Two valets-de-chambre, such as are seldom seen in Europe.—I miraculously
escape their care.

At last the day broke, and we saw land only a quarter of a mile distant. But this
quarter of a mile was only a chain of shoals white with foam from the sea
incessantly breaking over them. It was inevitable that ere many minutes
elapsed poor crazy junk would break itself as the sea was doing on the rocks,
covered with foam and bearded with patches of slimy sea-weed, which lay
direct in our course. We had no time to reflect on the fate which awaited us.
Two sudden and frightful concussions, two blows of the heel, to use sailor’s
language, shattered the ribs of the poor junk, whose poop at the same time
was carried away by a terrible sea, and with it five of the crew. We scarcely
heard the cries which they uttered as they disappeared in the watery abyss.
The other sailors at once sought to possess themselves of the only boat we
had, in order, if possible, to reach the land. They had, however, no sooner
commenced lowering it than a frightful struggle arose as to who should occupy
it. It would scarcely have held more than half-a-dozen persons, and there
were fifteen desperate men eager to fill it. Knives were drawn. A cutting of
throats commenced; but the theatre of the struggle was about to disappear
beneath the feet of conquerors and conquered alike.
Having kept clear of this desperate struggle for the possession of the boat, I
caught sight at this moment of danger of one of those buoys fastened by a
rope to the cable of the anchor, and which serves to mark the exact point
where the anchor has been let go. I at once pull out my knife and cut the rope
at a certain distance from the cable, and then seizing the buoy in both my
arms, threw myself with it into the midst of the hissing waves. Engulfed an
instant beneath the surge, on rising again to the surface, I turn my head to see
what has become of my companions. They and the last remains of the junk
have disappeared!
For three hours I fought with death. What agony I suffered! Every time I
endeavoured to hook myself on as it were to the branches of coral which
projected above the waves, I was driven back by the surf: and my gory hands
let go of their painful support. My strength failed me; I had scarcely sufficient
left to seize the rope attached to the buoy. I had lost all energy, and almost the
desire for existence, when a last wave enveloped me, and carried me with my
buoy to the bottom of the sea. I felt myself getting weaker and weaker, then I
became cold, and recollect nothing more.
When I re-opened my eyes I found myself lying extended on a shore
covered with sea-weed and marine plants. I fancied too that trees were not far
distant. My astonishment was that of a person waking from a trance—I hadn’t
strength enough to rise. The storm no longer raged. The sun, which appeared
to my still weak sight to have attained a certain height in the heavens, spread
a general glow around, and the sand grew warm beneath my touch. By
degrees the sensation of life returned to me. I sought for myself, I asked
myself if it were really I, and whereabouts I was; I saw for certainty that there
were trees—in fact a forest at some little distance off. My lethargy passed
away like a fleeting cloud, and I endeavoured to rise and walk a few steps; but
my legs bent under me. Nevertheless I held myself upright. The sun, which
had risen still higher in the heavens, now shone down almost perpendicularly
on the ground. The heat diffused throughout the air was so intense that I fell
faint and exhausted at the foot of a palm-tree whose cool and refreshing
shade served to revive me.
Gradually my eyes grew heavy, and I fell fast asleep. I do not know how
long I remained plunged in this second and more refreshing lethargy; but
when I awoke, I judged by the position of the sun that it was afternoon. From
the degree of comfort which I felt, I concluded that I must have slept
altogether something like eight hours. I can, however, say nothing positive on
this score, my watch having stopped from the various shocks my whole body
had received since the preceding evening.
In order to dissipate the heaviness which held possession of my senses
after this prolonged sleep, I rose and took a few rapid steps straight before
me. I had scarcely proceeded twenty yards in a direction immediately opposite
to the sea, when I caught sight of something like a human form at the end of a
long avenue of trees. Naturally enough, my first impression was that this must
be some inhabitant of the island on which I had been cast by my unlucky
shipwreck. I was already rejoicing at the discovery, though, I must confess, not
without a certain amount of inquietude as to the possible nature of the
companion whom fortune had sent me. I walked straight in the direction in
which I had first seen him; but, to my intense surprise, after the lapse of five or
six minutes, I failed in encountering him, or even in discovering what had
become of him. Had my eyes deceived me? Had the numerous mirages of the
sun assisted to produce some kind of hallucination? I knew not how to explain
the affair, which left upon me a certain disagreeable impression. Nevertheless
I continued to walk on.
I had proceeded no very great distance, when all at once another view
opened to my sight; and, to my intense satisfaction, I again saw the figure
which I had observed a few minutes previously. Ah! how truly happy I felt at
this second discovery! I could manage to distinguish him far more clearly than
I had done before, although the distance between us was very much greater. I
watched him with the utmost attention, and was surprised to find how
excessively quick and lively all his movements were. He was continually
disappearing and appearing again, passing as quick as lightning from one
point to another. After a time I felt convinced that he had seen me, and that he
was afraid. I thereupon advanced towards him with increased boldness, and
had just arrived at the spot where I had last seen him, when something—
indefinable at the first glance, a kind of hairy and sinewy form, uttering noisy,
guttural, and savage cries, which were taken up and repeated by the many
echoes around—suddenly descended from the top of a tree, almost at my
very feet. It was an ape. With one bound he mounted the tree again, then
sprang down, and ended by placing himself immediately in my path, as
though to prevent me from proceeding.
This pretension on his part was not at all to my mind; I therefore broke off
the first branch of a tree which I could manage to reach with my hand—it was,
I believe, a small stick of cane—and threatened the animal with it. My action
evidently displeased him. At a second cry, which he uttered as a call, judge of
my consternation to see rushing from the four points of the compass, through
the openings in the forest, clouds upon clouds of apes, of all forms, colours,
and sizes, who in an instant, clambering up the trees, rolling themselves
among the branches like squirrels, or taking possession of the ground about
me, proceeded to regard me with quick and menacing glances, and to
overwhelm me with hissing cries, and gnashings of the teeth, so fierce, so
noisy, so positively deafening, that I became quite dizzy and bewildered. I was
compelled to clap my hands over my ears, so as not to lose all sense of
consciousness in the midst of this infernal commotion. Nothing like it, I
believe, had ever been heard before in the forests of Oceania.
Clouds upon clouds of apes, of all forms, colours, and sizes, clambering up the trees, rolling
themselves among the branches like squirrels, or taking possession of the ground about me.—
Page 30.

My Macao experience with regard to apes was not lost upon me at this
supreme moment. In spite of my trouble, and of the danger with which I was
menaced, I managed to recognise, without difficulty, the different kinds of apes
in which I had formerly dealt. I noticed the duks, with their long tails, smooth
faces, black feet, and red ears; the wanderoos, such troublesome fellows that
they are obliged to be kept in iron cages; lowandos, with hairless flesh-
coloured faces, and all the rest of their bodies as black as their noses,
possessing long claws, and having on their heads large wigs of grisly, bushy,
compact hair. I saw monkeys with purple faces, and with violet hands, trailing
behind them tails terminating in white tufts of hair; capuchins, covered with a
flowing down of a yellowish black tint, which serves them for a kind of hood;
monas, with white bellies and wide open eyes surrounded with circles, black
as their feet, hands, and wrists; then coaïtas, or spider monkeys, with tails that
they can turn to much the same purposes as the elephant does his proboscis;
then black-crested simpias; then ourang-outangs; then hundreds of
mangabeys, monkeys with long tails, and known as apes of Madagascar. I
recognised them by their naked eyelids, their striking whiteness, their long
grey muzzles, and their eyebrows of coarse and bushy hair. In the same way I
recognised the gloomy macaques, the turbulent pinches, the malbroncks, and
the pig-tailed macaques, which gambolled, frolicked, danced, kicked,
stamped, capered, and wheeled about on every side. Hundreds and hundreds
more pressed forward to catch sight of me, but they were too far off for me to
distinguish them, as I had done those of whom I have just spoken.
Knowing by experience the thoroughly wicked nature of these animals when
congregated together, I resolved to beat a retreat. I was, however, too late. On
all sides of me were closely-packed ranks of apes, some of whom seemed
possessed of such strength, that any attempt at flight would have been a
grave imprudence on my part. I remained, therefore, perfectly still, but not
without some little anxiety. Suddenly, all these apes which encircled me round
about, commenced to sway to and fro, making at the same time the most
hostile demonstrations, although I no longer held in my hand the unlucky cane
branch, the original cause of their furious irritation. That I might bear with
patience this opposition, which I was most anxious not to increase (thinking
that if I were permitted to proceed towards the interior of the island, some
inhabitant, friend or enemy, civilised or savage, might rescue me from these
insulting occupants of the woods), I amused myself by recalling to mind the
wearisomeness of the dull tints which overpower the traveller on his arrival in
the first commercial, and the most densely-populated city in the world, that
“province covered with houses” called London, the thousand custom-house
officers—honourable persons enough, whom I should be very sorry to
compare with apes, though they are also at times equally tyrannical—that one
meets with on landing. I turned from one reminiscence of the kind to another,
until I found myself recalling how on a particular day, on my arrival at Calcutta,
the officers at the custom-house pierced with their iron gauge-rod a packet of
twenty Cashmere shawls, which were completely spoiled; but on which,
nevertheless, I was required to pay duty.
Quick as lightning, he seized the branch of cane which I had thrown on the ground, and before
I had time to place myself in a posture of defence, showered blow after blow on my arms and
legs.—Page 33.

After a time, finding the heat, striking on the open spot where I was
standing, somewhat oppressive, I endeavoured, while the disposition of my
guards seemed a trifle more to my advantage, to take a few steps in advance.
I was, in fact, frightfully hungry, and my lips were parched with thirst. No
sooner, however, had I prepared to change my position than all these groups
of importunate apes, gathering more closely around me, recommenced their
cries and their menaces. They did more, they formed a square; and when they
had taken up this strategical position, of which I occupied the centre, one of
them, leaving the ranks, advanced towards me. Quick as lightning he seized
the branch of cane which I had thrown on the ground; and, before I had time
to place myself in a posture of defence, showered blow after blow on my arms
and legs, my feet and hands, my face and head, and on my back and sides.
These blows followed one another in such rapid succession that, not being
able to run away, I commenced bounding about, jumping as though there
were blazing coals beneath my feet.
I candidly confess that I suffered quite as much shame as pain. A vile ape
was belabouring me, an abominable brute was taking upon himself to
administer correction to me in broad daylight! Other miserable apes,
witnesses of my moral degradation, were making grimaces and grinning at
me, and showing their enjoyment by capering about. It was whilst I thus
performed a part in a comedy before their eyes, and they furnished me an
occasion of observing them more closely, that I was seized with a singular
idea; but the trouble I was in prevented me from following it up. Ah! my
position was indeed a painful one, to be thrashed by an ape before an
assembly of apes! It is only animals who can introduce such a degree of
refinement into cruelty. I know very well that at London, which has the
reputation of being an extremely civilised city, people are ready to crush one
another to death, when a criminal is hanged before the door of Newgate; and
that in Paris, people pay equally dear for places to see a man executed; that it
is the same at Brussels, Vienna, and Berlin—nevertheless, spite of the
attractions which an execution offers, we neither hang nor decapitate apes;
and the right which these animals arrogated to themselves of cudgelling me,
appeared to me to be founded neither in reason nor in justice. For the moment
they were of course the stronger, and it was necessary that I should give in to
them; and I did give in. But it was melancholy to feel that there appeared to be
no end to this punishment; my tormentor never once relaxed his exertions, to
take even a moment’s rest; but continued laying on his blows, as though he
would never tire.
Certainly, with one of the two pistols which I had about me, and which I had
been prudent enough not to part with, I could easily have shot the impudent
beast through the head; but I remembered too well the accident which
happened to a certain president of the French East India Company, to attempt
any such thing. One day, when the celebrated French traveller Tavernier
accompanied the president on an excursion through some great forest on the
banks of the Ganges, the latter, being astounded at the immense number of
apes which he saw, and which suddenly surrounded him just as they had
surrounded me, stopped his carriage, and desired Tavernier to knock two or
three of them over. The servants, knowing very well the vindictive dispositions
of these animals, begged of the president not to meddle with them. He,
however, insisted, and Tavernier fired, and killed a female with her young. At
that very instant the other apes threw themselves, with cries of rage and
despair, on the president’s carriage. They knocked over the coachman, the
footmen, and the horses, and would have strangled his lordship—torn him to
pieces, indeed—if the windows of the carriage had not been promptly closed,
and the members of his suite had not engaged in a regular fight with their
assailants, from whom they only escaped with an infinite deal of trouble.
The remembrance of the danger which menaced them restrained me from
discharging my weapon at the horrible animal, who still continued his blows,
spite of my ill-concealed rage, and the efforts which I made to protect myself,
Alas! I could do nothing. I was thrashed by him till the blood flowed from me
and saturated my garments. I should have assuredly sunk under the constant
succession of blows meted out to me, since the cunning and wickedness of
these animals went so far as to induce them to volunteer to relieve my
tormentor, when he at length felt fatigued with his exertions; yes, I should
certainly have fallen a victim to their brutality, but for an idea, a really
admirable idea, which occurred to me; but which, unfortunately, like all
excellent ideas, came very late. The increased pain which I endured evidently
freshened up my memory; and, all of a sudden, it struck me that I had heard of
travellers, who found themselves in the same predicament as myself,
escaping by means of a ruse, which ruse I resolved for my part at once to
employ. I therefore proceeded to untie my cravat (a superb cravat, bought in
Bengal the preceding year), and, unfolding it, threw it among the crowd of
apes, who no sooner caught sight of my bright red neckerchief than they
rushed forward in a body to seize it, with loud chatterings, and other signs of
curiosity and delight. My tormentor followed the example of his fellows; and,
whilst they disputed among themselves the possession of the spoil which I
had resigned to them, I ran off, with all possible speed, towards the interior of
the island, where I reckoned on meeting with some of the inhabitants, and
certainly on procuring a little water, to quench my intolerable thirst. After a
breathless run of five or six hundred yards I looked back, and had the
satisfaction of finding that none of the apes were following me. For an entire
hour I continued to run in this manner over a tract of soft sand, through groups
of trees entwined together, and forming bright masses of foliage of various
colours, and which by-and-by bowed down to the earth, indicating a hollow
where I might possibly find water. I was thoroughly fatigued, I was in a burning
heat. Was I about to discover the water I so ardently longed for?
On rounding a hill covered with a whitish green moss, I was suddenly struck
by the sight of a lake upwards of a mile in length, bordered by tall trees,
ranged in a series of terraces, as though they had been planted thus by a
professor of landscape gardening. A slight descent, along the same soft
silvery turf which I had just now passed over, conducted me to the brink of a
clear, sparkling sheet of water. I knelt down to drink, and, placing my parched
lips in it, my ecstasy was so complete that I prolonged it for nearly a quarter of
an hour, partaking at intervals of draught after draught of the reviving delicacy.
My enjoyment was like a dream, it was so concentrated and so tranquil. But
the cry which escaped me on raising my head, was not altogether one of
gratitude towards Heaven, to whom I owed the delicious joy of having been
enabled thus to refresh myself. Intense surprise had something to do with my
exclamation.

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