Exercise 1 solution

(a) 1938 minus 1897 = 41 years. Durkheim's suicide study came first, and Merton's strain article borrowed Durkheim's idea of anomie.

(b) 1963 minus 1938 = 25 years between Merton's strain article and Becker's Outsiders.

(c) 1972 minus 1963 = 9 years between Becker and Cohen's Folk Devils and Moral Panics.

(d) 100,000 divided by 217,007 = 0.4608, so 46.1 percent of the Moral panic page was read. More than half was not read, so later examples and qualifications may be missing from the chapter.

Earliest theory: the strain idea (1938) is the earliest of the three explanations with a date in the chapter (Differential association has no date on its page as read, so it cannot be placed in the order). Being earlier does not make a theory better. The Strain page itself lists criticisms, including weak empirical support and no explanation of white-collar crime, and the later theories answer different questions: learning, labelling and public reaction.

A good answer shows the subtraction for each part, notes that the Differential association page gave no year, and does not claim that the order of dates proves one theory is more correct.