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Social control includes to social mechanisms that regulate individual and group behavior, leading to conformity
Conformism

Conformism is a term used to describe the suspension of an individual's self-determined actions or opinions in favor of obedience to the mandates or Convention of one's peer group , or deference to the imposed norms of a supervening authority....
 and compliances to the rules of a given society
Society

A society is a group of humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive culture and/or institutions....
 or social group. Many mechanisms of social control are cross-cultural
Cross-cultural

cross-cultural may refer to*cross-cultural studies, a comparative tendency in various fields of cultural analysis*any of various forms of interactivity between members of disparate cultural groups ...
, if only in the control mechanisms used to prevent the establishment of chaos
Chaos

Chaos typically refers to unpredictability, and is the antithesis of cosmos.The word did not mean "disorder" in classical-period ancient Greece....
 or anomie
Anomie

Anomie, in contemporary English language is a sociology term that signifies in individuals an erosion, diminution or absence of personal norms, standards or values, and increased states of psychological normlessness....
.






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Summerfairesign
Social control includes to social mechanisms that regulate individual and group behavior, leading to conformity
Conformism

Conformism is a term used to describe the suspension of an individual's self-determined actions or opinions in favor of obedience to the mandates or Convention of one's peer group , or deference to the imposed norms of a supervening authority....
 and compliances to the rules of a given society
Society

A society is a group of humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive culture and/or institutions....
 or social group. Many mechanisms of social control are cross-cultural
Cross-cultural

cross-cultural may refer to*cross-cultural studies, a comparative tendency in various fields of cultural analysis*any of various forms of interactivity between members of disparate cultural groups ...
, if only in the control mechanisms used to prevent the establishment of chaos
Chaos

Chaos typically refers to unpredictability, and is the antithesis of cosmos.The word did not mean "disorder" in classical-period ancient Greece....
 or anomie
Anomie

Anomie, in contemporary English language is a sociology term that signifies in individuals an erosion, diminution or absence of personal norms, standards or values, and increased states of psychological normlessness....
. Some theorists, such as Emile Durkheim
Émile Durkheim

?mile Durkheim was a France sociologist whose contributions were instrumental in the formation of sociology and anthropology. His work and editorship of the first journal of sociology, L'Ann?e Sociologique, helped establish sociology within academia as an accepted Social sciences....
, refer to this form of control as regulation
Regulation

Regulation refers to "controlling human or societal behaviour by rules or restrictions." Regulation can take many forms: law restrictions promulgated by a government authority, self-regulation, social regulation , co-regulation and market regulation....
. Sociologists identify two basic forms of social controls


  1. Internalization
    Internalization

    Internalization has different definitions depending on the field that the term is used in. Internalization is the opposite of externalization....
     of norms
    Norm (sociology)

    A Social norm is the sociology term for the behavioral expectations and cues within a society or group. They have been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors....
     and values, and
  2. The use of sanctions
    Sanctions (law)

    Sanctions are wikt:penalty or other means of wikt:enforcement used to provide wikt:incentive for wikt:obedient with the law, or with rules and regulations....
    , which can be either positive (reward
    Reward system

    In neuroscience, the reward system is a collection of brain structures which attempts to regulate and control behavior by inducing pleasurable effects....
    s) or negative (punishment
    Punishment

    Punishment is the practice of imposing something suffering on a person or animal, usually in response to disobedient or morally wrong behavior....
    ).


Social control theory
Social control theory

In criminology, Social Control Theory as represented in the work of Travis Hirschi fits into the Positivist school, Neo-classical school, and, later, Right Realism....
 began to be studied as a separate field in the early 20th century. Sociologist Edward A. Ross
Edward A. Ross

Edward Alsworth Ross was a Progressivism in the United States United States sociologist, eugenicist, and a major figure of early criminology....
  argued that belief
Belief

Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true....
 systems exert a greater control on human behavior than specific laws, no matter what form the beliefs take. The means to enforce social control can thus be either formal or informal.

Informal social control

The social values that are present in individuals are products of informal social control. It is exercised by a society without explicitly stating these rules and is expressed through customs, norms, and mores
Mores

Mores are norm or convention s. Mores derive from the established practices of a society rather than its written laws. They consist of shared understandings about the kinds of behaviour likely to evoke approval, disapproval, toleration or sanction, within particular contexts....
. Individuals are socialized whether consciously or subconsciously. During informal sanctions, ridicule or ostracization can cause a straying towards norms. Through this form of socialization, the person will internalize these mores and norms. Traditional society
Traditional values

Traditional values refer to those beliefs, moral codes, and mores that are passed down from generation to generation within a culture, subculture or community....
 uses mostly informal social control embedded in its customary culture
Culture

Culture is difficult to define. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions....
 relying on the socialization
Socialization

The term socialization is used by Sociology, social Psychology and educationalists to refer to the process of learning one?s culture and how to live within it....
 of its members to establish social order. More rigidly-structured societies may place increased reliance on formal mechanisms.

Informal sanctions may include ridicule, sarcasm, criticism and disapproval. In extreme cases sanctions may include social discrimination
Discrimination

Discrimination toward or against a person or group is the treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit. It is usually associated with prejudice....
 and exclusion. This implied social control usually has more effect on individuals because they become internalized and thus an aspect of personality
Personality psychology

Personality psychology is a branch of psychology that studies personality and individual differences. One emphasis in this area is to construct a coherent picture of a person and his or her major psychological processes ....
.

As with formal controls, informal controls reward or punish
Punishment

Punishment is the practice of imposing something suffering on a person or animal, usually in response to disobedient or morally wrong behavior....
 acceptable or unacceptable behaviour (i.e., deviance
Deviance

Deviance can refer to a number of topics, including:*Deviance *statistical deviance—see deviance *a warez group...
). Informal controls are varied and differ from individual to individual, group to group and society to society. For example, at a women's institute
Women's Institutes (British)

The Women's Institutes are membership organisations for women in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Separate organisations, the Scottish Women's Rural Institute and the Federation of Northern Ireland Women's Institutes exist in Scotland and Northern Ireland, respectively....
 meeting, a disapproving look might convey the message that it is inappropriate to flirt with the minister. In a criminal gang, on the other hand, a stronger sanction would be applied in the case of someone threatening to inform to the police.

Formal social control


Formal social control is expressed through law
LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
 as statute
Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a country, state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy....
s, rules, and regulation
Regulation

Regulation refers to "controlling human or societal behaviour by rules or restrictions." Regulation can take many forms: law restrictions promulgated by a government authority, self-regulation, social regulation , co-regulation and market regulation....
s against deviant behavior
Deviant Behavior

Deviant Behavior is an interdisciplinary journal which focuses on social deviance, including criminal, sexual, and narcotic behaviors.The journal is published by Taylor and Francis, Inc., and was ranked 41st out of 46 psychology journals and 46th out of 90 sociology journals in 2004 by the Institute of Scientific Information Journal Cit...
. It is conducted by government
Government

Government is the body within any organization that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws, regulations, or rules. Typically, the government refers to a civil government -- local, provincial, or national -- but commercial, academic, religious, or other formal organizations are also administered by governing bodies....
 and organization
Organization

An organization is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, which controls its own performance, and which has a boundary separating it from its environment....
s using law enforcement
Law enforcement

Law enforcement may refer to:...
 mechanisms and other formal sanctions
Sanctions (law)

Sanctions are wikt:penalty or other means of wikt:enforcement used to provide wikt:incentive for wikt:obedient with the law, or with rules and regulations....
 such as fines and imprisonment. In democratic societies the goals and mechanisms of formal social control are determined through legislation
Legislation

Legislation is law which has been promulgation by a legislature or other governing body. The term may refer to a single law, or the collective body of enacted law, while "statute" is also used to refer to a single law....
 by elected representatives and thus enjoy a measure of support from the population and voluntary compliance.

Applications of social control theory


According to the propaganda model
Propaganda model

The propaganda model is a theory advanced by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky that alleges systemic biases in the mass media and seeks to explain them in terms of structural economic causes....
 theory, the leaders of modern, corporate-dominated societies employ indoctrination
Indoctrination

Indoctrination is the process of wikt:inculcate ideas, attitude , cognition or a professional methodology. It is often distinguished from education by the fact that the indoctrinated person is expected not to question or critical thinking the doctrine they have learned....
 as a means of social control. Theorists such as Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky

Avram Noam Chomsky is an United States linguistics, philosopher, cognitive science, political activist, author, and lecturer. He is an Institute Professor emeritus and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology....
 have argued that systematic bias
Bias

Bias is a term used to describe a tendency or preference towards a particular perspective , ideology or result, especially when the tendency interferes with the ability to be impartial, unprejudiced, or Objectivity ....
 exists in the modern media. The marketing
Marketing

Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large....
, advertising
Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to Purchasing or to consume more of a particular brand of Product or Service ....
, and public relations
Public relations

Public relations is the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics. Public relations - often referred to as PR - gains an organization or individual exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment....
 industries have thus been said to utilize mass communication
Mass communication

Mass communication is the term used to describe the academic study of the various means by which individuals and entities relay information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time....
s to aid the interests of certain business elites. Powerful economic and religious lobbyists have often used school systems and centralised electronic communications to influence public opinion
Public opinion

Public opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population. The principle approaches to the study of public opinion may be divided into 4 categories:...
. Democracy is restricted as the majority is not given the information necessary to make rational decisions about ethical, social, environmental, or economic issues.

In order to maintain control and regulate their subjects, authoritarian
Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism describes a form of government characterized by an emphasis on the authority of the state in a republic or union. It is a political system controlled by nonelected rulers who usually permit some degree of individual freedom....
 organizations and governments promulgate rules and issue decrees. However, due to a lack of popular support for enforcement, these entities may rely more on force and other severe sanctions such as censorship
Censorship

Censorship is the suppression of freedom of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful or sensitive, as determined by a censor....
, expulsion
Expulsion

Expulsion may refer to:*Expulsion , removing a student from a school or university*Expulsion from the United States Congress*Deportation, the expulsion of someone from a country...
 and limits on political freedom
Freedom (political)

Political freedom is the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of coercion or aggression. The members of a free society would have full dominion over their public and private lives....
. Some totalitarian
Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is a concept used to describe political systems whereby a state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private life. Totalitarian regimes or movements maintain themselves in political power by means of an official all-embracing ideology and propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, single-party st...
 governments, such as the late Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
 or the current North Korea
North Korea

North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula....
, rely on the mechanisms of the police state
Police state

The term police state describes a state in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic and political life of the population....
.

Sociologists consider informal means of social control vital in maintaining public order, but also recognize the necessity of formal means as societies become more complex and for responding to emergencies. The study of social control falls primarily within the academic disciplines of anthropology
Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humans and humanity in its totality. Anthropology has origins in the natural sciences, and the humanities. In Great Britain it was originally divided into physical anthropology and cultural anthropology, which itself was divided into archaeology, technology, ethnology and sociology ....
, political science
Political science

Political science is a social science concerned with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior....
, and sociology
Sociology

Sociology is a branch of the social sciences that uses systematic methods of Empiricism and critical theory to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social structure and activity, sometimes with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare....
.

See also


  • Social order
    Social order

    Social order is a concept used in sociology, history and other social sciences. It refers to a set of linked social structures, social institutions and social practices which conserve, maintain and enforce "normal" ways of relating and behaving....
  • Social change
    Social change

    Social development redirects here. For the aspect of human biological development, see psychosocial developmentSocial change is a general term which refers to:...
  • Social relations
  • Social construct
  • Sexual meanings
    Sexual meanings

    Sexual meanings are the meanings that are attributed, by a particular cultural-social-historical context, to sexual acts and broadly to all the aspects of the erotic dimension of human sexual experience....
  • Social engineering
    Social engineering (political science)

    Social engineering is a concept in political science that refers to efforts to influence popular attitudes and social behavior on a large scale, whether by governments or private groups....
  • Mass surveillance
    Mass surveillance

    Mass surveillance is the pervasive surveillance of an entire population, or a substantial fraction thereof. Mass surveillance is used in varying contexts, and in some cases may occur regardless of whether or not consent of those under surveillance is given, and may or may not serve the interests of those whom are monitored....
  • Criminal justice
    Criminal justice

    Criminal justice is the system of practices, and organizations, used by national and local governments, directed at maintaining social control, Deterrence and controlling crime, and sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties....
  • Ethics
    Ethics

    Ethics is a word for a philosophy that encompasses proper conduct and good living. It is significantly broader than the common conception of ethics as the analyzing of right and wrong....
  • Informal social control
    Informal Social Control

    Informal social control, or the reactions of individuals and groups that bring about conformity to norms and laws, includes peer pressure and community pressure, bystander intervention in a crime, and collective responses such as citizen patrol groups....
  • Shame society
    Shame society

    A shame society is one in which the primary device for gaining control over children and maintaining control over adults is the inculcation of shame and the complementary threat of ostracism....
  • Guilt society
    Guilt society

    A guilt society is one in which the primary method of social control is the inculcation of feelings of guilt for behaviors that the society defines as undesirable....


External links


  • - Outline of an undergraduate course.
  • - Summary of ideas.