SCO - Social Control Overview

Social Control Overview

Social Control Word Cloud The child first comes into contact with the expectations of a society. A child learns society's norms and how to conform to them. Every culture, subculture and group has distinctive norms, which control appropriate behavior in a society. How do sociologists identify these norms for our societies? Why are norms different depending on where a person lives and who is in charge? What are the consequences when socialization is not enough to instill a desire to follow the norms? The term social control refers to the techniques and strategies for regulating human thoughts and behavior in any environment or society. Social control occurs on all levels of society; whether it is with the government or the family. There are rules that have to be followed so that confusion does not reign. Socialization and social control work together so that society does not suffer from chaos and disintegration.

Essential Questions

How does a society bring about acceptance of social norms?
How does obedience differ from conformity?
How does sociology explain the creation of norms and laws?
What bonds members of society to each other?
Why do we accept social controls into our lives?
What differentiates internal social control from external social control?
What roles do our family, schools, neighborhoods, media and government play in our social control?

Key Terms

Accommodation - several sorts of working agreements between rival groups that permit at least limited cooperation between them even though the issues dividing them remain unsettled; the adjustment of hostile individuals or groups
Adaptation - changes that occur in order to maintain various aspects of a social system's culture or structure or to aid in survival
Altruism - an orientation that emphasizes individual choice and decision-making in determining behavior
Anomie - Emile Durkheim's term for a condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals
Beliefs - ideas about the nature of reality; specific thoughts and ideas that people hold to be true
Coercion - interaction in which individuals or groups are forced to behave certain ways
Competition - rivalry between two or more persons or groups for an object desired in common, usually resulting in a victor and a loser but not necessarily involving the destruction of the latter
Conformity - doing what everybody else is doing in order to "fit in" with society; compliance or acquiescence
Cooperation - individuals or groups working together for the achievement of their individual or collective goals; activity shared for mutual benefit
Cultural Lag - some cultural elements change more quickly than others, disrupting a cultural system
Custom - a rule or norm of action; followed due to sentiment based on reason but lagging in its ability to change quickly with the times
E. A. Ross - (1866-1951) an American sociologist particularly well-known for his work on criminology and as author of Social Control: A Survey of the Foundations of Order
External Social Control - the societal attempts to regulate a person's thoughts and behaviors; stems from social sanctions
Folkways - norms that lack moral significance but are still widely observed by members of society which lead to a uniform and common way of living; norms for routine or casual interaction
Formal Social Control - social control carried out by authorized personnel in a society
Group - a sociological term for people who interact with one another and think of themselves as belonging together
Ideal Culture - an abstract guideline of the characteristics that a culture should embody; how people should behave
Ideology - social determination of thinking
Informal Social Control - social control carried out informally by a person or thing that is not in a position of authority; the type of sanction carried out in every day interactions with other people
Internal Social Control - the individual attempts by a person to regulate his or her own thoughts and behaviors; stems from socialization
Law - a norm that is formally defined and enforced by government officials
Mores - norms that have moral dimensions and should be followed by members of a society; widely observed with great moral significance, the breaking of which results in harsher sanctions than that of folkways
Negative Sanctions - the punishments given to discourage not following societal norms; socially constructed expressions of disapproval
Negative Socialization - a type of socialization that occurs when others use punishment, harsh criticisms or anger to try to "teach a lesson"
Norms - rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members and influences their attitudes; a society's blueprint for behavior that includes mores, folkways and laws
Obedience - compliance with authority figures to the norms and rules of society; dutiful or submissive compliance
Planned Socialization - process of socialization that occurs when people take actions designed to teach or train others
Positive Sanctions - the rewards given to encourage following societal norms; socially constructed expressions of approval
Positive Socialization - the type of social learning that is based on pleasurable and exciting experiences
Primary Group - a group of people who are emotionally close, know one another well, and seek one another's company
Real Culture - actual behavior patterns of a culture; how people do behave
Sanctions - rewards and punishments used to regulate social behavior; the means of social control
Secondary Group - a group of people who have gathered together for a function or task
Social Bonding Theory - a sociological theory that states there are four basic elements of social bonds: attachment, commitment, involvement or beliefs within an individual's society or subgroup that lead the individual to bond with fellow members; Travis Hirschi
Social Control - the techniques and strategies for regulating human thoughts and behavior in any environment or society
Travis Hirschi - (1935- ) an American criminologist who focused his study on juvenile delinquency and developed the Social Bonding Theory which he later adapted to the Control Theory
Values - culturally defined ideas about what is good or desirable that are shared by people in a society and that serve as broad guidelines for social living; lead to culturally defined goals that are "worth striving for"

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