SCO - The Ties that Bind Lesson

The Ties that Bind Lesson

In 1901, sociologist E. A. Ross published Social Control . His work studied the means of societal stability throughout time in which he argued that there were fundamental inherent sentiments that "human nature can furnish in the cause of social harmony." According to Ross, the deep-rooted human feelings of sympathy, sociability, and sense of justice were the inherent reasons people could live together in a society.

Ross's Inherent Means of Social Control

Move through the activity below to learn Ross's arguments on how sympathy, sociability and sense of justice worked to bring about social harmony.

In the end, though, Ross determined that as communities grow in complexity, "the group does not make the ties; the ties make the group;" and that the work of law, education, public opinion, religion and literature made up an "art of domesticating human beings" that replaced the natural sentiments that led to a concordance of people.

What we lack in "natural" characteristics that encourage order, we gain through socialization. As you learned in the previous module, we undergo planned, and at times spontaneous, socialization through our experiences with our primary and secondary groups. Positive socialization, which is the type of social learning that is based on pleasurable and exciting experiences. Negative socialization, which is when punishments, harsh criticisms or anger are used to pass on social learning. Either way, socialization is crucial in passing on the expectations of a society to its new members and in avoiding the repercussions of anomie (Emile Durkheim created the concept of anomie. While Durkheim enjoyed watching his world change into one that allowed more individual freedoms, he worried about what would happen to a society that simply stopped providing moral guidance to its members. He recommended that societies strive to maintain a balance between the new freedoms and the old instructions so that they didn't suffer from anomie- which he likened to a precursor of death for any society.) If the point of socialization is to guarantee the continuation of social order from generation to generation, then social control comes into play as its sidekick. We are all familiar with the role of a sidekick and that is to complete what is lacking in the hero. In fact, twentieth century sociologist Richard Lapiere once stated that "social control is ... a corrective for inadequate socialization." Social control is the "sidekick" of socialization.

Internal vs. External Social Control

There are two types of social control:

Internal vs. External Social Control
Internal Social Control	External Social Control
Internal social control comes from the individual. This is what people learn through the process of socialization, the right and wrong that you are taught by your parents and your society. How you use this information is up to each individual. If Sigmund Freud was to identify the internal social control- he would point out the ego and the super-ego. If Walt Disney was to weigh in- he would point out Jiminy Cricket. Also, the three agents that Ross identified- sympathy, sociability and sense of justice- were all internal agents; however, he did not link these with socialization but rather with man's nature.	External social controls are based on social sanctions - this is because some people do not follow the internal social controls like they should. Social sanctions are rewards and punishments to encourage good behavior in a society. There are positive sanctions such as awards, money, promotions and praise. There are also negative sanctions like prison, fines, punishments or ridicule. Notice that among sanctions- there are both the physical and the non-physical. With regard to negative sanctions- a fine or term in prison is labelled as physical while ridicule is not. Formal forms of social control come from known and deliberate social institutions such as education and politics (law). Formal social controls are usually exercised by secondary groups such as law enforcers or army (politics) and teachers or principals (education) and are based on laws, rules, and regulations. There are informal social controls as well. These stem from social institutions (such as family) as well as agencies that grow with the needs of a society (social media, for instance). Informal social controls are usually exercised by primary groups through the following of folkways, mores, customs or other social norms. Social control becomes formal when the process becomes structuralized into an institution- for example, defriending someone on Facebook or no longer following a person on Instagram because that person is bullying others is an informal means of social control. However, if a government passes a law prohibiting cyber-bullying, the process of social control is now a formal one.

So what or who have the means of social control? The answer is almost anybody or anything. Those with the means of social control are the agents of social control and can be any individual or thing with the power to encourage patterns of thought and behavior within society. In many ways, the agents of social control are the same as the agents of socialization you learned about in the previous module; but, again, in many ways, they are different. To identify the agents of social control, you should look to see if they have the means. Formal means of social control include law, education, coercion (the use of force, both physical and non-violent...for example non-violent physical coercion are found in peaceful boycotts or strikes when one group applies financial pressure on another in an attempt to change a pattern of thought or behavior). Informal means of social control include customs, traditions, folkways, modes, religion, beliefs, social suggestions, ideologies, art and literature, humor and satire, ridicule, and praise. These informal means of social control are most effectively used within primary groups.

Means of Social Control

Based on the means of social control, one can create a brief and probably incomplete list of the most influential agents of social control based on the fact that the following are responsible for passing on values and norms and have the means to influence behavior and thought.

Agents of Social Control: Interactive Detective Story

Now that you know what to look for and why- see if you can spot the agents and means of social control in the following scenarios.

Means of Social Control

Sociologists are interested in understanding the basis of conformity, whether it comes from an altruistic origin or an outside source of social control. If they determine an outside source, they then study the uses and impacts of social control means. Naturally they tend to identify certain characteristics and develop comparisons. Watch the presentation below to learn how different sociologists, over time, viewed social control.

So what does all of this mean? Are we just animals that are trained through socialization and the administering of social controls? Are we automatons that blindly follow the social order as it is presented to us? Is the social order that results from our socialization and social controls a fixed order that never changes? The answer is no. We are humans. We naturally balk against that with which we don't agree and we change that which is in need of changing. However, the topics of deviance and social change are for later modules.

Social Control Key Terms Review Activity

Before you take your key terms quiz, practice your knowledge of the terms and their definitions with the activity below.

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