Informal social control —
the reactions of individuals and groups that bring about conformity to norms and laws
—includes peer and community pressure, bystander intervention in a crime, and collective responses such as citizen patrol groups.
Informal social control reflects
the ability of local neighborhoods to supervise the behavior of their residents and the capacity of neighborhoods to socialize their residents conventionally
(Bursik 1988; Bursik and Grasmik 1993; Sampson and Groves 1989).
Formal social controls are
actions that regulate human behavior that are based on law
. Informal social controls are those that serve the same purpose of regulating human behavior but are not based on laws.
What is a informal control system?
Informal management control systems
are always unwritten and implicit
. … Examples of informal management control systems are unwritten norms about good behaviour of managers and employees, loyalties, shared values, organisational culture and ethics, mutual commitments among managers and employees.
Informal control typically involves
an individual internalizing certain norms and values
. This process is called socialization. The social values present in individuals are products of informal social control, exercised implicitly by a society through particular customs, norms, and mores.
Informal social control —the reactions of individuals and groups that bring about conformity to norms and laws—includes
peer and community pressure, bystander intervention in a crime, and collective responses such as citizen patrol groups
.
Examples of formal social control include
the government
. The government uses laws and courts to exercise social control. The government tries to protect those following the rules and capture and punish those who do not. Governmental social control goes beyond the legal system.
Informal social control, or the reactions of individuals and groups that bring about conformity to norms and laws, includes
peer and community pressure, bystander intervention in a crime, and collective responses such as citizen patrol groups
.
- (a) Direct social control:
- (b) Indirect social control:
- (a) Organised social control:
- (b) Unorganised social control:
- (c) Spontaneous social control:
- (d) More spontaneous social control:
- (a) Positive social control:
- (b) Negative social control:
These reactions, and thus examples of informal social control, include
anger, disappointment, ostracism, and ridicule
.
What are the basic elements of control?
- the characteristic or condition to be controlled.
- the sensor.
- the comparator.
- the activator.
Formal social control takes into consideration a larger area ( a state or a nation),
informal
however deals with community problems. The formal way is professional and more effective because it doesn't differentiate a class, sect, ideology, but the informal way can be biased at times.
Social control is
necessary to protect social interests and satisfy common needs
. If social control is removed and every individual is left to behave freely so-ciety would be reduced to a state of lawlessness.
Some sociologists have classified the social control into informal and formal means.
Sympathy, sociability, resentment, the sense of justice, public opinion, folkways and mores
are some of the informal means of social control. They are very powerful in primary social groups where interaction is on a personal basis.
- It is an influence exerted through social suggestions, public opinion, religion and appeal.
- Influence is exercised by society bitterly than a single person or individual, such groups may be in the form of a family, union, club etc.
Agents of social control could be defined generally as
any person or group of persons who attempts to manipulate the behavior of others through the use of formal or informal sanctions or rewards
. The importance of social control in any society is obvious.
