Social control is
necessary for maintaining order in the society
. It is necessary for every soci-ety or group to maintain its social order and this is possible only when its members behave in accordance with that social order. An important objective of social control is to maintain the old order.
According to Kimball Young the aims of social control are to
bring about conformity, solidarity and continuity of particular group or society
.
The major functions of social control are:
It forces persons to get obeyed social decisions
. 2. It maintains the equilibrium and stability in the society.
- (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:
Social control refers to societal and political mechanisms that regulate individual and group behaviour in an attempt to gain conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state, or social group. Sociologists identify two basic forms of social control –
informal control and formal control
.
Nye focused on the family unit as a source of control and specified three types of control:
(1) direct control, or the use of punishments
and rewards to incentivize particular behaviors; (2) indirect control, or the affectionate identification with individuals who adhere to social norms; and (3) internal control, or …
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.
- 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.
According to Katharine Greenaway and her colleagues (2015), social groups
help us feel supported and esteemed
, as we might expect, but they also help us feel capable. With the support and the esteem comes a stronger sense of personal control over our lives.
Social control is achieved
through social, economic, and institutional structures
. Societies cannot function without an agreed-upon and enforced social order that makes daily life and a complex division of labor possible.
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.
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.
DIRECT SOCIAL CONTROL:
The attempts to punish or neutralize–render powerless–organizations or individuals who deviate from society’s norms
.
The most effective form of social control is not laws, police, and jails. Rather, it is
the internalization of the moral codes by the members of society
.
- The Penal technique.
- The grievance remedial technique.
- The private arranging technique.
- The constitutive technique.
- The administrative regulatory technique.
- The administrative regulatory technique.
- Fiscal technique.
Family is
an important agency of social control
. It is the first place where an individual is socialized. He learns various methods of living, behavior patterns, convention etc. Through these, mechanism family forces the individual to conform the custom, folkways and modes of the group.
