Social control
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Social control refers to social mechanisms that regulate individual and group behavior, leading to conformity and compliances to the rules of society. Social control is present in all societies, if only in the control mechanisms used to prevent the establishment of chaos or anomie.
Informal social control denominates customs, traditions, norms and other social values inherited by the individual. It is exercised by a society without explicitly stating these rules and is expressed through custom, norms, and mores using informal sanctions such as criticism, disapproval, guilt and shaming. In extreme cases this may even include social discrimination and exclusion. This implied social control usually has more control over individual minds because they become ingrained in their personality. Traditional society uses mostly informal social control embedded in its customary culture relying on the socialization of its members to establish social order. More rigidly-structured societies may place increased reliance on formal mechanisms.
Formal social control is expressed through law as statutes, rules, and regulations against deviant behavior. It is conducted by government and organizations using law enforcement mechanisms and other formal sanctions such as fines and imprisonment. In democratic societies the goals and mechanisms of formal social control are determined through legislation by elected representatives and thus enjoy a measure of support from the population and voluntary compliance.
According to the propaganda model theory, the leaders of modern corporate dominated societies employ indoctrination as a means of social control. Several intellectual figures such as Noam Chomsky have argued on the existence of systematic bias in modern medias. The marketing, advertising, and public relations industries have thus been said to utilize mass communications 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. 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 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, expulsion and limits on political freedom. Some totalitarian governments, such as the late Soviet Union or current North Korea, rely on the mechanisms of the police state.
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 within the academic disciplines of anthropology, economics, history, law, political science, psychology, and sociology.
[edit] See also
- Elections
- Politics
- Social order
- Social change
- Social relations
- Social engineering
- Mass surveillance
- Criminal justice
- Ethics
