2.1 Forms of Social Control Flashcards
Social Control
How society persuades people can conform to norms, laws and expectations using various means.
Forms of social control can be both internal and external.
Internal Control
The control comes from within an individual
Social rules and morality that is internalised by members of a society, therfore do not commit crimes.
External Control
The control comes from external sources
External factors prevent people from commiting the crime, such as speed cameras or the police.
Formal forms of Social Control
- Based on written rules and laws
- Commonly associated with the way the state regulates and controls the actions and behaviour of the public
- The Houses of Parliament make law to regulate behaviour
- Police forces enforce law to maintain order and investigate crime
- The Courts deal with offenders and sentence those found guilty
- The Prison serviceconfines prisoners, to punish and deter others from committing crimes
Informal forms of Social Control
- Based on unwritten laws and processes, such as approval or disapproval of others
- Family, friends or work colleagues
*Enforced by social pressure - Positive or Negative sanctions
- Positive - gifts or praise
- Negative - punishment
- Family
- Education system
- Peer groups
- Work
- Mass media
- Religion
Internal forms of social control
Moral Conscience or Superego
Freud - The superego tells an individual what is right and what is wrong and inflicts guilty feelings when it is not followed.
Developed through early socialisation, the superego restrains the anti-social id and gives us self-control, making us behave in socially acceptable ways
Internal forms of social control
Tradition and Culture
The culture or tradition that an individual is raised within becomes a part of an individual through socialisation. It leads to an individual accepting its values, norms and traditions. Religious traditions area good example, as they affirm an individuals identity, and acceptance as a member of a community, csuch as chrch to a Christian or Shabbos to a Jew.
Internal forms of Social Control
External to Internal
The conscience and superego, and culture and tradtion begin as external forms of control, and eventually becomes internalised through Socialisation and Rational Ideology.
If moral codes are internalised, and individuals are tied into moral and social norms in order to have a part in the wider community, therefore voluntarily limiting their desire to commit deviant acts.
Socialisation
Society’s rules become our own personal rules/ moral codes, therefore we confirm to society’s norms
Rational Ideology
How an individual internalises social rules, and use them to tell what is wrong and right, enabling a person to keep within the law.
External forms of Social Control
Agencies of Social Control
Organisations or Institutions that impose rules in order to make individuals behave in certain ways:
* Family
* Peer Groups
* Education System
* Parents
This is done through positive and negative sanctions
External forms of Social Control
The Criminal Justice System
Contains several agencies of social control that have the power to use formal legal sanctions to provide conformity
* Police
Can stop, search, detain, arrest and question suspects
* CPS
Can charge a suspect and prosecute them in court
* Judiciary
Have power to bail the accused or remand them in custody, as well as sentence the guilty
* Prison Service
Able to detain prisoners against their will for the duration of their sentence and punish misbehaviour
Mainly provide negative sanctions, however some positives such as parole are offered.
Coercion
- The use of threat of force in order to make someone do or stop doing something. This may involve physical or psychological force, or other forms of pressure.
- The negative sanctions of the Criminal Justice System are examples
Coercion
CCTV
- A method used for social control. Camera’s occupy and record area’s and events as a replacement for an authority figure. it makes controlling the public easier, and police control of criminal easier also. Camera footage is also more reliable than eyewitness testimony.
- It also allows the individual monitoring the system to detemine whether a person is in danger, or if police assistance is needed to prevent criminal offending
- it gived police oppurtunity to prepare for a situation before attending the scene
- Acts as a deterrent to the general public
Coercion
Fear of Punishment
- A method of trying to acheive social control and make people conform to laws.
- it is a form of coercion due to the involement of the threat of force that may be used if the law is not obeyed. For example, if a crime is committed an individual may be; arrested, charged, convicted, and jailed, against their will.
- The fear of being punished acts as a deterrent and makes us conform.
- Some theorists (Right Realists), beleive the fear of being caught and punished ensures potential criminals continue to obey the law. (Fear acts as a deterrent)
Social Control Theory
Most Criminological theories ask why people commit crime, yet social control theory questions what causes people to obey the law, and looks for social factors that help peopel obey the law.
Social Control Theory proposes that individuals relationships, commitments, values, norms, and mores encourages them not to break the law
What is a
Norm
An acceptable behaviour within a society or culture, and what is considered to be polite or rude, such as ;
* Queueing
* Wearing black at funerals
* Giving up bus seats to the elderly
Norms differ between societies and cultures.
What is a
More
A moral belief, good or bad, that is deeply ingrained within a society or culture that influences behaiviour, for example ;
* Respect for the elderly
* Tipping in America
* Unconscious people don’t want tea
The essential or characteristic customs and conventions of a society or community
Social Bond Theory
Hirschi argues that delinquent behaviour occurs when an individual’s bond to society is broken or weakened.
According to Hirschi there are four elements to an individuals bond to society ;
* Attatchment
* Commitment
* Involvement
* Beliefs
Social Bond Theory
Attachment
The more attached an individual is to others, the more the opinions of otyhers will matter, and therefore the more a person will adhere to and respect the norms - Being less likely to break them. Especially seen towards parents and teachers.
Social Bond Theory
Commitment
The more committed an individual is to a conventional lifestyle, the more losses they face when getting involved with crime, therefore are more likely to conform
Social Bond Theory
Involvement
The more an individual is involved in conventional, law abiding activities, such as sport or studies, the less time and energy are given to committing criminal acts.
Social Bond Theory
Beliefs
If an individual has been socialised to obey the law,it makes them less likely to comit deviant or criminal acts
Parenting
Many control theorists emphasise the role of parenting in creating bonds that prevent young people from offending
Parenting
Hirschi and Gottfredson
They believe that low self control is a large cause of delinquency; as a result of poor socialisation, and inconsistent or absent parental dicipline
Parenting
Riley and Shaw
They argue that parents should;
* Involve themselves in their teenagers lives and spend time with them
* Take interest in what they do at school, and how they spend time with friends
* Show strong disaproval of criminal behaviour and explain the consequence of offending
Containment Theory
Reckless;
Points out the importance of parenting and socialisation.
He argues that everyone has psychological tendencies that may end in criminality, however effective socialisation can provide ‘internal containment’, by building self-control in order to resist the temptation to offend.
Also argues that external controls such as discipline can form external containment
Feminism
Feminists use control theory to explain the low rate of female offending
Feminism
Heidensohn
Argues that patriarchal society controls women more closely, making it jarder for them to offend.
Feminism
Carlen
Found that women whom offend often dis not have the oppurtunity to form attachment to parents due to abuse in the home or being brought up in care
