AC2.1 Social Control Theories

Question 1

What are the two types of social control?

Answer 1

Internal and External social control

Question 2

What is Internal social control?

Answer 2

Controls over our behaviour from within ourselves.

Question 3

What is the key term for internal social control?

Answer 3

Rational Ideology

Question 4

What does the personality refer to?

Answer 4

Enduring characteristics and behaviour that comprises a person’s uniqueness, such as traits, interests, drives, values, self concept, abilities and emotional patterns.

Question 5

What do values refer to?

Answer 5

Things that you believe are important to the way you live and work.

Question 6

What do values do?

Answer 6

They should determine your priorities, and deep down, they’re what tell you if your life is turning out how you wanted it to.

Question 7

What is rational choice theory?

Answer 7

Rational choice theory insists that crime is calculated and deliberate

Question 8

What is rational Ideology a combination of?

Answer 8

Personality and values

Question 9

Who proposed the idea of the Id, ego and Superego?

Answer 9

Sigmund Freud

Question 10

What did Freud suggest the Id was?

Answer 10

The most primitive part of the mind that represents instinctual drives and desires.

Question 11

What does the Id operate on?

Answer 11

The pleasure principle, it seeks immediate gratification, regardless of consequences

Question 12

What are the key characteristics of the Id?

Answer 12

Unconscious

Focused on satisfying urges

Impulsive and irrational

Demands instant pleasure or avoids pain

Question 13

What did Freud suggest the Ego was?

Answer 13

The rational, decision-making part of the psyche that develops to mediate between the Id and the external world

Question 14

What did Freud suggest the Ego’s function is?

Answer 14

It balances the Id’s demands with reality

Question 15

What does the Ego operate on?

Answer 15

The reality principle, it considers social norms, rules and consequences

Question 16

What are the key characteristics of the Ego?

Answer 16

Partly conscious, partly unconscious

Uses logic, reasoning and problem solving

Acts as the “executive” of personality, moderating the Id’s impulses to avoid harm or social rejection

Question 17

What did Freud say the Superego is?

Answer 17

The moral conscience and ethical component of the psyche

Question 18

What did Freud say the Superego function is?

Answer 18

To be a combination of the id and ego, be a balance between the two that shows how a person’s early life represents how they are as a human being

Question 19

What does the Superego operate on?

Answer 19

The morality principle, it guides behaviour to align with moral standards

Question 20

What are the key characteristics of the Superego?

Answer 20

Partly conscious, partly unconscious

Strives for perfection and judges actions

Can impose guilt, shame or pride based on behaviour

Question 21

How is the Superego divided into two parts?

Answer 21

The id - Child like thoughts, I want I want

The Ego - the morally good

Question 22

What is internalisation?

Answer 22

Internalisation means taking social norms, roles and values into one’s own mind. Society was sen as the primary factor responsible for how individuals learned to think and behave

Question 23

What are the agencies of control of external control?

Answer 23

Peers, Family, Criminal Justice System and School

Question 24

What is Coercion as a form of social control?

Answer 24

The practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats.

Question 25

What was Travis Hirschi belief on social bonds?

Answer 25

“Delingquent acts occur when a individuals bond to society is weak or broken”

Question 26

What is a social bond?

Answer 26

A social bond is a relationship between people or groups based on shared feelings, interests or group experiences.

Question 27

What do social bonds say about commitment?

Answer 27

If we share goals like getting a good job, we lead convention law abiding lives

Question 28

What do social bonds say about involvement?

Answer 28

The more involved we are in conventional lives and society the less likely we are to commit crime

Question 29

What do social bonds say about attachment?

Answer 29

Bonds with other people - if we are about people we stick to the rules of life together - we have empathy for others and understand the consequences of our own behaviour on others

Question 30

What do social bonds say about beliefs?

Answer 30

If we have been socialised to believe it’s right to obey the law, we are less likely to break it.

Question 31

What did Gottfredson and Hirschi say about the importance of parenting?

Answer 31

Low self-control is a major cause of crime and may result from poor socialisation. Where moral values are not internalised and there is inconsistent or absentee parenting

Question 32

What did Walter Reckless say about containment?

Answer 32

Effective socialisation from parents can provide containment of criminal tendencies. It build self control