Issues and debates: social control (soc)

Question 1

INTRO

Social control

Answer 1

• Social control, often exercised by those with power, regulates behaviour to enforce conformity. It can be overt or covert, influencing individuals or groups.
• Psychology, a method of understanding human behaviour, has been accused of controlling the population. This understanding can be used for societal good or other purposes.

Question 2

A01 & A03 (can be used for social control)

Answer 2

A01:
- Maintaining a stable society is a useful form of social control. Therefore, understanding factors affecting obedience can help give insight into how to prevent unacceptable control of others.
- The social structures are hierarchical to promote harmony and an organised society, suggesting we have evolved a predisposition towards control and obedience for the benefit of survival.

A03:
Milgram (1963)
- demonstrated that authority figures can elicit control over others to commit actions they may not normally do, leading to individuals being controlled by those in power.
- For example 65% participants administered 45OV to the learner when the experimenter in a lab coat instructed them to.

Question 3

A01 & A03 (can’t be used for social control)

Answer 3

A01:
- Moreover social psychology can also be used for social control in a helpful way by understanding how prejudice occurs, methods can be put in place to reduce prejudice.

A03:
Sherif (1954/1961)
- Superordinate goals can help groups in conflict work together and reduce out-group hostility, as seen in the Robbers Cave field experiment. Showed that when the Rattlers and Eagles worked together to fix a water tank, hostility dropped significantly
- Social identity theory suggests the mere existence of another group elicits prejudice, making social control through observed differences ineffective. This knowledge could be exploited to deliberately increase prejudice for social control.

Question 4

Judgement

Answer 4

Overall the use of social psychology in social control can be judged as more useful, as it provides tools for leaders to use to increase harmonious interactions between subgroups in society.