Social Control Flashcards
Social control
Every society has its methods of making its members conform they are methods of social control. They ensure that most people conform to societies norms and values. In order for social order to exist shared norms and values must be enforced.
Formal- organisations that exist solely to in force order.
Informal- Based on a range of sanctions such as negative comments/looks.
THE dispute is who benefit from this social control?
Functionalists say
without social control there would be anomie Hirshi states CABI is the reason why people don’t commit crime.
Marxist
State the criminal justice system operates for the benefit of the ruling class.
Box
Agrees with hirshi that its the release from social control that causes people to commit crime BUT the bonds they are attached to benefit the capitalism system. Weaked bonds by
Secrecy- get away with crime e.g. white collar
Skills- requires planing a knowledge
Supply- obtain equipment
Support- people who agree with the values and support the crime.
Cohen states a number of changes in social control
Penetration- Increasingly the law is expected to penetrate through society, by schools and media.
Size and density- The scale and control in modern society is huge. (employment)
Identify and visibility- Control and punishment used to be more obvious now its more subtle.
Feeley and Simon
Actuarialism is a term from insurance companies this is the stress of social control has changed from controlling deviant behaviour to preventing potential deviant behaviour. So they look at who is likely to commit crimes and act against them.
Punishment (Durkhiem)
Found that a system of law exists that after informal control there is formal when is passes the boundary line. In complex societies there is restitutive law with imprisonment and in less complex its retribution.
Punishment - Marxist ( Rusche and Kircheimer)
Say that laws do reflect the interests of the powerful the ruling class used imprisonment as a form of slavery making them do manual work etc. The prisons train people into long hours, poor conditions and unemployment is “mopped up” by prison.
Foucault (Pomo)
Stated that punishment has shifted from body to mind. It used to be they have go against God and savagely punished now experts are used so the person can fully internalise the need to conform.
The police
The main agency responsible for the enforcement of social control is the police they are the arm of the state who’s aim is to maintain public order.
Consensual approach (functionalist)
Police have a close relationship with the community and the role of the police is to represent their interests, offenders are caught as a result of complains made by the community.
Conflict approach (Marxist)
The police are an occupying force they are imposed on working class and ethnic minority communities. The police only reflect the interests of the powerful. This is reflecting in operation solstice.
Police discretion
Police officers need to used discretion with the laws, this has an effect on the different groups in society.
Reiner
Identified explanatory categories of police discretion.
Individualistic- An individual police officer has specific interests and claims this leads to police racism applied to laws harshly on ethnic minorities. (LINK macpherson report - Stephen)
Occupational culture- canteen culture isolated from peers so they all have same stereotypes. They adopt a racist and sexist attitude as a way of “fitting it”
Non-political but have values that uphold state usually conservatives.
Marxist stress
That the very definition of the law is biased in favour of powerful and against the working class do they see working class as a crime and ignore white collar.
