Social Control (FINAL)

Question 1

Objective interests

Answer 1

Shine a spotlight on deviant acts and deviant people

- Cause and effect relationships: why do people act in deviant ways?

Question 2

Subjective interests

Answer 2

Shine a spotlight on our perceptions of and reactions to deviance
- Deviance and normality are socially constructed

Question 3

Powerful groups and social control

Answer 3

Moral entrepreneurs:

• Government
• Science
• Religion
• Media
• Commercial enterprise

Question 4

Social control

Answer 4

Regulation of behaviour by others

• Why do people follow informal rules and obligations?
• Use various strategies on a macro level to support conformity

Question 5

People do not merely think and interpret other people’s actions or respond to constraints and opportunities presented to them

Answer 5

People use many informal tactics to control one another, but these fall mainly into 2 categories:

• Rewarding desirable behaviour
• Withholding rewards for undesirable behaviour
• People toe the line to get more of the ‘good stuff’ and to avoid the ‘bad stuff’

Question 6

Marvin Olsen argues that all social organizations use social control to:

Answer 6

maintain their boundaries, regulate member activities, perform key functions, and perpetuate order

Question 7

What are the forms of social control?

Answer 7

Formal vs informal

Retroactive vs preventative

Regulation of others vs self-regulation

Question 8

How do we regulate social behaviour?

Answer 8

Through social sanctions and social management

Question 9

What are the strategies of social control?

Answer 9

• Threat
• Persuasion
• Shame and guilt (and gendered expressions)
• Gossip
• Exclusion
• Corporal punishment

Question 10

Threat

Answer 10

A warning of imminent danger or harm

Othering: the process of generating fear of a threat from outsiders (like the social construction of a problem)

Question 11

Persuasion

Answer 11

The process of convincing the listener to take a specific course of action
- Uses claims-making to persuade people to act

Question 12

Shame and guilt

Answer 12

Shame: conditions a person to behave in particular ways to avoid undesirable emotions including disgrace and embarrassment
Guilt: remorse felt for rule breaking or committing a shameful act

Question 13

Gendered expressions

Answer 13

The use of shame and guilt in mediating socially constructed gender roles

Question 14

Gossip

Answer 14

Spreads information that can create shame, guilt, or ridicule
- Works best in tight social networks and communities of like-minded people

Question 15

Exclusion

Answer 15

Removal of people from a social group or refusal to allow people to join a social group

• Works as a means of social control because it has an emotional effect on those who are ostracized
• Imprisonment is the most extreme example/threat

Question 16

Corporal punishment

Answer 16

Penalties against the body, mind, or spirit

• Usually seen in families with other forms of social control
• Sections 43: force that “does not exceed what is reasonable under the circumstances”

Question 17

More likely to see these group form when there are scarce resources available

Answer 17

In-groups and out-groups

- Results in more social control

Question 18

In-group members

Answer 18

Those who belong to a group

In-group members typically draw boundary separating themselves from members of out-group

• Competition for scarce resources
• Motivation to protect self-esteem

Question 19

Out-group members

Answer 19

Those who are excluded from the in-group