Topic 2.1 - Explain forms of social control

Question 1

What is social control?

Answer 1

Social control involves persuading or compelling people to conform to society’s norms, laws and expectations

Question 2

Why is social control needed in society?

Answer 2

For society to function smoothly, people need to behave more or less as others expect them to. Imagine the chaos, for example, if the bus driver decided today to take their bus to the seaside, passengers and all, instead of following the normal route so that people could get to work, school or the shops - or if the postman decided to post all the mail to just one address in each street

Question 3

What are the two forms in which society achieves control over its members’ behaviour?

Answer 3

• Internal forms of social control
• External forms of social control

Question 4

Internal forms of social control

What is meant by ‘internal forms of social control’?

Answer 4

These are the controls over our behaviour that come from within ourselves - from our personalities or our values - also forms of self-control. They lead us to conform to the rules of society and the groups that we belong to because we feel inwardly that it is the right thing to do

Question 5

Moral conscience or superego

According to Freud, why do we conform to society’s expectations?

Answer 5

Because our superego tells us to do so

Question 6

When does our superego develop?

Answer 6

Develops through early socialisation within the family, as a sort of internalised ‘nagging parent’ telling us how we ought to behave

Question 7

What is the function of the superego?

Answer 7

Its function is to restrain the selfish, ‘animal’ urges of the id. If we acted on these urges, they would often lead us to into anti-social and criminal behaviour. The superego allows us to exercise self-control and behave in socially acceptable ways. Our superego tells us what is right and wrong and inflicts guilt feelings on us if we fail to do as it urges

Question 8

Tradition and culture

Give two examples of a religious tradition to which members of a community conform. In each case state the name of the religious community

Answer 8

The culture to which we belong also becomes part of us through socialisation. We come to accept its values, norms and traditions as part of our identity. For example, believers follow the religious traditions that they have been raised in, such as the Muslim tradition of fasting during Ramadan or the Jewish tradition of sharing the Shabbat (Sabbath) evening meal. Conforming to such traditions is an important way of affirming one’s identity and being accepted as a member of a particular community

Question 9

Internalisation of social rules and morality

What is meant by ‘internalisation of social rules and morality’?

Answer 9

Both our superego and the traditions we follow become part of our inner self of personality. Yet both of them start as things outside of us - either as our parents’ rules and values in the case of the superego, or as those of our culture or social group in the case of tradition

Question 10

Socialisation

How do we internalise rules through socialisation?

Answer 10

We internalise whether from our parents or from wider social groups and institutions such as religion, school and peer groups. In this way, society’s rules and moral code become our own personal rules and moral code. As a result, we come to conform willingly to social norms

Question 11

What is meant by ‘Rational ideology’?

Answer 11

Internalising society’s rules and using them to tell us what is right and wrong. This enables us to keep within the law

Question 12

External forms of social control

How does society ensure that we conform to its expectations and keep to its rules?

Answer 12

Through the use of agencies of social control

Question 13

What are ‘agencies of social control’?

Answer 13

Organisations or institutions that impose rules on us in an effort to make us behave in certain ways - includes family, peers and the education system

Question 14

Describe an example of how each of the following can control our behaviour:

• Parents
• Friends
• Teachers

Answer 14

• Send a naughty child to bed
• Shun someone who tells lies
• Give a disruptive student a detention

Question 15

How does the use of sanctions link to Skinner’s operant learning theory?

Answer 15

All of these are examples of negative sanctions (punishments), agencies of social control can also give positive sanctions (rewards) to those who conform like a hardworking student earning gold stars. Both positive and negative sanctions help impose control - links to Skinner’s operant learning theory of behaviour reinforcement - punishments deter undesired behaviour and rewards encourage acceptable behaviour

Question 16

The criminal justice system

What powers to use formal sanctions do the following agencies have to make individuals conform to laws?

• The police
• The CPS
• Judges and magistrates
• The prison service

Answer 16

• Have powers to stop, search, arrest, detain and question suspects
• Can charge a suspect and prosecute them in court
• Have powers to bail the accused or remand them in custody, and to sentence the guilty to a variety of punishments
• Can detain prisoners against their will for the duration of their sentence, and punish prisoners misbehaviour eg by placing them in solitary confinement to control behaviour

Question 17

Describe an example of a positive sanction used by formal agencies of social control

Answer 17

• Good behaviour by prisoners may earn them more privileges and earlier parole
• Assisting the prosecution is more likely to earn an offender a lower sentence

Question 18

Coercion

What is meant by ‘coercion’?

Answer 18

Involves the use or threat of force in order to make someone do (or stop doing) something. Force may involve physical or psychological violence, or other forms of pressure

Question 19

Give an example of coercion used by the criminal justice system

Answer 19

Sending someone to prison for stealing is a form of coercion aimed at preventing further offending (if only for the period that the thief is in jail)

Question 20

Fear of punishment

Briefly explain why fear of punishment acts a form of coercion

Answer 20

It involves the threat that force will be used against you if you do not obey the law. For example, if you commit an offence you may be arrested, charged, convicted and jailed - all against your will

Question 21

Deterrence

What do some theorists, such as right realists, argue?

Answer 21

They argue that the fear of being caught and punished is what ensures that many would-be criminals continue to obey the law. In other words, fear acts as a deterrent

Question 22

Control theory

What is the key question for control theorists?

Answer 22

Why do people obey the law? The answer given by control theorists such as Travis Hirschi is that people conform because they are controlled by their bonds to society, which keep them from deviating. Hirschi argues that ‘delinquent acts occur when an individual’s bond to society is weak or broken’.

Question 23

What are the four elements of an individual’s bond to society according to Hirschi?

Answer 23

Attachment - The more attached we are to others, the more we care about their opinion of us, the. more we will respect their norms and the less likely we will be to break them. This is especially true of attachments to parents and teachers

Commitment - How committed are we to conventional goals such as succeeding in education and getting a good job? The more we are committed to a conventional lifestyle, the more we risk losing by getting involved in crime, so the more likely we are to conform

Involvement - The more involved we are in conventional, law-abiding activities, like studying or participating in sports, the less time and energy we will have for getting involved in criminal ones. This is part of the justification for youth clubs: they keep young people off the streets and busy with legal activities

Beliefs - If we have been socialised to believe that it is right to obey the law. we are less likely to break it

Question 24

Parenting

What do many control theorists emphasise the role of?

Answer 24

The role of parenting in creating bonds that prevent young people from offending

Question 25

According to Gottfredson and Hirschi, what is a major cause of delinquency?

Answer 25

Low self-control is a major cause of delinquency, and this results from poor socialisation and inconsistent or absent parental discipline

Question 26

According to Riley and Shaw, what three things should parents do?

Answer 26

• Involve themselves in their teenagers’ lives and spent time with them
• Take an interest in what they do at school and how they spend time with their friends
• Show strong disapproval of criminal behaviour and explain the consequences of offending

Question 27

What does Walter Reckless point to the importance of?

Answer 27

Parenting and socialisation

Question 28

According to Reckless, what can psychological tendencies lead to? But what can effective socialisation do?

Answer 28

Criminality

Question 29

What does Reckless argue external controls, such as parental discipline, can provide?

Answer 29

‘External confinement’

Question 30

What have feminists used the control theory to explain?

Answer 30

Women’s low rate of offending

Question 31

According to Frances Heidensohn, how does social control prevent women from offending?

Answer 31

Heidensohn argues that patriarchal (male-dominated) society controls females more closely, making it harder for them to offend. For example, women spend more time on domestic duties, leaving them less opportunity to engage in criminality outside the home

Question 32

According to Pat Carlen, why do some women offend?

Answer 32

Pat Carlen found that females who do offend had often failed to form an attachment to parents because they had suffered abuse in the family or been brought up in care