Topic 5 - Forms & Tactics of Social Control

Question 1

External Forms of Social Control

Answer 1

Definition of External Social Control:
It comes from outside of yourself and from other people in society. Skinners theory of operant conditioning is the individualistic theory that explains this behaviour.

Agencies of Social Control:
- Family = Curfew
- Peers = pressure and judgement
- Education = detention and exclusions
- religion = ex-communication
- criminal justice system = prison and fines

Positive Sanctions - a hard working student getting an award
Negative Sanctions - parents grounding a child for being expelled

The existence of the CJS (criminal justice system) creates a fear of punishment to maintain social control.

Question 2

Internal Forms of Social Control

Answer 2

Definition of Internal Social Control:
It controls over our behaviour that comes from within ourselves which includes certain things such as our personality and values

5 key areas of internal social control:
1. internalised social rules and morality
2. rationality and rational choice theory
3. moral conscience and superego
4. cultural traditions
5. control theory

Socialisation is the process of learning what behaviour is acceptable in society through social interaction.

Internalisation means integrating specific values and beliefs into a persons identity, it is thought that by integralising values into a persons identity you will be able to predict their moral character.

Rational ideology - through correctly internalising society rules through effective socialisation and we develop the ability to make rational decisions.

Rational Choice Theory - suggest that humans are rational beings who weigh up the cost and reward of an action. According to this theory, criminals chose to behave criminally and they think the benefits of committing a crime outweighs the potential cost of getting caught

Moral Conscience & Superego:
Freud suggested that we have 3 parts to our mind which forms our personality. Id - our basic instinctive impulses, Ego - our ability to make reasoned and rational choices, Superego - our moral conscience. We obey the society rules because the superego tells us to do it and it tells us what is right or wrong and can inflict guilt if we fail to do so.

Question 3

Control Theory

Answer 3

Travis Hirsch argued that people conform because they are controlled by their bonds to society which can keep them from deviating. He suggests that individuals bond to society has four elements:

1. Attachment - the more attached we are to people in society, the more we care about their opinion and therefore we obey the law to please them and respect their norms.
2. Commitment - the more committed we are to conventional goals, the more we risk if we were to get involved in crime, so we are more likely to conform
3. Involvement - the more involved with conventional, law-abiding activities, the less time and energy we will have to get involved in crime
4. Beliefs - if we have socialised to believe that it is right to obey the law, we are less likely to break it

Parenting:
many control theorists emphasise the importance of parents in creating bonds to prevent offending. Riley and Shaw - found that a lack of parental supervision was an important factor in delinquency. Parents should involve themselves in teenagers lives.

Question 4

Institutional Tactics

Answer 4

Definition - these are approaches taken by different institutions to maintain social control. It is used by police, CPS, Courts & Judiciary, HM prison service and national probation service

Disciplinary Procedures: formal institutions of social control use disciplinary procedures to help maintain social control

Prisons (rule making) - prisons have a range of rules that have to be followed which results in punishments if they are not followed including things such as do not threaten other inmates.

Sanctions for Rule Breaking - for example such as getting a caution, privileges taken away, cellular confinement

IEPs - such as televisions, own clothes and having more visits from friends and family

Staged Discipline:
police use a staged disciplinary procedure to punish offenders - particularly low level offenders. Punishments such as cautions, discharge, community sentences. The probation service allows for minor infractions of conditions before referring an offender back to court

Question 5

Environmental Tactics

Answer 5

If you take any preventative measures you have considered that is possible to prevent crime by altering the environment. The same approach is used by agencies of social control to stop crime taking place.

It is possible to design crime out by manipulating the surrounding environment. This can be done in 2 ways: limiting an offenders opportunity to offend and allowing people to control their spaces

There are certain spaces in society that they cannot be defined from crime as these are places in which no one takes responsibility for them or own them is known as indefensible spaces.

Defensible spaces are owned and observed and have a lot of people around to take responsibility and these included things like public parks, shopping centres. Defensible spaces are defendable due to four things:
- territoriality
- natural surveillance
- safe image
- safe location

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED):
the 5 key principles of CPTED =
1. natural surveillance - public can see it, well lit, no hiding spot
2. natural access control - controlling ways of entering a building
3. territory reinforcement - distinguishing public + private properties
4. maintenance - well maintained areas are less likely to be targeted
5. target hardening - physical security making it more difficult for people to even enter