Social control

Social control controls the behavior, attitudes and actions of individuals to balance their social
situation. Man is born free but in chains everywhere he lives. A person living in a society has to
adopt certain rules and regulation. These are the social norms on which the whole society is
running. For smooth functions and running of these norms these controls are necessary. It
regulates harmony and brings unity among individuals of the same group. It also affects
socialization process.

Social control is exercised through individuals and institutions, ranging from the family, to
peers, and to organizations such as the state, religious organizations, schools, and the workplace.
The origins of the discussions of social control can be traced back to the writings of such social
philosophers as John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as well as classic
social theorists such as Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber, among others. Today,
social-control researchers continue to design and refine our understanding of social order and
how it is maintained as well as the conditions under which it fails to do so.

According to Fairchild, It is the process which helps a society to secure conformity to individuals
as well as groups.

Horton & Hunt says that social control is a complete process where a society provides security to
its members and conformity to their prospects.

Mannheim says, it is the collection of methods which can help to influence human behavior to
retain social order.

Ogburn and Nimkoff have said that social control refers to the patterns of pressure which society
exerts to maintain order and established rules”.

According to Maclver,” Social control is the way in which entire social order coheres and
maintains itself – how it operates as a whole, as a changing equilibrium.

Need of Social Control:

Social control is necessary for an orderly social life. The society has to regulate and pattern
individual behaviour to maintain normative social order. Without social control the organization
of the society is about to get disturbed.
According to Kimball Young, it is necessary “to bring about conformity, solidarity and
continuity of a particular group or society”.

Necessary of Social control

1. Regulation of Individual Social Behaviour:

Social control is necessary in order to regulate the individual behaviour in accordance with the
social objectives and social values. Social control is necessary for the society in order to exist
and progress.

2. Obedience to Social Decisions:

Society takes certain decisions. These decisions are taken in order to maintain and upheld the
values of the society. Through social control attempt is made to get the social decision obeyed.

3. To Establish Social Unity:

Unity is not possible without social control. Social control regulates the behaviour of individuals
in accordance with established norms which brings uniformity of behaviour and brings unity
among the individuals.

4. To bring Solidarity:
Social control is to create the feeling of solidarity in the minds of people. In the competitive
world, the weaker group may be exploited by the stronger group or equally powerful groups may
clash among themselves. This affects the harmony and order. Some groups may develop anti-
social attitudes and pose danger to the organization of the society. Therefore, there is necessity
for the different groups and institutions.

[Link] Check Cultural Maladjustment:

Society is continuously undergoing changes. The individual has to adjust his behaviour
according to changes taking place in the society. But all the individuals cannot adjust themselves
to new situations. Some may become deviants. Thus, social control is necessary to cheek
maladjustment of individuals.

Karl Mannheim, the famous social thinker, has categorized social control under the following
two heads:
(a) Direct social control,

(b) Indirect social control.

(a) Direct social control:

That type of social control which directly regulates and controls the behaviour of the individual
is called Direct Social Control. This type of control is to be found in family, neighbourhood,
play-groups and other types of primary groups. In these institutions, parents, neighbours,
teachers, classmates etc., keep control over the behaviour of the individuals.

(b) Indirect social control:

In this type of social control distant factors keep control over the behaviour of the individual.
Such a type of control is exercised by secondary groups through customs; traditions, rationalized
behaviour etc. and public opinion are important forms of indirect social control.

Means of Social Control:

Social control becomes formal and informal.
Informal means of Social Control:
1. Norms:
Norms are rooted in the institution. They provide the standard of behaviour and are regulatory in
character. The choice of individual for striving towards the cultural goal is limited by
institutional norms. These provide the guideline for action. The norms give cohesion to the
society.

2. Value:
It consists of culturally defined goals. It is held out as a legitimate object of realization for all or
for diversely located members of the society.

3. Folk Ways:
Folk are a people with a community sense. They have a uniform and a common way of living.
This constitutes the folkway. These are, according to F.B. Renter and C.W. Hart, “simple habits
of action common to the members of the group; they are the ways of folk that are somewhat
standardized and have some degree of traditional sanction for their persistence”. These in the
interest of communal life and uniformity are accepted binding. Disregard shown to these brings
forth disapprobation.

4. Mores:
Mores are such folkways as are based on value judgment and are deeply rooted in the community
life. Any disregard shown to these invokes sanction. According to Green, mores are “Common
ways of acting which are more definitely regarded as right and proper than the folkways and
which brings greater certainty and severity of punishment if violated…”
5. Custom:
Custom is “a rule or norm of action.” It is the result of some social usefulness. It is followed as it
involves sentiment based on some rational element.

6. Belief System:
Belief system has deeply influenced man’s behavior. It has provided the sanction to the social
norms and conditioned the growth of culture. It has worked as a means of informal social
control. Some of the beliefs hold a significant place in the social system.

9. Religion:
It includes those customs, rituals, prohibitions, standard of conduct and roles primarily
concerned with or justified in terms of the supernatural and the sacred. Religion is powerful
agency of social control. It controls man’s relations to the forces of his physical and social
environment. The extent to which religion controls the behaviour of men depends upon the
degree to which its adherents accept its teachings.

10. Art:
It is a method of sublimation and redirection of the instinct of an individual. It is a combination
of religion, morality, ideal and so many things. Art is an indirect and inadvertent manner which
trains the child or an individual for either way of life.

Formal Means of Social Control:

1. Education:
Education is a great vehicle of social control. After the family, it is the class room, the peer
group and the leaders which exercise influence on a child by our ancients. Education inculcates
moral, intellectual and social values in individuals. It imparts a sense of continuity.

2. Law:
Law is for all practical purposes, as observed by Professor Holland “a general rule of external
action enforced by a sovereign political authority”. It is the general condition prescribed by the
State, and the members of body politic are expected to follow it in given conditions. It is uniform
and is meant for all.

3. Coercion:
Force as a means of social control is as ancient as the society itself.

Agencies of Social Control:

There are various agencies through which social control is exercised. They are ‘executive’
agencies through which norms function effectively.

1. Family:
Family is a very important instrument agency of social control. On the one hand it socializes an
individual and on the other it trains him about social behaviour. Family prescribes rules and
regulations that the members have to follow. Family teaches the child to conform to the norms of
the society. It exercises control over its members to bring about the desired action.

2. State:
The state, as the society’s overall regulative system, is the chief agency of social; control. It
exercises control over its members through legislations, the police, the armed forces and the
prisons. State is the agency of society that exercises its social control in the most effective
manner.

3. Educational Institutions:
The educational institutions – schools are powerful agencies of social control and these
institutions are committed to the molding of citizens. Formal education in modern societies
communicates ideas and values which play a larger part in regulating behaviour. Education
teaches to conform to the norms of the society. Education provides a conscious teaching
programme that assists society in socializing children so that they will absorb its values, beliefs
and norms.

4. Neighborhood:

The neighborhood reinforces the individual family as an agency of social control. In the
neighbourhood group controls traditionally take the form of mores. They are kept alive and
enforced by the older members of the locality.

5. Public Opinion:

Opinion of the people is the most important method of social control in a democratic set up.
Every man tries to escape from the criticism and condemnation by the society. In a democratic
set up, public opinion is more effective and important than any other agency.

6. Propaganda and Press:

Propaganda is the deliberate effort to control the behaviour and relationships of social groups
through the use of methods which affect the feelings and attitudes of the individuals who make
up the group. Radio, television, press and literature not only influence the ideas of the people but
also bring about the changes in the way of life and way of thinking.

7. Economic Organization:

With the rise of modern industrial organization, the increase in the size of communities, a shift in
the distribution of social control among the major institutions has occurred. The fear of losing a
job compels an individual to follow the rules and regulations of the industry.

Conclusion

Social control refers to a culture's or society's regulation of behaviors using the norms and values
that are inherent in that society. Social control is the active or passive process of a group
regulating itself according to its beliefs, principles, and values. A major purpose of social control
is to stop or prevent negative deviance, which is a break from established laws and values that
may be damaging to others.