Social control

Social control

How peoples behavior is controlled. The process of regulation during socialisation, insuring people conform to the culture

Formal social control

Social control implemented by authorised agents, like the police. It has rigid rules, ideologies, and morals. E.g. legal system, military, government, mass media, church, Covid, education. Not all formal social control is negative

Informal social control

Social control expressed through norms and customs. Informal social control is more effective in smaller group settings. It is seen in family, peer groups and social aspects of work. Informal social control examples could be grounding, gossiping, exclusion

Sanctioning

Mechanisms of social control that enforce norms and values of a community

Michael Focault

Compared modern society to a panopticon prison, where a guard can observe a large number of prisoners and the prisoner are unable to know if they are being watched or not