4.2.4B: Informal Social Control
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Social control refers to societal processes that regulate individual and group behaviour in an attempt to gain conformity.
Learning Objectives
- Give examples of the difference between informal and formal means of social control
Key Points
- Informal control typically involves an individual internalizing certain norms and values. This process is known as socialization.
- Formal means of social control typically involve the state. External sanctions are enforced by the government to prevent chaos, violence, or anomie in society. Some theorists, such as Émile Durkheim, refer to this form of control as regulation.
- The social values present in individuals are products of informal social control, exercised implicitly by a society through particular customs, norms, and mores. Individuals internalize the values of their society, whether conscious or not of this indoctrination.
- Contemporary Western society uses shame as one modality of control, but its primary dependence rests on guilt, and, when that does not work, the criminal justice system.
Key Terms
- conformity : the ideology of adhering to one standard or social uniformity
- sanction : a penalty, or some coercive measure, intended to ensure compliance; especially one adopted by several nations, or by an international body
- compliance : the tendency of conforming with or agreeing to the wishes of others
Social Control
Social control refers to societal and political mechanisms that regulate individual and group behaviour in an attempt to gain conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state, or social group. Sociologists identify two basic forms of social control – informal control and formal control.
Formal Control
Formal social control typically involves the state. External sanctions are enforced by the government to prevent chaos, violence, or anomie in society. An example of this would be a law preventing individuals from committing theft. Some theorists, like Émile Durkheim, refer to this type of control as regulation.
Informal Control
Informal control typically involves an individual internalizing certain norms and values. This process is called socialization. The social values present in individuals are products of informal social control, exercised implicitly by a society through particular customs, norms, and mores. Individuals internalize the values of their society, whether conscious or not of this indoctrination.
Informal sanctions may include shame, ridicule, sarcasm, criticism, and disapproval, which can cause an individual to conform to the social norms of the society. In extreme cases, sanctions may include social discrimination, exclusion, and violence. Informal social control has the potential to have a greater impact on an individual than formal control. When social values become internalized, they become an aspect of an individual’s personality.
Informal sanctions check ‘deviant’ behavior. An example of a negative sanction is depicted in a scene in ‘The Wall,’ a film by Pink Floyd. In this scene, a young protagonist is ridiculed and verbally abused by a high school teacher for writing poetry in a mathematics class. Another example occurs in the movie ‘About a Boy. ” In this film, a young boy hesitates to jump from a high springboard and is ridiculed for his fear. Though he eventually jumps, his behaviour is controlled by shame, not by his internal desire to jump.
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