W5: Social control and conformity

• Social - people's interaction and influence
• Control - to act in a certain way
• Conformity - acceptable act or manner
• When the person violates the behavioral norms of his/her society, he/she will be subjected to corresponding social sanctions.
• Social sanctions can be formal and informal
• Formal sanction includes fine, imprisonment, and death
• Informal sanction includes disapproval, ridicule, gossip, and deprivation
• Deviance - there are some instances when some individual behave in contrast with what is expected of them
• Deviance is the violation of established social norms, whether, folkways, mores, or laws
• Folkways is the right vs rude
• Mores is the right vs wrong. It is heavier (taboo topics)
• Laws is the right vs illegal
• Deviance is not always negative. Creating differences is innovation. Hence, inventors/discoverers are deviant geniuses.
• The forms of deviance are:

  • Ritualism
  • Innovation
  • Retreatism
• Robert King Merton was an American sociologist who is considered a

  founding father of modern sociology, and a major contributor to the

  subfield of criminology. He served as the 47th President of the American Sociological Association.
• Conformity - accept the goal, accept the means
• ritualism - reject the goal, accept the means
• retreatism - reject both the goal and the means
• Innovation - accept the goal, reject the means
• Rebellion - might be accepting or rejecting the goals and/or the means