AC2.1

• Different things in our society to control our behaviour

  • CCTV
  • the laws
  • safety of other
  • police
  • religion
  • reputation
  • social norms
• laws = legislation to prevent crimes, followed by everyone with sanctions in place
• norms = what is expected from the society to keep people in line
• values = something you live up to and believe
• moral codes = what you believe is right and wrong
• formal sanction = given by a authorative figure
• informal sanction = not given by a authorative person
• social control - action that tries to persuade or compel people to conform to society's norms, rules, laws and expectations
• social control:

  • refer to any strategy for preventing deviant behaviour and chaos
  • for society to run smoothly people need to behave in expected ways expected of them by social cohesion and social solidarity
  • everyone in society is encouraged to conform to the law and any course of action that helps to achieve this is a form of social control
• internal social control - the process of internalising the norms and values of society and accepting them as valid. it operates through the process of socialisation that is learning and adopting the norms of society or a particular group within the society. it is expressed through our conscience and self-control
• external social control - societies effort to ensure we follow the laws/ rules as well as bring those who 'stepped outside the lines' back into line. it is made up of formal agencies using the system of rewards and punishments - sanctions that people and agents use to induce others to conform to the law/rules. thus a positive sanction is a reward and a negative sanction is a punishment
• types of informal forms of social control:

  • rational ideology - moral conscience and superego
  • socialisation- culture, religion and tradition
  • socialisation - internalisation of social rules and morality
• rational ideology:

  • is an idea or belief to achieve social control
  • a persons conscience guides them to reach a solution or follow laws and norms
  • relates to Freud's psychoanalytic theory - we conform to social expectations and norms because our superego tells us to
  • our superego tell us what is right and wrong and inflicts guilt feelings on us if we fail to do what the superego wants
• socialisation - culture, religion and tradition:

  • the culture to which we belong to becomes part of us through socialisation
  • we come to accept and conform to its values, norms and traditions as an important way of affirming our identity and being accepted as a member of the community
  • religion, culture or even upbringing ensures that you do not break the law
  • en example would be Christianity with the Ten Commandments
• socialisation - internalisation of social rules and morality:

  • through the process of primary and secondary socialisation we internalise these rules and norms from our parents or from wider social groups and institutions such as religion, school and peers
  • society's rules and moral codes become our own personal rules and codes
  • we gain a moral compass
• Durkheim supports the effectiveness of internal social control due to someone having less money then they would have different morals as to someone else due to their upbringing and so less money may result in stealing and so would result in stealing becoming the persons good moral
• Freud supports the effectiveness of internal forms of social control due to people's superego, ego and id which causes them to act a certain way due to listening to their conscience
• The internal forms of social control supports the nurture side of the debate as it is the upbringing of the person which leads to their morals
• Bowlby supports the effectiveness of internal forms of social control due to maternal deprivation so the person's morals will be affected due to them not having the correct socialisation as a child
• Bandura supports the effectiveness of internal forms of social control as he said how we learn through observing people around us which results in our behaviour
• examples of external forms of social control:

  • police
  • neighbourhood watch
  • CCTV
  • zero tolerance
  • gated communities
  • sex offenders register
  • death penalty
  • prison
• external forms of control work by acting in a way in which people are encouraged to act the right way
• the police maintain social control by making sure that the law is being followed by public
• CCTV maintains social control through the theory of surveillance where if people know they are being watched then they are less likely to commit a crime
• zero tolerance maintains social control by punishing all deviant behaviour more harshly to make sure that people don't reoffend and acts as a deterrence for other people
• death penalty maintains social control by going against human rights so will act as a deterrence
• neighbourhood watch have no powers of punishment only just to report crime to the police and this can maintain social control and reduces crime by encouraging people to look out for each other
• the sex offenders register maintains social control by acting as a deterrent and is a long term punishment which will decrease the amount of people getting on that list due to the fear of punishment
• prison maintains social control by acting a deterrent and creating the fear of punishment but this does not always work due to there being different reasons as to why people end up in prison
• types of external forms of social control:

  • agencies of social control - authority figures
  • Criminal Justice System agencies of social control
  • coercion
  • fear of punishment
• agencies of social control - authority figures

  • society has external forms of social control that aim to ensure we conform to social norms, expectations and rules
  • external forms of control are society's effort to control people's behaviour through a formal system of rewards and punishments
  • external agencies of social control are organisations or institutions that impose rules on us in an effort to make us behave accordingly
  • these agencies include the family, education system and peers
• why should we use both positive and negative sanctions to help impose social control?

  • because it creates a balance of what is right and wrong within society
  • reinforces actions through positive sanctions
  • negative sanctions shows the unaccepted behaviour within society
• how does positive and negative sanctions relate to Skinners theory?

  if there is a reward then people will continue to do good behaviour to get more rewards and if there is a negative effect from bad behviour such as a punishment then the person is less likely to repeat that behaviour
• criminal justice system agencies of social control:

  • the most obvious and visible form of external social control is exercised by people and organisations specifically empowered to enforce conformity to society's laws - agencies within the criminal justice system
  • police, judges and prisons are most obvious external agencies who have power to use formal legal sanctions against individuals in an attempt to make them conform
  • the mere presence of the police may ensure the vast majority of people conform
• explain what powers the police, judges and prisons have to compel people to conform?

  • police are able to make arrests and able to pass out negative sanctions such as fines and electronic tags and under PACE have the powers to stop and search
  • judges have the power to sentence you in a court and due to the sentence it may or may not cause you to commit a crime again
  • prison may make you appreciate what you had before hand as it can lead to a further sanction and/or solidarity confinement
• what positive sanctions can the justice system use to control behaviour?

  • prisoners can apply for parole
  • token economy
  • rehabilitation oppertunities
• coercion

  • involves the use or threat of force in order to make someone do something
  • force may involve physical or psychological violence and take the form of negative sanctions such as bodily injury, imprisonment, death penalty as it is aimed to prevent further offending
  • non-violent coercion includes strikes, boycotts and non-cooperation
  • courts and prisons clearly use coercion and the threat of loss of liberty. this can be seen in a suspended sentence or probation with the continued threat of custody for future breaking of the law
• does violent/physical coercion work as a form of social control?

  • yes - shows what can happen if people refuse to cooperate
  • no - cause people to rebel more due to the agencies abusing their powers and so mistreating the society
• fear of punishment:

  • external agencies use the fear of punishment as a method to ensure people abide by the law
  • in effect the fear of punishment is a form of coercion because it involves the threat that force will be used against you if do not obey the law
  • the fear of being caught and the threat and fear of punishment acts as a deterrent
  • individual deterrence is punishment imposed on offenders in order to deter or prevent them from committing further crimes
  • general deterrence is the fear of punishment that deters others from committing similar crimes
  • link to right realist policies
• right realist policies

  • mandatory minimum sentences
  • 'three strikes and your out
  • 'truth in sentencing' - policies to serve whole sentence rather than any remission and life means life