external forms of social control

• What is meant by external forms of social control?

  They involve organisations that impose rules on people to try and make them behave in certan ways. e.g: the police can arrest and detain people. Likewise, family, peers and teachers can give sanctions which can be positive or negative to impose social control
• What theory can be linked with external forms of social control?

  Skinner's operant learning theory
• How does the operant learning theory link with this form?

  punisgment deters undesired behaviour. This can be done through positive and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is where rewards encourage desired behaviour whereas negative reinforcement is when something unpleasent is taken away in response to a behaviour
• what are some forms of external forms of social control?

  coercion, fear of punishment, detterance
• What is meant by coercion?

  involves the use or threat of force in order to make someone do or not do something. It can be physical or non-vioelnt. For example the police and prison have the power to remove a person's freedom. This established a deterrent effect. People will be afraid of loosing their freedom, therfore will conform to society's norms.
• What is meant by fear of punishment?

  involves the threat that force will be used against you if you don't obey the law, for example deterrence. Deterrence can be individual and general.
• What is a theory that links with fear of punishment?

  Right realists argue that fear of being caught and punished is what ensures that many would-be criminals continue to obey the law, so fear is a deterrent.
• What does Hirchi argue about why people obey the law?

  people conform because they are controlled by their bonds to society which keep them from deviating. He argues that "delinquent acts occur when an individual's bond to society is weak or broken"
• What is the element of attachement?

  the more attached we are to others the more we will care about their opinion of us, will respect their norms and the less likely we are to break them
• What is the element of commitment?

  committed to a conventional lifestyle the more we risk losing getting involved in crime —> conform
• What is the element of involvement?

  the more we are involved in law abiding activities, such as studying or participating in sports the less time and energy we will have for getting involved in criminal ones
• What is the element of beliefs?

  if we have been socialised to believe that it is right to obey the law we are less likely to break it