Social Control

• Agencies of socialisation


  Mechanisms of social control, ways through which our behaviour is controlled
• Sanctions


  Used to positively reinforce a behaviour in order to encourage it or to negatively reinforce a behaviour, to discourage it
• Formal mechanisms of social control

  • Police
  • Courts and the criminal justice system
  • Government
  • Military
• Formal mechanisms of social control


  • Pass enforcements of the law, these institutions directly control behaviour of the population
  • In the UK, it's rare the military is used to control citizens
  • The workplace can be seen as a form of formal control, in terms of codes and conducts
• Sanctions used by formal mechanisms of control

  • Warnings from police
  • Sentences from the court
  • Dismissal from work
  • Exclusion from school
• Formal social control


  Explicit and obvious
• Formal mechanisms of control

  • The RSA (government, armed forces, police, criminal justice system)
• Informal mechanisms of social control

  • Peer group
  • Education
  • Religion
  • Family
  • Workplace
  • Media
• Sanctions used by informal mechanisms of control

  • Socially excluding someone from a social group
  • Disappointed reactions from parents
  • Being passed over in promotion at work
  • Having your account deleted on social media
• Informal control


  May be less obvious, but just as influencing as formal control
• Informal mechanisms of control


  • The ISA (family, media, religion, education)