Download Means of Social Control Presentation Script

Slide 1:
Socialization and Social Control are instrumental in determining if humans will either
work with each other or against each other. And norms are what guide socialization and
social and control. So let’s take a quick moment to just remember a little bit about
norms. They are the rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its
members and influences their attitudes. Basically norms are the society’s blueprint for
behavior that are drawn out using mores, folkways and laws. But one thing that you must
always remember about norms is that they are extremely place and time specific. On a
smaller scale, norms vary by setting- your expected behavior in a church is very different
than your expected behavior at a party. On a larger scale, norms vary by countrycountries have different cultures that influence the content of their mores, folkways and
laws. –A woman can sunbathe without a top on many beaches in Europe without worry
of condemning stares or indecent exposure tickets- that’s not the case on most American
beaches. Norms also vary by time- the same beach that a woman can sunbathe on in a
bikini now is the same beach that she would have been chased off of if she tried that
activity in the same bikini one hundred years ago. As norms change, so too does
socialization and accompanying social controls.
Slide 2:
Those people or organizations that have the means to affect others’ thoughts and
behaviors are often seen as agents of social control. No matter how much norms,
socialization and social control have changed over the centuries or over the miles, most
sociologists agree that agents of social control could be and still can be categorized by
their motives. Those include exploitative, regulative and creative or constructive. An
exploitative motive is aroused by self-interest. This doesn’t always have to be bad- a
parent using sanctions to control a child’s behavior might be aroused by self-interest (no
one wants their child to embarrass the family in public) but have positive results in the
interest of the child. Or a government might use social control to preserve the state of the
government, but it will also result in order for the individual member of society. A
regulative motive is inspired by habit and the desire to see behaviors based on custom.
The creative or constructive motive is based on the concept of behaving according to
social benefit.
Slide 3:
For the most part, the why an individual acquiesces to social control is a question for
psychology- the field that studies the individual over the community. However,
sociologists are interested in the “why” as well. Does the community allow social
controls to exist for a logical reason such as to strengthen and preserve the community?
Or does the community accept social controls for an emotional reason such as to protect
our loved ones? For sociologists, it seems that communities do both. More time is spent
on studying the actual determinates of social control and on studying which means are the
most productive. E. A. Ross identified certain determinate factors most used for social
control throughout history. Naturally, he only covered the history prior to his death in
1951- so he might be very surprised by what more recent sociologists would add to his
list. Ross’s list included public opinion, law, custom, religion, morality, folkways and
modes. Do you agree with this list or would you add or remove something to the list?
Slide 4:
Since Ross, many sociologists have studied the means of social control in an effort to not
only identify which were more successful, but also to determine why. Karl Mannheim, a
Hungarian-born sociologist of the first half of the twentieth century determined there
were two means of social control. The direct and the indirect- direct social control came
from social institutions and primary groups while indirect social control came from
secondary groups, customs, traditions and public opinion. Luther Lee Bernard, an
American sociologist of Mannheim’s time, distinguished between social controls as
either destructive or constructive. Those means that used punishment, reprisals,
intimidation or repression to change thoughts or behavior, he deemed destructive.
Constructive social control, on the other hand, he found in revolutions, customs, laws,
education, social reform and non-violent coercion. He also felt that social control could
be either conscious (and in the form of law, education, public opinion, and coercion) or
unconscious (and in the form of custom, tradition and convention.) Charles Horton
Cooley (a 19th and early 20th century American sociologist) agreed with the conscious
and unconscious divide- but his list of conscious social control was comprised of law,
propaganda, and education and his list of unconscious included religion, customs and
traditions. Another early 20th century American sociologist, E. C. Hayes broke social
control down by sanctions and suggestions. He saw social control in the form of
sanctions when rewards or punishments were used to mold behavior. But he saw social
control in the form of suggestions through imitations in education and socialization (he
thought the latter was the more successful of the two.) Lastly, another early 20th century
American sociologist, F. E. Lumley distinguished the means of social control by those
that were through physical force versus those that were through human symbolism
(especially as seen in language, religion and rituals.) What does all of this mean? It
means that contemporary sociologists living at the same time in the same community did
not see social control the same way and that it is okay, possibly even expected, for
humans to never see social control in the same way. But we continue to study it so as to
better understand why and when it works and how it impacts society.
Slide 5:
There are several types of Group Social Interaction and social control is particularly used
in four of them. Sociologists study how social control affects adaptation, cooperation,
accommodation and competition. Adaptation refers to changes that occur in order to
maintain various aspects of a social system’s culture or structure or to aid in survival.
The agents and means of social control support an individual’s quest to adapt to the
society’s norms. Cooperation involves individuals or groups working together for the
achievement of their individual or collective goals. This is the interaction that works for
the mutual benefit of the members of a society and the agents and means of social control
help bring about the benefits. Accommodation refers to several sorts of working
agreements between rival groups that permit at least limited cooperation between them
even though the issues dividing them remain unsettled. Through the agents and means of
social control people can make an adjustment to hostile individuals or groups which
allows them to work together. Competition is
the rivalry between two or more persons or groups for an object that is
desired in common. It usually results in a victor and a loser but not
necessarily involving the destruction of the latter. In fact, the agents and means of social
control are responsible for not allowing the destruction of the latter. As you can see in all
of these examples, social control benefits society by helping to hold it together.
Slide 6:
But sociologists aren’t just interested in the benefits of social control- they also study the
negative results from efforts to modify thoughts and behaviors. Due to the presence of
more or effectiveness of some social controls over others, some communities excel while
others do not. Sometimes, different elements of the same community excel while others
do not. This is referred to as cultural lag and is the fact that some cultural elements
change more quickly than others disrupting a cultural system. Another pitfall is the
presence of some many different agents of social control using so many different means
that the possibility of conflicting messages can be sent. A parent tells a child never to
talk to a stranger but a school tells a child to talk to a police officer or guidance counselor
if the child is scared or feeling threatened. Which social control agent does the child
listen to- which message does the child follow? Sometimes social control can lead to
mental conflict within an individual as the individual attempts to decipher conflicting
messages and determines the best individual course of action. With mental conflict,
another negative result emerges from social control- emotional instability. This emerges
when the individual cannot make sense of the various messages of social control and
feels lost within his or her own community. It also occurs when an individual is sure of
the right that he or she is to take but it goes against all of the social controls encountered.
Once again, you can see, that for the sociologist nothing is ever straight forward- there is
a lot of grey in the field.