Means of Social Control

Sociologists often classify the social control in two means:

1. Informal means of social control

2. Formal means of social control

1. Informal means of social control

In large groups, relationships are close, direct and intimate. Social control is often maintained through informal mechanisms such as customs, traditions, folkways, traditions and religions. These are adopted forms of informal groups. The informal way of social control includes established and accepted institutions with regard to socialization, education, family, marriage, religion, etc.

That is why this method of verification is based on the approval or disapproval of those around us that our assessment is important to us. So the three main groups that fall into this category are;

a.      Family:

Our core study of norms and values is taught in the area of the family. So the family has a very important role in socializing us and that is why it gives us an identity. In this area we have learned the basic ethics of society and we learn to develop conscience. The family controls us in a very small way - unless we are as bad as possible where the sentence is clear and pronounced.

b.      Folkways:

Folkways are standards that individuals follow. It is customary to do so. Adoption of folkways is not enforced by law or any other social agency. It is the informal acceptance of established skills in every group or society. For example, eating habits in North and South India are different and these habits often persist even when people move to another location away from him / her former environment.

c.       Mores:

The Mores refer to moral behavior as distinct from the usual practice of folkways. They influence the value system of a society and have a form of social regulation aimed at maintaining social order. Mores endeavor to control the relationship between individuals in specified situations, such as women and men, parents and children, students and teachers, etc. They may also refer to general social relations in terms of honesty, honesty, hard work, discipline, etc. Since mores are consciously designed and created with a view to their care, violations often have penalties. These are perhaps the most powerful mechanisms of informal control over society.

d.      Friends:

In sociology, the term "age group" is often used as a replacement for the term "friends". A peer group is a group of people of the same age as we associate. Peer groups often do not teach us to be informal.

e.       Work Colleagues:

Like peer groups, but colleagues are more likely to abuse the way they can control us.

f.       Customs:

Customers are the established training of people, which are spontaneously but gradually established. Along with the regulation of social life, they also bind them. In primitive societies, customs are powerful forms of social control, but in modern times they have been weakened by an increase in the forces of rationality and diversity.

g.      Religion:

Religion is a strong, even unpredictable, influential influence on its supporters. Emile Durkheim refers to religion as a unified system of beliefs and practices about sacred things. Those who have common beliefs and practices are united by religion in the same moral community.

2. Formal Means of Social Control

The second form of control is formal social control. In sociology, these institutions are called organizations or systems that carry the strict rules, ideologies and morals that we often have to follow. The formal way of social control comes from institutions such as state, law, education and legitimate powers. They apply urgent proposals in the event of destruction.

a.      Law:

In primitive societies groups follow similar activities and share direct, personal and intimate relationships with themselves. Folkways, mores and customs are enough to control individual behaviors. There was almost no doubt about the informal mechanism of social control. There is no doubt the most obvious type of social control in society. The law is the most powerful institution in terms of social control. These include the police and the courts. It is now necessary and possible to regulate individual behavior by forming a set of common laws that are supported by the state's legal, administrative and political apparatus. The laws and enforcement authorities are changed by customs and rules as behavioral regulators and ensure social order and control. People have roots in customs, traditions, religions and judicial decisions. That is why they often have moral dimensions. The moral dimension and the fact that laws are supported by legal and institutional arrangements allow them to conduct behavior on human behavior. Laws with both legal and legal support are easily accepted.

b.      Education:

Education is often mentioned as a way of controlling the way in which morality and citizenship are taught to students. It is often referred to as the Hidden Curriculum; a curriculum you are learning without really thinking about it. Along with the laws, education is a vital agency for social control. It prepares the child for social life and teaches him the values ​​of discipline, cooperation, tolerance and fellowship. Educational institutions at all levels pass through knowledge and ethics through formalized courses and behaviors of behavior. The different levels of the education system in different societies depend on the changing social, developmental and social needs. However, in the inauguration of the industrial revolution, the focus has changed as social development leads to a greater need for knowledge in other creative areas and management practices. In schools, ideas about democracy, secularism, equality and national goals are being introduced to students, in addition to our shared history, culture, heritage, customs and values.

c.       State:

State roles are important in managing social control. Sociologists describe the state as "an organization that is primarily designed to maintain order and security, to exercise universal jurisdiction within territorial boundaries, through laws supported by violence and recognized as the most powerful authority ". State functions by government. Modern nations are trying to be welfare states, that is, they want to offer citizens a wider range of social services, such as education, medical care, age pensions and loss benefits of work. These are achieved through the cooperation of individuals and through the collective efforts of the media, civil society and other social institutions.

a.      Health Service:

At first it may seem strange to suggest that Health Service is a system of social control; but the memory, when we talk about social control, we do not necessarily have to talk about negative controls, social control also illustrates positive control

b.      Mass Media:

Mass media influence us by giving behavioral models that we have copied while condemning other 'different' behavioral modes. It is something that we will look at a later stage; In fact, it can be said that the media play an increasingly important role in shaping public opinion than ever before.