Norms, rules, and laws are used to regulate the behavior of individuals and groups. This process, known as social control, can be either informal, as in the exercise of control through customs, norms, and expectations, or formal, as in the exercise of control through laws or other official regulations.
Formal social control is the regulation of society via normative standards based on official laws and social agencies. Thesesocial controlsexplicitly demand compliance, and tend to be repressive and punitive.
The concept of formal social control, prior to its rise to salience in academia, seems to have elicited attention in Thomas Hobbes’Leviathan, Cesare Beccaria’sOn Crimes and Punishments, and Emile Durkheim’sThe Division of Labor in Society.
While historically the concept had been predominantly concerned with a society’s self-regulation, the 20th century saw a shift in focus toward individuals’ conformity to normative social standards (Janowitz, 1975).
What do Formal Social Control Measures Seek to Accomplish in Society?
The prevention of chaos and anarchy, and the maintenance of order constitute a principal objective of formal social control measures (Ross, 2009).
The disapprobation of deviancy from acceptable conduct explains the enforcement of publicly promulgated legal sanctions in order to engender conformity in individuals otherwise prone to undesirable behavior.
Moreover, penalties may serve to uphold retributive justice and deterrence. Some legal philosophers such as John Finnis and Robert P. George have contended that formal social measures should also ensure that individuals’ behavior conform to certain basic norms of the natural moral law (George, 2010).
Examples of Formal Social Control Agencies
Governmental policy, especially via legislation, is an evident example of formal social control that demonstrates what may be acceptable or unacceptable in a certain society.
Another example is Hungary’s zero-tolerance policy toward Antisemitism, introduced in 2010 under the leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (Kovács, 2022).
The policy has outlawed hate symbols and banned paramilitary groups deemed to be hostile to Hungary’s Jewish community.
The criminal justice system is a collection ofsocial institutions, such as legislatures, police, courts, and prisons, that creates and enforce laws.
Each of these institutions is an agent of formal social control.
Additionally, certain approaches such asbroken windows policingmay serve to reduce both undesirable behavior and the likelihood of violent crime (Donald, 2016).
The punishment of misdemeanors such as public drinking, loitering and vandalism can function as an admonition that serious felonies would produce extremely harsh consequences.
Police officers have the power and authority to choose to ignore an incident, to label people as ‘suspicious’ or ‘potentially criminal’, to stop and search a person, to issue formal or informal warnings and to arrest a person using force if necessary.
It is important to understand that the police are expected to police all sections of society equally. However, interpretivist sociologists note that this rarely happens – some groups attract more police attention.
It is important to understand that the 43 police forces in the UK do not operate in a standardized fashion, i.e. they do not necessarily follow the same rules or have the same priorities as each other. For example, the official criminal statistics on cannabis use and prostitution are often unreliable because some forces consistently crackdown on these offenses whilst others turn a blind eye to them.
The purpose of prison is to be the ultimate deterrent, both controlling crime and punishing offenders.
Incarceration punishes lawbreakers, isolates them from the rest of society, and seeks their rehabilitation and eventual reintegration.
Meanwhile, rehabilitation and reintegration programs seek to diminish the likelihood of reversion on the part of former offenders.
The role of the courts is to determine guilt and impose an appropriate sentence.
Brown v. Board of Education, which ruled school segregation to be unconstitutional, inspired massive changes in attitude toward race in American society.
That the Supreme Court of the United States is considered an institution whose decisions are expected to be enforced, evidently, plays a significant role.
FAQs
The comparative effectiveness of each method of social control depends on a variety of factors.
This is because while clear legal expectations can readily produce peaceful and predictable interactions among strangers, warm familiarity with one’s family and friends would prefer more personal and flexible guidelines to cold and rigid rules.
A norm may fall under either informal or formal social control, depending on whether that norm is codified into law.
For instance, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution permits the expression of many viewpoints most Americans consider to be repugnant.
These same norms, however, would fall under the appellation of formal social control in Germany on account of Germany’s legal ban on hate speech.
References
“Section 86a Use of Symbols of Unconstitutional Organizations”. Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch, StGB). German Law Archive.
Beccaria, C. (2016).On crimes and punishments. Transaction Publishers.
Carmichael, Jason (26 June 2012).“Social Control”. Oxford Bibliographies.doi:10.1093/OBO/9780199756384-0048
Donald, M. H. (2017).The war on cops: How the new attack on law and order makes everyone less safe. Encounter Books.
Duignan, B. (n.d). Brown v. Board of Education. Encyclopedia Britannica.https://www.britannica.com/event/Brown-v-Board-of-Education-of-Topeka
Durkheim, E. (1892).The division of labor in society. Free Pr.
George, R. P. (2010). In Defense of Natural law. Oxford University Press.
Hobbes, T. (1967). Hobbes”s leviathan. Рипол Классик.
Janowitz, Morris (Jul 1975). “Sociological Theory and Social Control”.American Journal of Sociology, 81(1): 82–108.
Kovács, Zoltán (2022, July 24). Hungary”s Viktor Orbán is not antisemitic – opinion. The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved September 7, 2022, fromhttps://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-712948
Lambert, J. L. (1986).Police Powers and Accountability. London: Croom Helm.
Lambert, J. R., & Jenkinson, R. F. (1970).Crime, police, and race relations: A study in Birmingham. London: Oxford University Press.
Ross, E. A. (2009).Social Control: A Survey of the Foundations of Order.Transaction Publishers.ISBN9781412834278.
Sampson, Robert J. (1986). “Crime in Cities: The Effects of Formal and Informal Social Control”.Crime and Justice.8:271.
Saul McLeod, PhD
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester
Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Ayesh PereraResearcherB.A, MTS, Harvard UniversityAyesh Perera, a Harvard graduate, has worked as a researcher in psychology and neuroscience under Dr. Kevin Majeres at Harvard Medical School.
Ayesh PereraResearcherB.A, MTS, Harvard University
Ayesh Perera
Researcher
B.A, MTS, Harvard University
Ayesh Perera, a Harvard graduate, has worked as a researcher in psychology and neuroscience under Dr. Kevin Majeres at Harvard Medical School.
