Understanding Social Control: Mechanisms, Agents, and Influence" (63 characters)

S - 100 Social Control Lecture Notes 8: 10/14/2009

Basic Facts Social Control • Social control is a central aspect of any social organization • Essential for social order • Mechanisms of social control ensures conformity • These mechanisms are essential because socialization is not perfect

Basic Facts Social Control • Methods of social control varies by type of society • In less diverse traditional societies (homogeneous societies) controls are more informal • In large modern and diverse societies-social control is more formal and repressive

Basic Facts Agents of Social Control • Force – Use of violence and the fear of violence • Economic Rewards or Punishment – promise and denial of material rewards • Ridicule and Gossip – fear of being belittled for actions outside of group expectations • Ostracism – Threat of removal and actual removal from the group • Fraud and Deception – actions which seek to manipulate others to confirm • Belief Systems – Ideology as a weapon to induce conformity • The Sphere of intimates – Peer pressure to induce conformity • The Contract – actions controlled by the formal agreement

Basic Facts What is social control? • Social Control - social mechanisms used as means of regulating the behavior and actions of individuals and groups • Mechanisms used to decide on sanctions and rewards • Socialization process: acceptance of appropriate norms and behavior of group and or society • Mechanisms used to manipulate people in order to keep them in check • Techniques of persuasion – ideology • Socialize the population to accept dominance of ideology

Basic facts Socialization and the dominance of ideology • Ideological Social Control: Socialization of individuals and groups to accept the ideology of the ruling class • Manipulation of the consciousness of individuals and groups to accept the belief system of the ruling class as their own • Causes them to reject the appeal, approach, and ideas of competing belief systems • Causes them to accept without question the status quo – the rule of law and the construct of society • Causes them to accept without question the patterns of divisions of power, wealth, and rewards of society

Basic Facts Which is more effective? • Ideological Social Control or Overt Social Control?

Answer • Why ideological social control is more effective than overt social control? • It pushes individuals to exert and impose controls over their own actions and behavior • This is achieved through the socialization process, through which individuals not only learn the rules of the group or social organization, but the ideology which supports those rules • In this way individuals are not forced to conform • They want to confirm

Basic Facts Agents of Ideological Social Control • The Family • Where the child learns appropriate attitudes, values and behavior • Prepares the child to “fit” into “society” • The Education System • Indoctrinates the child into the behavioral patterns of society with regards to speech, dress, and demeanor • Indoctrinates the child to accept attitudes towards work, authority and patriotism • Teaches history from the standpoint of the group • Tends to produces conformists, not critical thinkers • Religion • Sport • The Media • Government

Basic Facts Agents of Ideological Social Control • The Family • Where the child learns appropriate attitudes, values and behavior • Prepares the child to “fit” into “society” • The Education System • Indoctrinates the child into the behavioral patterns of society with regards to speech, dress, and demeanor • Indoctrinates the child to accept attitudes towards work, authority and patriotism • Teaches history from the standpoint of the group • Legitimizes the place of the group or society • Tends to produces conformists, not critical thinkers

Basic Facts Agents of Ideological Social Control • Religion • Provides behavioral guidelines for members, and punishments for disobedience • Reinforce the status quo- support for war, conquest, slavery, legality of otherness • Teaches acceptance that the world is imperfect (people are born sinners), and promotes the view of reward in the after life • No need to change the system of inequality from below

Basic Facts Agents of Ideological Social Control • Sport • Reinforces conforming attitudes and behavior • Competition promotes national pride and unity • Invokes national pride • Supporting pageantry invokes patriotism • Team accomplishment – collective achievement • Serves as an opiate of the masses • Produces a safety valve for aggression and competition • Deflects attention from everyday problems • Perpetuates the myth of the possibility of upward social mobility

Basic Facts Agents of Ideological Social Control • The Media • Promotes support for system • Conservative bias • Promotes the consumer economy-consumers buying products as essential element of progress • Promotes the acceptability of corporate practice • Promotes images and ideologies in support of imperialism, capitalism, racism, sexism, militarism, authoritarian violence, vigilantism, individual over collective action, and anti working class attitudes

Basic Facts Agents of Ideological Social Control • Government • Convinces the public that socialism is bad-capitalism is good • Promotes the primacy of the market – the market has the same characteristic as god • Market is omnipresent (universal), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipotent (invincible) • Promotes ideological conformity and hence control • Political speeches, books, legislation • Advertisements and public relations outreach of agencies • Manipulates the public • Unite against terrorist threat • Transfer money from social welfare to security

Basic Facts Agents of Direct Social Control • Direct social control: • Mechanisms which are established to punish and or neutralize individuals and organizations who deviate or are likely to deviate from the status quo • Targets the poor, the mentally ill, criminals, political dissidents

Basic Facts Agents of Direct Social Control • Welfare • Public assistance programs to diffuse possibility of social unrest • Designed to keep poor relatively satisfied • Science and Medicine • Devices that control the behavior of some members of society-drugs, electroshock, psychosurgery • Eugenics – improvement of the human race through the control of hereditary factors • Sterilization • Genetic improvement

Basic Facts Agents of Direct Social Control • Government • Apprehend and punish criminals • 2002 (US) – 2.17 prison population • That is 255 of all the world’s prisoners • Incarceration rate in US six times higher than Canada, England France; and ten times higher than Sweden and Finland • Dissent is stifled in the interest of preservation of order • This takes place at the same time that the tradition of American society affirms the right to dissent • Dissent is stifled to prevent “anarchy” • Dissent is stifled to maintain the status quo of the ruling class

Basic Facts Agents of Direct Social Control • Government • The different levels of government works in harmony to establish and preserve social control of the ideas of the ruling class • One level determine the law • The other level punishes violators • Laws and enforcement of laws promote the point of view of the ruling class • Two views of the legal system • Order • Law to maintain order; the state and the law is neutral; everyone have equal power under the law • Conflict • State serves the ruling class; law serves the interest of the ruling class

Basic facts Social Control in the private sector and its implications today • Technology gives the private sector the ability to know much more about peoples private lives – for instances purchasing habits, their DNA. Etc • Increase in monitoring and surveillance • Security checks and scans more prevalent • Violation of privacy – drug testing of workers – 2000 81% of workers required to have drug test • Monitoring emails

Understanding Social Control: Mechanisms, Agents, and Influence" (63 characters)