458 Sociology

AGENCIES OF SOCIAL CONTROL

Society or group maintains social control by creating its own agencies which may enforce formal or informal control.
Agencies such as law, education, physical coercion and codes on the one hand, folkways, mores, customs, convention,
tradition, religion, etec., on the other, have been used by the society for this purpose. The number and variety of devices
and agencies employed depend on the degree of complexity of life in a society. The role of some of these agencies may be
briefiy discussed here.

1. Control by Law
Law is the most powerful formal means of social control in the modern society. Laws appear only in societies with
a political organisation, that is a govenment. The term Law' has been defined in various ways. J.S. Roucek opines that
"Laws are a form ofsocial rule emanatingfrom political agencies". Roscoe Pound says that "law is an authoritative canon
of value laid down by the force of politically organised society".
The main characteristics of law are-(1)Laws are the general conditions of human activity prescribed by the state for
its members. (2) Law is called law, only if enacted by a proper law-making authority. It is a product of conscious thought,
deliberate attempts and carefulplanning (3) Law is definite, clear and precise. (4) Law applies equally to all without exception
in identical circumstances. (5) Violation of law is followed by penalties and punishments determined by the authority of the
state. (6) Laws are always written down and recorded in some fashion. Hence they cannot appear in non-literate society.
(7) Laws are not the result of voluntary consent of persons against whom they are directed.
Law is derived from various sources. As J. S. Roucek has pointed out. "All social rules including political rules, or
laws, originated first in custom or folkways of long standing and are based upon existing conceptions of justice and right
in a given community". It is true that "in all societies law is based upon moral notions". Laws are made and legislations
are enacted on the basis of social doctrines, ideals and mores. It does not mean that the domains of law and morals are co-
extensive. Still it can be said that "the maintenance of legalorderdepends upon the moral climateof a society". (Bottomore).
The effectiveness of legal regulation never rests solely upon the threat of physical sanctions. It very much depends upon
general attitude of respect for law, andfor a particular legal order. This attitude itself is determined by moral approval
of law as containing social justice.
Law requires enforcing agencies. Laws are enforced with the help of the police, the court, and sometimes the armed
forces. Administrative machinery of the state is the main law-enforcing agency. Increasing complexity of the moderm industrial
society has necessitated enormous growth of administrative agencies. Law is, in fact the control of administrative power
which is vested in the government officials. Law as an instrument of control performs two functions: (1) It eliminates and
Suppresses the homicidal activities of individuals. (ii) Law persuades individuals to pay attention to the righis of others as
well as to act in co-operation with others. In this way law tries to protect the individuals and society and promotes social
weltare.

It is almost impossible now-a-days to conceive of a society of any degree of complexity in which social behaviour
would be completely regulated by moral sanctions. Law has thus become inevitably a pervasive phenomenon. Contemporary
intermational relations would reveal the importance of law in social control it may be true that the moral unity of the mankind
is now greater than ever before. But moral sentiments alone are not enough today to regulate relations. They are by necessity
supplemented by the law.

2. Control by Education
Education may be defined as a process whereby the social heritage of a group is passed on from one generation to
another. It is in this sense, Durkheim conceived of education as "the socialisation of the younger generation'". He also
stated, "It is actually a continuous effort to impose on the child ways of seing, feeling and acting which he could not have
arrived at spontaneously". Brown and Roucek have said that education is "the sum total of the experience which moulds the
attitudes and determines the conduct of both the child and the adult". Education is every experience, trifing or profound,
which durably modifies, thought, feeling or action.
Education is not just concerned with transmitting a way of life. In the moderm times it is largely devoted to the
communication of empirical knowledge. It is required today to prepare individuals for a changing rather than a static world.
Formal education has been communicating ideas and values which play a part in regulating behaviour. In modern society
 Meaning and Nature of Social Control 459

science and technology are the basis of a general rational approach to nature and social life. The whole rationalisation of
the modern world is connected with the development of science. The chief instrument of this development is educational
system. In this way, formal education can be viewed as a type of social control. Education has contributed to the regulation
of conduct in the early socialisation of the child. Educational reformers such as Montessori and Froebel have brought about
great changes in the education of young children. These reforms reveal the moral notions external to the educational system.
But they have been influential in changing moral ideas in society at large.
Some educators have suggested that education must be used for making a "good society". Education is not primarily
an attempt to stuff the mind with information, but train people to think to distinguish between truth and error to arrive at
reality. In this regard, the school is taken to meana "communityof experience" rather than as a "series of planned lessons".
George S. Counts has remarked that "Education, emptied of all social control and considered solely as method, points
no-where and can arrive nowhere..." Today people send their children to the schools to be taught properly. "To be taught
properly means, of course, to be taught in accordance with the wishes of the community". The community is most sensitive,
in particular, to those aspects of teaching that have social and moral significance. Hence much attention is paid to select
right persons for the teaching profession.
Education from infancy to adulthood is a vital means of social control. Through education new generation learns the
social norms and the penalties for violating them. Theoretical education, that is reading and writing, serves to form the
intellectual basis and with practical education one learns to put this into practice. Without proper education the harmony
of the individual and society is not merely difficult but also impossible. Education makes social control quite normal. It
converts social control into self-control. In the absence ofa well organised educational system, social control would remain
merely as an arbitrary pressure which may not last long. Hence, education is a necessary condition for the proper exercise
of social control.

Control by Public Opinion

Public Opinion is an important agency of social control. As K. Young has said, "Public Opinion consists of the opinion
held by a public at a certain time'". According to V. V. Akolkar, "Public opinion simply refers to that mass of ideas which
people have to express on a given issue". Public opinion may be said to be the collective opinion of majority of members
of a grouP.

Public opinion is of great significance especially in democratic societies. Through public opinion the knowledge of
the needs, ideas, beliefs, and values of people can be ascertained. It influences the social behaviour of people, Behaviour
of the people is influenced by ideas, attitudes and desires which are refiected by public opinion. People get recognition and
respectability when they behave according to accepted social expectations. Public opinion helps us to know what type of
behaviour is acceptable and what is not.
There are various agencies for the formulation and expression of public opinion. The press, radio, movies and legislatures
are the main controlling agencies of public opinion.
The 'press' includes newspapers, magazines and journals of various kinds. The newspaper provides the stuff of opinion
for it covers everyday events and policies. Many decisions of the people are infiuenced by information available through the
press. As an agency of social control the press seeks to influence the tastes, ideas, attitudes and preferences of the readers.
It affects their ideology also. It enforces morality by exposing the moral lapses of the leaders.
Radio is another agency of public opinion that infuences behaviour. It infiuences our language, customs and institutions.
It is through the radio that human voice can reach millions of people at the same time. It can dramatise and popularise events
and ideas. In the same way, television has also been influencing people's behaviour.
Movies or motion pictures exert great infiuence on public opinion. They have efifectively changed the attitudes and
behaviour of the people. Movie-goers are relaxed and unaware of the fact that they are being affected by ideas and values.
They identify themselves with the leading characters and unconsciously accept the attitudes, values, etc., implicit in the role.
Some emotionally disturbed people often search solutions for their problems through, movies. Through films it is possible
to improve people's tastes, ideas and attitudes to some extent.
460 Sociology
and expression of public opinion. The debates
Legislature at present is the most effective agency for the formulation
It makes laws that control people's life and
in the legislatures influence public opinion particularly in democratic system.
activities. It should be noted that legislature itself is subject to the infiuence of the people.

Control by Propaganda
"Propaganda is an organised or systematic attempt made by a person o r group
a to infiuence public opinion and attitudes
the manipulation of representations. It
to the techniques of infiuencing human action by
in any sphere-Akolkar. It refers
is a means of infiuencing others, often towards a' desirable end.
attitude and behaviour. It also be used to replace old beliefs and
Propaganda can affect people's faith, ideology, can

practices with the new ones. Propaganda may bring about positive as well as negative results. Governmental departments
such as medical department, planning department, cooperative department, customs department, income tax department,
etc. make propaganda to help people to mend their ways and also to develop right habits, practices and approaches. Every
in the direction of accepted patterns. This department is called the
government maintains a department to infiuence people
department of public relation' or "publicit". The health department may
make use of various devices andtechniques of
propaganda to impress upon people to take precautions to control contagious
diseases. The planning department may try to
appeal to the people through effective propaganda the necessity of controlling birth rate. The income tax department may
try to create fear in the minds of tax payers of the consequences of evading taxes through propaganda.
Propaganda plays a vital role in both democratic and dictatorial countries. In democratic countries propaganda is mainly
used to persuade people to accept some opinions or reject some others or to follow some new practices or drop out some

old ones. But in dictatorial countries it is used by the government mainly to suppress public opinion or to make people to

believe what it wants them to believe. Mass media of communication are used for this purpose. Propaganda by itself is

neither good nor bad. It depends on the purpose for which it is used and how it is used.
To make propaganda very effective the propagandists repeat them regularly and systematically. They present only
one side of the question and furnish vast evidences in support of it. They condemn their opponents and resort to self-praise
in an intelligent way. To get enduring effects they concentrate on children and try to "braimwash' them. Totalitarian states

normally try to do this. They even make education an instrument of propaganda.

Control by Coercion
Coercion, that is, the use of physical force is one of the forms of social control, Coercion refers to the use of physical
force to stop or control a work or an action. Whenever people are refrained from doing a particular work or whenever some
limits are put deliberately on the range of their choice through the use of force, or through the threat of its consequences,

they may be said to be under coercion.

Coercion is an extreme form of violence. State is the only association which is empowered to use coercion in social
control. No other association is vested with this power. It becomes necessary for the state to resort to coercion to suppress
anti-social trends and activities, Otherwise there would be no security for social life. It is necessary to keep within limits
the self-interest, the greed, the lawlessness, and the intolerance ever ready to assert its will over others. It is necessary to
like. Safeguarding the political and
protect the interests of the weaker groups, minorities, servants, slaves, poor and the
social order is the main service of force.

Force alone cannot protect the social order, but without force the order could never be secure. "Without force law is
in danger of being dethroned, though force alone can, never keep law in its throne".
Though force is essential, it has its own limitations. The intervention of force substitutes a mechanical for a social
relationship. The use of fore indicates the denial of the possibility of co- operation. It treats the human being as though
he were merely a physical object. Force is the end of mutuality. Force by itself admits no expression of human impulses

against whom it is wielded. Further, the exercise of power is a wasteful operation. It checks all the ordinary processes
of life, all the give-and-take of common living. The more it is used the more it breeds resistance, thus necessi- tating
still more enforcement.
 Meaning and Nature of Social Control 461

Human experience has revealed that coercion or force is necessary as the guarantee of political laws. Its service is best
rendered when it is used to the minimum. Where a common rule is consid- ered necessary or beneficial for the common
good, some degree of compulsion is involved. Hence force becomes necessary to enforce the common rule. But only when
the use of force is limited it becomes the servant of fundamental liberties of people. Only then the harmony of individuality
and society could be most fully achieved.

Control by Customs
Customs' represent a kind of informal social control. "The socially accredited ways of acting are the customs of
society"-Mac/ver and Page. Many of our daily activities are regulated by customs. Our ways of dressing, speaking, eating,
working, worshipping, training the young, celebrating festivals, etc., are all controlled by customs. They are self-accepted
rules of social life. Individuals can hardly escape their hold.
All normal people prefer to live according to the customs for they save much of our energy and time. They save us from
the objections and ridicule of the society. Customs give guidance for people in every activity. One need not have to resort
to original thinking on every aspect. The role played by customs in life is comparable to the role of instincts in animals.
Customs enlighten man in his social life.
Customs are conformed mostly unconsciously. Man learns them from his very childhood and goes on obeying them.
Customs are very rarely opposed. Even the harmful customs are also obeyed by most of the people because they do not
consider them harmful. While those who consider them harmful lack the courage to oppose them, only some exceptional
individuals have the courage of going against them or carrying on protest against them.
Customs are basic to our collective life. They are found everywhere. They are more influential and dominant in the
primitive society than in the modern society. In the tribal societies they act as the "King of Man". In the modern complex
society custom is slowly losing its hold over people, and giving place to law.

Control by Folkways and Mores

Folkways and mores represent two important types of informal control.

Control by Folkways
Folkways'refer to the ways of the people. They are "the repetitive petty acts of the people". Folkways are the norms to
which people conform because it is exp i of them. Confor- mity to the folkways is neither required by law nor enforced
by any special agency of society. For example, there is no law that compels us to wash clothes, to take bath, to brush teeth,
to greet friends, to give respect to elders, ete. Still we do many such activities without thinking over them. It is a matter of
usage. They are our folkways.
Folkways are not as compulsive and obligatory as laws or morals. Those who violate folkways are not punished by
formal means. But the violators are put to gossip, slander and ridicule. One can ignore a few of the folkways but no one
can neglect or violate all of them. They constitute an important part of the social structure. They contribute to the order
and stability of social relations. Human infants leam them through their elders through socialisation. They learn different
folk-ways at different stages relevant to their class, caste, ethnic, religious, occupational, marital and other statuses. We are
made to follow them because they are binding. They become with us a matter of habit.

Control by Mores
Mores' or "Morals' represent another category of norms. When folkways' act as regulators of behaviour then they
become 'moes'. Mores are considered to be essential for group welfare. The positive mores prescribe behaviour patterns
while the negative mores or taboos prescribe or prohibit behaviour patterns. Mores for example, instruct people to love
their country, to look after their wives and children, to tell the truth, to be helpful to others, etc. They also insist on people
not to become unpatriotic, not to show disrespect to the god, not to steal, cheat, etc.
Mores represent the living character of the group. They are always considered as righr' by the people who share them.
They are morally right and their violation morally wrong. Hence they are more compulsive in nature. Mores contribute to
462 Sociology
the solidarity and harmony of the group. They help the individuals to identify themselves with the group. Every group has
its own mores. There are mores for each sex, for all ages, for all classes, for all families and so on.

Mores help the individuals to realise that community living or collective life is possible only when one conforms to

the norms. Mores weld the individual with the group or the society without damaging
his personal liberty. Individual learns
mores that the society is not against him. They differ from place to place
and time to time. They become in course
through
of time the basis of law. Laws are often called "codified mores"

Control by Religion and Morality

Religion and morality are the most effective means of informal social control in both modern and primitive societies
Control by Religion
Religion refers to man's faith or belief in some supernatural power or force. As Machver and Page have said, religion "implies

arelationship not merely berween man and man but also between man
and some higher power". Religious concept is thus linked
with man's relationship with God. The behaviour which is in conformity with this relationship is religious behaviour. The norms
concerned with religious behaviour constitute the religious code. The main purposeof religious code is to insist on religious
social conformity. Because, the main
conformity. Religious conformity in most of the cases will be in consonance with
intention of the religious code is to make man basically good, obedient and helpful to others.
Religion regulates the activities of people in its own way. It regulates human conduct, through religious code. The
conceptions of spirits, ghosts, taboos, soul, divine commandments, sermon, ete., control human actions and enforce discipline.
Ideas of hell and heaven too have great effects on the behaviour of people. It has a great disciplinary value.
Man as a religious being tries to adjust, or restrain or mend his behaviour to secure the blessings of the divinity. He is
afraid of going against the divine will or the divine rule. Religion has a 'supra- socialsanction' to enforce obedience to the
religious code. Religion demands total surrender to the divine force or power. Man by surrendering himself to the divine
force tries to suppress his own impulses and selfish desires.
In yet another way also religion serves as a means of social control. Religion conserves the norms and values of life.
Religion defines and redefines values. Moral, spiritual and social values are strongly supported by religion. Through the
agencies such as family, church, school, religion inculcates the values of life in the minds of growing children. As Thomas
EO'Dea has pointed out, "eligion sacralises the norms and values of established society". It "maintains the dominance
f group goals over individual impulses".
Religion has its own methods to deal with those individuals who violate religious code or norms. Various religious
agencies such as temples, churches, muts, monasteries created by religion also help to control and humble the disobedients.
Religion has its own ways and means to re-integrate the disobedients into the social group. Further, religious sanctions are
widely made use of to support the ethical codes and moral practices.

Control by Morality
Morality is an institution that is closely related to religion. Morality is concerned with the conceptions of goodness
and evil. It refers to "that body of rules and principles concerned with good and e as
manifested to as by conscience
These rules are admitted at large by the community. Honesty, faithfulness, fairness, service-mindedness, truthfulness,
conscientiousness, kindness, sacrifice, incorruptibility, etc., represent some of the moral concepts. People who are morally
good are also socially good.
Morality always helps to make a distinction between right and wrong or good and bad. Hence morality acts as a guide
of human behaviour. Moral rules are obeyed because of internal pressure. This pressure refers to the pressure of conscience.
But in the case of religion, man obeys religious rule because of his fear towards God. In morality, man is not very much
afraid of God, but he is afraid of society. Morality is based on rational judgement or rationality whereas religion is based
on faith and emotions.

Religion and morality are mutually complementary and supportive. What is morally good is in most of the cases good
spiritually also. The fulfilment of God's will and the performance of moral actions are, therefore, two aspects of the same
 Meaning and Nature of Social Control 463

process. Both are concerned with the higher law' which stands over and above the sphere of the state and outside state
control. Though not always morality supports religious beliefs and considers religiosity as a moral virtue. In the same way,
religion reinforces morality with its super-natural sanctions. Both jointly command and control human conduct. Mathew
Arnold says that "Religion is morality touched with emotions". E H. Bradley opines, "it is a moral duty not to be immoral
and that is the duty to be religious".

Control by Sanctions
Sanctions are the supporters of norms. 'Sanctions" refer to "he rewards or punishments used to establish social control,
that is, to enforce the norms in a society". The basic purpose of sanction is to bring about conformity. They are used to force
or persuade an individual or group to conform to social expectations.
Sanctions may be applied in various ways, ranging from the use of physical force to symbolic means, such as flattery.
Negatively, they may be anything from a raised eyebrow to the death sentence. Positively, they range from a smile to an
honorary degree.
Sanctions are applied in various ways. The type of sanctions also vary with the groups and situations. They may be
positive or negative. Those sanctions which inflict pain or threaten to do so are negative. Those which elicit and facilitate
response by rewards are positive. Both positive and negative sanctions may apply a wide variety of means. Positive sanctions
include verbal methods such as praise, flattery, suggestion, persuasion, some of education, indoctrination, advertising,
propaganda, slogans, giving rewards, medals, badges, uniforms, titles, etc. Negative means include-gossip, slander, satire,
laughing at others, name-calling, threats, commands, censorship, and finally oven action. The method of overt action is the
final sanction when no other way remains open. In this method pain, suffering and even death is included. Overt action also
includes fines, imprisonment, whipping, mutilation, torture, banishment, ostracism and death. Extreme negative sanctions
are applied only by the state.

Control by Miscellaneous Norms

Control by Fashion
Fashion may be defined as permitted range of variation around a norm. People want to be like their associates and
friends and also want to be different from them. Fashion is a device beautifully suited to reconcile these opposing tendencies.
Fashion permits and regulates variety and thereby avoids a dull and deadening unifomity. They help us to express our
individuality without going against norms. In conforming to fashion we imitate our contemporaries. Sanctions that support
conformity to fashion in dress are very powerful. Thus no woman wants to attend a dinner party in a night dress. Superficial
or trivial changes in fashions are called Jads'. People follow both and try to conform to their requirements. Fashion has
become all pervasive. People want to eat fashionable foods, wear fashionable dresses, read fashionable books, enjoy
fashionable amusements, etc.

Control by Ceremonies, Rites, Rituals and Etiquette

Rites, rituals and ceremonies add dignity and a kind of special significance to various events of social life. They mark
some occasions with solemnity and introduce enjoyment to others. More than that they serve to identify the individual with
his groups, his community, and his nation.
Ceremonies are observed everywhere. The birth of a baby, confirmation, graduation, the death of an old man, the
inauguration of a new factory, a promotion, the publication of a book, a new record in athletics, etc., are all events that draw
special attention. Ceremony confers public recognition to them. Ceremony regularises or standardises situations which
people confront for which they may not otherwise find a guide for action. For example, the funeral ceremony helps the
survivors to meet the crisis of death.
Rite also refers to a ceremony. lt sometimes conveys a sense of secrecy, of a ceremony known only to the initiated.
All secret societies have their rites and also people with high qualifications have them. Example: An oral examination for
the degree of doctor of philosophy. Through this the candidate joins the limited and selected few.
Ritual is also a ceremony but it is characterised by repetition. It is periodically or repeatedly performed. Ex. Republic
Day, Independence Day, Wedding Anniversary, New Year's Day, Martyrs' Day, May Day, etc. Ritual introduces temporal
regularity and a precision of detail into many of the events that characterise our social life. Ritual also induces a sense of
identification with the group.