Unit-4

Regulative Mechanism of Society

Social Norms
Social norm refers to group group-shared standards of behaviour. The norms are based on
social values. Norms are social rules which define correct and acceptable behaviour in a
society or a group to which people are expected to confirm. They prescribe the way the
people should behave in particular situations.
They determine, guide, control and also predict human behaviour. Norms, in short, are a
bundle of do’s and dont’s; they are rules of behaviour in particular situations. For example,
in all societies, there are norms which define acceptable male and female dress. There are
norms about driving. Norms exist in all areas of social life.
According to Young and Mack, ‘norms’ refer to the “group-shared expectations”.
H.M. Johnson writes, “A norm is an abstract pattern held in the mind that sets certain limits
for behaviour”.
Donald Light Jr. and Suzanne say, Norms refer to “the rules that guide behviour in everyday
situations and are derived from the value”.
As Robert Bierstedt has pointed out, “A norm is a rule or standard that governs our conduct
in the social situations in which we participate.” He further writes that a norm can be
treated as “a cultural specification that guides our conduct in society”.
The characteristics of social norms:
1. Social norms are universal: These are found in all societies. Social norms are the basis of
social order. No society can function smoothly without norms.
2. Norms incorporate value-judgement: A norm is a standard shared by the group members.
These represent “standardized generalization” concerning expected modes of behaviour. As
standardized generalizations, they are concepts which have been evaluated by the group
and they incorporate value-judgement. In terms of value we judge whether some action is
right or wrong, good or bad, expected or unexpected.
3. Norms are relative: Norms vary from society to society. Sometimes, norms vary from
group to group within same society. Some norms do not govern the behaviour of all the
people. Norms applicable to older people are not applicable to children. Similarly, norms
applicable to policemen are different from those of teachers.
4. All norms are not equally important: Norms are enforced by sanctions, i.e. reward and
punishment. But all norms are not equally strict and they do not carry the same kind of
punishment because they differ in importance. The most important norms in society are
called ‘mores’ and those who violate them are severely punished. Other norms, called
‘folkways’ and punishments for violating them are much less severe.
5. Norms are internalized by the individuals: Norms become part of personality through the
process of socialization. Individuals internalize the norms of the society. Individuals
generally behave in accordance with the social norms.
Functions or importance of social norms are discussed below:
1. Norm less Society is Impossibility: Norms are important part of society. Norms and
Society go together. Man depends upon society for his existence. Norms make living
together in society possible. Without normative order society is not possible.
2. Norms Regulate and Guide Behaviour: Norms are controls. It is through them that society
regulates behaviour of its members in such ways that they perform activities fulfilling
societal needs.
3. Norms maintain Social Order: Norms are part of social order. They are controls. The social
order is maintained by norms. That is why it is said that human social order is a normative
order.
4. Norms Gives Cohesion to Society: Society achieves coherent structure through the norms.
The collective and cooperative life of people is made possible because of norms. The
normative system gives to society an internal cohesion.
5. Norms Helps to have Self-control: Norms helps individuals to have self-control. Because of
the constraints imposed by norms individuals conform to the norms and exercise discipline
by themselves over their behaviour.

SOCIAL CONFORMITY AND SOCIAL DEVIANCE

Conformity and deviance are two responses to real or imagined pressure from others.
Conformity means going along with one’s peers-individuals of a person’s own status.
According to Robert Merton refers to the acceptance of cultural goals and the legitimate or
approved means of achieving them.
Deviance is a behaviour that violates the standards of conduct or expectations or social
norms of a group or society. Alcoholics, compulsive gamblers, and the mentally ill would be
classified as deviants. Being late for class is categorized as a deviant act: the same is true of
wearing jeans to a formal wedding. On the basis of the sociological definition, we are all
deviant from time to time.
Robert Bierstedt gives four causes for the question ‘Why we conform to the norms.’ They
maybe briefly discussed here.
Indoctrination: We conform to the norms simply because we have been indoctrinated to do
so. Indoctrination refers to the process of injecting into the personality of the child the
group norms. We are taught, for example, to take our bath at certain times, to wash our
clothes, to respect our elders, to avoid vulgarity, to walk on the1 right side of the road, and
so on. The norms are indoctrinated through the process of socialisation. As a result, they
become a part and parcel of the personality of the individual. Conformity to the norms
becomes very natural because of indoctrination.
Habituation: We conform, to the worms because we become habituated to them. What is
customary is likely to become in many cases habitual. Some of the norms are indoctrinated
in the beginning, but they become habitual practices afterwards. We are taught to wash our
hands and mouth after the meal but after a while, it becomes a matter of habit.
Repetition makes a practice a habit and most of the folkways come to be rooted in the
individual in this way. When one is habituated to practice, one observes it automatically,
without thinking or putting forth deliberate attempts. Habituation reinforces the norms and
guarantees the regularity of conformity.
Utility: We appreciate the unity of norms and hence we conform to them. Norms help us to
interact with others with much comfort and ease.
For example, (i) we are asked to sell the tickets to a drama show for which only a limited
number of seats are available. Then we prefer to sell them to those who come first to
purchase them. We justify our action with the expression “first come first served” (ii)
similarly we recognize that the flow of traffic at busy intersections is smoother and less
dangerous when signal lights are installed.
Thus, we stop at a red light and start at a green one. We find it reasonable to obey the
traffic rule for it has the slogan “the life you save may be your own”. In many social
situations, we realized the utility of the norms to which we conform.
Group Identification: We conform to the norms of our own social groups rather than to
those of groups to which we do not belong. We thus conform to the norms because
conformity is a means of group identification. By conformity to the norms, we express our
identification with the groups.
Sometimes, we even conform to some irrational folkways because they are our own and
they identify us with our own society and our own social groups. For example, a particular
student tries to bring home-prepared lunch to the college to eat during the lunch interval
(even though it is very difficult for him to bring it because of a particular domestic situation)
just to be in the company of his fellow members of the ‘clique’.
In some situations, we may try to conform to the norms of the group to which we would like
to belong and to identify ourselves. Such groups are called by Merton ‘reference groups.’
For example, a medical student or a law graduate may begin to observe and conform to the
norms of doctors or lawyers. Even in this case group identification is significant.
Deviance is a behaviour that violates the standards of conduct or expecta-tions or social
norms of a group or society. Alcoholics, gamblers, sex deviants, drug addicts or late comers
in the class are all classified as deviants or deviant acts.
Merton in his theory of deviance indicates that deviants are not a cub-cultural group. Rather
people manifest deviant behaviour in different spheres of social life. These adaptations
describe the kinds of social roles people adopt in response to cultural and structural
pressures.
Innovation, on the other hand, involves acceptance of the cultural goal (+) but rejection of
legitimate, institutionalized means (–). This type of adaptation occurs when the individual
has assimilated the cultural emphasis on the goal without equally internalizing the
institutional norms.
Ritualism, represents quite a different sort of departure from cultural standards than does
innovation. The ritualist is an over conformist. Here, the pursuit of the dominant cultural
goal of economic success is rejected or abandoned (–) and compulsive conformity to
institutional norms (+) becomes an end in itself.
Retreatism, is the rejection of both cultural goals (–) and institutionalized means (–).
Therefore, retreatism involves complete escape from the pressures and demands of
organized society. Merton applies this adaptation to the deviant role ―activities of
psychotics, outcasts, chronic drunkards, and drug addicts.
Rebellion, is indicated by different notation than the other adaptations. The two (+/-) signs
show that the rebel not only rejects the goals and means of the established society but
actively attempts to substitute new goals and means in their place. This adaptation refers,
then, to the role behaviour of political deviants, who attempt to modify greatly the existing
structure of society. In his later work, Merton uses the term nonconformity to contrast
rebellion to other forms of deviant behaviour that are atypical. The nonconforming rebel is
not secretive as are other, the rebel publicly acknowledges his or her intention to change
those norms and the social structure that they support in the interests of building a better,
more just society.
Factors facilitating deviance Faulty socialization, Weak sanctions, poor enforcements,etc [try
to explain in your own words]
INFORMAL AGENCIES OF SOCIAL CONTROL
Norms: Norms are rooted in the institution. They provide the standard of behaviour and are
regulatory in character. The choice of individual for striving towards the cultural goal is
limited by institutional norms. These provide the guideline for action. The norms give
cohesion to the society. They influence attitude of individuals. Broom and Selznick described
norms, as blueprint for behaviour, setting limits within which individuals may seek alternate
ways to achieve their goals. A social norm operative in one social system is not equally
operative in the other. Conformity to norms is qualified in view of the socially defined
situation. Violator of norm may invite loss of prestige, social ridicule or even a more severe
punishment.
Folk Ways: Early American sociologist William Graham Sumner was the first to write about
the distinctions between different types of norms in his book Folkways: A Study of the
Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals (1906). Sumner
created the framework that sociologists still use.
Folkways, he wrote, are norms that stem from and organize casual interactions, and emerge
out of repetition and routines. We engage in them to satisfy our daily needs, and they are
most often unconscious in operation, though they are quite useful for the ordered
functioning of society.
A common example of a folkway is the practice, in many societies, of waiting in line. This
practice brings order to the process of buying things or receiving services, allowing us to
more easily perform the tasks of our daily lives.
Other examples of folkways include the concept of appropriate dress, the practice of raising
one's hand to take turns speaking in a group, and the practice of "civil inattention"—when
we politely ignore others around us in public settings.
Folkways mark the distinction between rude and polite behavior, so they exert a form of
social pressure that encourages us to act and interact in certain ways. However, they do not
have moral significance, and there are rarely serious consequences or sanctions for violating
them.
The major characteristics of folkways are as under:
(1) Folkways arise spontaneously out of the fundamental fact that man must act in order to
live. They generally arise unconsciously in a group such as shaking hands, tipping the hat,
calling on strangers and without planned or rational thought.
(2) Folkways develop out of group experience. They are passed down from generation to
generation through interaction.
(3) They change as culture changes or when we enter different situations.
(4) Folkways are the weakest norms, which are most often violated but least likely to carry
any severe punishment. Violations of folkways bring only mild censure in the form of some
smiles, glances, or occasional comments from others.
(5) Folkways are not looked on by most people as moral matters. They are deemed the
‘right’ way and ‘normal’. People accept most of them unquestionably.
(6) Folkways differ from mores in that they are less severely sanctioned and are not abstract
principles.

Mores: W.G. Sumner (1906) holds that the folkways become mores when philosophical and
ethical generalisations pertaining to societal welfare were added. Maclver and Page (1949)
write: “When the folkways have added to them conceptions of group welfare, standards of
right and wrong, they are converted into mores.” Similarly, Dawson and Gettys (1948) state:
“Mores are folkways which have added to them, through some reflections, the judgment
that group welfare is particularly dependent upon them.”
Modern writers such as Alex Inkeles (What is Sociology, 1965) have defined mores as “such
customs which are not routinely followed, but are in addition, surrounded by sentiments or
values such that failure to follow the expected pattern would produce strong sanctions from
one’s group”. According to P.B. Horton and C.L. Hunt (Sociology, 1968), “By the mores
(‘mos’ in the singular) we mean those strong ideas of right and wrong which require certain
acts and forbid others . . . Mores are beliefs in the rightness or wrongness of acts.”
Mores are such folkways as are based on value judgement and are deeply rooted in the
community life. Any disregard shown to these invokes sanction. According to Green, mores
are “Common ways of acting which are more definitely regarded as right and proper than
the folkways and which brings greater certainty and severity of punishment if violated…”
Mores are more strict than folkways, as they determine what is considered moral and
ethical behavior; they structure the difference between right and wrong.
People feel strongly about mores, and violating them typically results in disapproval or
ostracizing. As such, mores exact a greater coercive force in shaping our values, beliefs,
behaviour, and interactions than do folkways.
Religious doctrines are an example of mores that govern social behaviour.
For example, many religions have prohibitions on cohabitation with a romantic partner
before marriage. If a young adult from a strict religious family moves in with her boyfriend
then her family, friends, and congregation are likely to view her behaviour as immoral.
They might punish her behaviour by scolding her, threatening judgment in the afterlife, or
shunning her from their homes and the church. These actions are meant to indicate that her
behaviour is immoral and unacceptable, and are designed to make her change her
behaviour to align with the violated more.
The belief that forms of discrimination and oppression, like racism and sexism, are unethical
is another example of an important more in many societies.
 Custom: Custom is “a rule or norm of action.” It is the result of some social expediency. It
is followed as it involves sentiment based on some rational element. It is automatic in
character; no special agency is required to enforce it. Any disregard shown to it invokes
social censure; It is enforced as it is. It cannot be stretched to meet the changing
requirements. It may with the change of circumstances fade into nonexistence. It at a
given time, is a force, and reflects the social consensus. A law maker has to take it into
consideration. He cannot disregard it. Custom is the handiwork of time. As a blueprint for
specific social purpose it develops over the time. It takes time to, evolve itself.
A custom is defined as a cultural idea that describes a regular, patterned behaviour that is
considered characteristic of life in a social system. Shaking hands, bowing, and kissing—all
customs—are methods of greeting people. The method most commonly used in a given
society helps distinguish one culture from another.
The Importance of Customs :Over time, customs become the laws of social life, and because
customs are so important to social harmony, breaking them can theoretically result in an
upheaval that has little or nothing to do with the custom itself—particularly when the
reasons perceived for breaking it have no bearing in fact. For example, after handshaking
becomes a norm, an individual who declines to offer his hand upon meeting another may be
looked down upon and or perceived as being suspicious. Why won't he shake hands? What's
wrong with him?
Assuming that a handshake is a very important custom, consider what might happen if an
entire segment of a population suddenly decided to stop shaking hands. Animosity might
grow between those who continued to shake hands and those who did not. This anger and
unease might even escalate. Those who continue to shake hands might assume the non-
shakers refuse to participate because they're unwashed or dirty. Or perhaps, those who no
longer shake hands have come to believe they're superior and don't want to sully
themselves by touching an inferior person. It's for reasons such as these that conservative
forces often warn that breaking customs can result in the decline of society. While this may
be true in some instances, more progressive voices argue that in order for society to evolve,
certain customs must be left behind.
Religion: It includes those customs, rituals, prohibitions, standard of conduct and roles
primarily concerned with or justified in terms of the supernatural and the sacred. Religion
is powerful agency of social control. It controls man’s relations to the forces of his physical
and social environment. The extent to which religion controls the behaviour of men
depends upon the degree to which its adherents accept its teachings. [refer unit-3]
Public opinion is very powerful in the democratic age. It not only controls the behaviour of
people but also controls the government. People these days are more concerned with the
opinion held by the public. Fear of public opinion in general makes people control their
conduct and behaviour. The state controls the behaviuor of the people through public
opinion and mould people in favour of its policies. It forms public opinion through various
media like the newspaper, cinema, radio, television etc.
Factors influencing public opinion Environmental factors-Environmental factors play a
critical part in the development of opinions and attitudes. Most pervasive is the influence of
the social environment: family, friends, neighbourhood, place of work, religious community,
or school. People usually adjust their attitudes to conform to those that are most prevalent
in the social groups to which they belong.
Mass media and social media Newspapers and news and opinion Web sites, social media,
radio, television, e-mail, and blogs are significant in affirming attitudes and opinions that are
already established. The U.S. news media, having become more partisan in the first two
decades of the 21st century, have focused conservative or liberal segments of the public on
certain personalities and issues and generally reinforced their audience’s preexisting
political attitudes.
Complex influences Because psychological makeup, personal circumstances, and external
influences all play a role in the formation of each person’s opinions, it is difficult to predict
how public opinion on an issue will take shape. The same is true with regard to changes in
public opinion. Some public opinions can be explained by specific events and circumstances,
but in other cases the causes are more elusive.

Formal Agencies
The formal means of social control largely derived from institutions like the state, law,
education and those that have more legitimate power. These institutions apply the legal
power to control the behaviours and action of the individual and the group.
Law: Law is a comprehensive term and includes common law, which is mostly based on
custom and is enforced like law by the courts and statutory law, which is made by the
Parliament. Another branch of law is the Constitutional law, that is the law as provided in
the Constitution. The lawof the Constitution determines the authority of the organs of the
Governments in an appropriate manner. Law is a powerful method of control. The state
runs its administration through the government. It enforces law within its territory with the
help of the police, the army, the prison and the court; it enacts laws to regulate the lives of
the people. The deviants or the violators of social rules are punished as per law; the state
carries out certain function by means of law. E.A. Ross says that ‘law is the most specialized
and highly furnished engine of social control employed by society. It is law, which prevents
the people from indulging in antisocial activities. The lawbreakers are punished by the law
of the state. It helps in governing our social conduct and behaviors. Laws are essential in
strengthening social control violation of law considered a punishable offence. In short, law is
an important formal means of Control to regulate the individual behaviour in society.
Education: Education is a great vehicle of social control. After the family, it is the class room,
the peer group and the leaders which exercise influence on a child by our ancients. The
differences between-Dvija and Ekaja emphasised the importance of education in the social
structure of the ancient society.
Education inculcates moral, intellectual and social values in individuals. It imparts a sense of
continuity. It links one to one’s heritage and sets a perspective before him. It gives the social
vision of uniformity to the individual and fits him for social role.
The crisis of character that we experience today is no less due to the system of education,
not rooted in our heritage, and is culturally alienating, socially non-collective, and politically
factious. With the increase in the social role of education attention is being given to it at all
levels – primary and adult, literary and technical.
The educational institutions – schools are powerful agencies of social control and these
institutions are committed to the moulding of citizens. Formal education in modern
societies communicate ideas and values which play a larger part in regulating behaviour.
Education teaches to conform to the norms of the society. Education provides a conscious
teaching programme that assist society in socialising children so that they will absorb its
values, beliefs and norms.
As Gillin and Gillin say, “The only sense, therefore, in which education can be used as a
means of social control is that in teaching people how to arrive at truth, it trains them in the
use of their intelligence and thus enlarges the scope of control through feelings, customs
and traditions”.[refer unit-3]

Police and Military

Physical force or coercion is an important means of social control. It is ancient as society
itself. It is essential for social progress. Even these days some societies resort to it against
the deviants or those who disobey social norms. Every state has its own armed forces or
police force. It is an effective weapon to prevent people from indulging in anti-social
activities. It also makes people, obey social order. The state carries out its functions by
means of law, which is ultimately backed by physical force. As an important agency of social,
control the state exercises its force over its people through various means such as the
government law, administration, the armed forces.
Police are one of the most ubiquitous organisations of the society. The policemen,
therefore, happen to be the most visible representatives of the government. In an hour of
need, danger, crisis and difficulty, when a citizen does not know, what to do and whom to
approach, the police station and a policeman happen to be the most appropriate and
approachable unit and person for him. The police are expected to be the most accessible,
interactive and dynamic organisation of any society. Their roles, functions and duties in the
society are natural to be varied, and multifarious on the one hand; and complicated, knotty
and complex on the other. Broadly speaking the twin roles, which the police are expected to
play in a society are maintenance of law and maintenance of order. However, the
ramifications of these two duties are numerous, which result in making a large inventory of
duties, functions, powers, roles and responsibilities of the police organisation.
The role and functions of the police in general are:
(a) to uphold and enforce the law impartially, and to protect life, liberty, property, human
rights, and dignity of the members of the public;
(b) to promote and preserve public order;
(c) to protect internal security, to prevent and control terrorist activities, breaches of
communal harmony, militant activities and other situations affecting
Internal Security;
(d) to create and maintain a feeling of security in the community, and as far as possible
prevent conflicts and promote amity;
(e) to provide, as first responders, all possible help to people in situations arising out of
natural or man-made disasters, and to provide active assistance to other agencies in relief
and rehabilitation measures;
(f) to aid individual, who are in danger of physical harm to their person or property, and to
provide necessary help and afford relief to people in distress situations;

Military
Among the oldest problems of human governance has been the subordination of the
military to political authority: how a society controls those who possess the ultimate power
of coercion or physical force. Since the earliest development of organized military forces in
ancient times, governments, particularly republican or democratic governments, have been
vulnerable to either being destroyed, overturned, or subverted by their armies. All forms of
government, from the purest democracies to the most savage autocracies, whether they
maintain order and gain compliance by consent or by coercion, must find the means to
assure the obedience of their military — both to the regime in power and to the overall
system of government.
For a variety of reasons, military establishments have gained significant power and achieved
considerable autonomy even in those democracies that have long practiced civilian control.
In some countries, the military has in practice kept control over much of military life; in
others, governments have never managed to develop the tools or the procedures, or the
influence with elites or the prestige with the public, to establish supremacy over their
armed forces. For the most part, however, a degree of military autonomy has grown out of
the need to professionalize the management of war. In the last two centuries, war has
become too complex–the preparations too elaborate, the weapons too sophisticated,
command too arduous, operations too intricate–to leave the waging of combat to amateurs
or part-time practitioners. As a result, the professional military’s influence has grown, either
from circumstance or from necessity.
The Indian Army has the 4th best army on earth and doctrine defines the role of the Indian
Army as :
“The Indian Army is the land component of the Indian Armed Forces which exist to uphold
the ideals of the Constitution of India.”
As a major component of national power, along with the Indian Navy and the Indian Air
Force, the roles of the Indian Army are as follows :
Primary:
Preserve national interests and safeguard sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of India
against any external threats by deterrence or by waging war.
Secondary:
Assist Government agencies to cope with ‘proxy war’ and other internal threats and provide
aid to civil authority when requisitioned for the purpose.

ROLE of NAVY
The Indian Navy sees several principal roles for itself:
In conjunction with other armed forces of the union, act to deter or defeat any threats or
aggression against the territory, people or maritime interests of India, both in war and
peace.
Project influence in India’s maritime area of interest, to further the nation’s political,
economic and security objectives.
In cooperation with the Indian Coast Guard, ensure good order and stability in India’s
maritime zones of responsibility.
Provide maritime assistance (including disaster relief) in India’s maritime neighbourhood.
To play a key role as part of ‘a pluralistic security order’ for a better world.

ROLE of AIR FORCE

The IAF’s mission is defined by the Armed Forces Act of 1947, Constitution of India and the
Air Force Act of 1950, in the aerial battlespace, as: Defence of India and every part thereof
including preparation for defence and all such acts as may be conducive in times of war to
its prosecution and after its termination to effective demobilisation. Moreover, the air force,
along with the other branches of the Indian armed forces, can assist local and state
governments; if assistance is sought by such government during natural disasters and for
maintaining internal security.