Social control

Social control
• Social control refers to the control of society over the

individual.
• Some social control implies a system of device through
which society controls the activities of individual
members.
• Mannheim – “Social control as the sum of those
methods by which a society tries to influence human
behaviour to maintain a given order”.
• Ogburn and Nimkoff – “The patterns of pressure which
a society exerts to maintain order and established
rules”.

Nature of Social Control
1. Social control denotes some kind of
2.
3.
4.
5.

influence.
It is essentially use by the society or
community.
It is implement for promoting the welfare of
all the individuals or of the group as a whole.
The social control is an old as human society.
It is universal.

 Social control denotes some kind of influence.
 The influence may be exercised in various ways by means

of public opinion, coercion, religion, morality, ideology,
leadership, law, customs, values, folkways, etc.

 It is essentially use by the society or community.
 It may reflect in some cases the influence of a few

extraordinary individuals over other ordinary individual.

 It is implement for promoting the welfare of all the

individuals or of the group as a whole.

 It is there to serve the general interests of all and to

control the dangerous selfish interests of those who try
to satisfy them.

 The social control is an old as of the society.
 In the absence of social control no society can ever hold

together its members for any length of time.

 It is universal.
 Where there is society there is social control.

Process of Social Control
 Customs create habits.
 Habits create customs.

Types of Social Control
 Society makes use of various means of social

control depending upon the time and social
situation for the realization of its purpose.

 Formal control
 Law, legislation, military force, police force, administrative
devices, political, educational, economic (industry) etc.
 Informal control
 Public opinion, sympathy, sense of justice, norms, values,
folkways, mores, customs, religion, morality, fashion, etc.

Political
 The political leaders show the way for the

masses to follow the path taken by great man
of their past.
 The path influences the political and other
economic fields to the fellow man.

Law
 The society grows in size and complexity consisting of

number of organizations, institutions and structures.

 Informal means of social control are no longer

sufficient to maintain social order and harmony.

 Therefore the law provides uniform norms, rights,

responsibilities and penalties throughout a social
system.

 Laws are formulated by legally authorized bodies or

agencies to control the deviated behaviour.

Education
 Education is a process of socialization, it prepares the child

for social living and reforms the attitudes wrongly formed
by children already.

 It teach them the values of discipline, social cooperation,

tolerance and sacrifice.

 It encourage the individual qualities of honesty, fairness,

sense of right and wrong.

 It gives him the ability to succeed in his struggle for

existence.

 The child learns to respect the opinion and advice of others,

hence education is a necessary condition for the proper
exercise of social control.

Religion
 It refers to man’s faith or belief in some supernatural

power or force.

 Religious concept is thus linked with man’s

relationship with god.

 The norms concerned with religious behaviour

followed by constitute the religious code.

 The conceptions of spirits, ghosts, taboos, soul, talk

etc., control human actions and enforce discipline.

 Various religious agencies such as temple, churches,

mutts created by religion also help to control and
humble the disobedient.

Norms
 An important feature of a group is that it has a set of

values which controls and modifies of a group of
individuals.

 The interaction among the members in a group leads

to development of rules related to behaviour.

 Such rules of a group behaviour are called social

norms.

 It is highly impossible to imagine a society without

norms.

 It is a agencies to control the human behaviour.

Values
 Social values and norms explain the way in which social

processes operate in a given society.

 They are the social sources of patterned interaction.
 Values account for the stability of the social order.
 It provide the general guidelines for conduct that what is

right and important for the society.

 Thus, values such as respect for human dignity, sacrifice,

helpfulness, co-operation, individuality, etc., guide our
behaviour in various ways.

 In doing so, they facilitate social control.

Folkways
 The word means literally “the ways of the folk”.
 ‘Folk’ means people and ‘Ways’ refers to their behavioural

habits.

 It means the accepted ways of behaviour in society.
 It arise automatically, spontaneously and unconsciously

within the group.

 These are socially approved and have some degree of

traditional sanction.

 The ways of eating, dressing, walking, working, expressing love and

affection etc., represent folkways.

 Taking three meals a day, walking on the left side of the road,

regular brushing of the teeth, washing cloths, taking bath regularly,
respect the elders, etc.

Mores
 The mores represent another category of norms.
 Some folkways are become more compulsive and

regulative in character.

 These folkways which become regulators of behaviour

are normally referred to as ‘mores’.

 Mores to those folkways which are considered by the

group to be essential for its welfare and existence.

 It is specking the truth, don’t commit adultery, don’t

tell lies, don’t disrespect of god, etc.

Customs
 They are the long established habits and uses of the

people.

 Customs refers to “practices that have been repeated

by a large number of generations, practices that tend
to be followed simply because they have been
followed in the past”.

 They continued for long time and have passed from

one generation to another.

 They are accepted by the society, followed because

they have been followed in the past.

 Customs create habits and habits create customs.

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.

 They help us to express our individuality without going

against norms.

 Thus no woman want to attend a dinner party in a night

dress.

 People want to eat fashionable foods, wear fashionable

dresses, read fashionable books, enjoy fashionable
amusements, etc.

Role of Nurse
 These social control are to be followed by the

individuals.

 But no society completely succeeds in making all its

members follow the social control.

 Some of them fail to conform to these social control.
 Failure of conform to the social control of society is

called deviant behaviour or deviance.

 Social deviance disturbs life pattern of people and

leads to many diseases.

 As a nurse should understand the patient’s deviance

behaviour and treat the patient.

Social control

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