Sociology Lecture # 5 Arooj Shahzad

Year: 2018

Social Control and Deviance

Social Control Definition
 Bruce J. Cohen and Terri L. Orbuch define Social Control as “All means and methods
used to induce a person to confirm to expectations of a group or society is called social
control”.
 According to C.N. Shankar Rao Social Control: “Refers to various means by which a
group or society attempts to achieve Social Order”.

Steps to attain Social Control

 Socialization of Parents:
o Parents should enforce social norms to their children more effectively.
 Orphanage homes:
o Parentless children are at stake and are most vulnerable group.
o Orphanage homes must be developed for the boarding and lodging to the
orphanages.
 Protection of lost and kidnapped children
 Socialization of beggars and unemployed:
o Beggars and unemployed should be given technical education and training for
setting up small business.
 Recreational Activities:
o Parks should be constructed so that people could spend their free time and
socialize their children in proper manner.
 Education:
o People should be educated about importance of norms.
 Correction of Offenders:
o Criminals in jails should be corrected by initiating rehabilitative programs.
 Religious Education:
o Religious education should be given to the masses
 Role of Media:
o Media is the only source which can change the thinking direction of the people.

Means of Social Control

 There are a number of means that have been employed by social groups throughout the
human history to keep individuals under control.

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Sociology Lecture # 5 Arooj Shahzad
Year: 2018

Formal means of Social Control

 Law:
o
Law is the most important formal means of social control. Early societies
depended upon informal means of social control but when societies grew in size
and complexity they were compelled to formulate rules and regulations which
define the required types of behavior and specify the penalties to be imposed upon
those who violate them. Law is a body of rules enacted by legally authorized
bodies and enforced by authorized agencies.
 Education:
o Along with law, the importance of education as a means of social control is being
growingly realized. Education is a process of socialization. It prepares the child
for social living. It reforms the attitudes wrongly formed by the children already.
Thus, a family may make the child superstitious; education will correct his beliefs
and remove his prejudices.
 Coercion:
o Coercion is the use of force to achieve a desired end. It may be physical or non-
violent. It is the ultimate means of social control when all other means fail.
Physical coercion may take the form of bodily injury, imprisonment and death
penalty. Physical coercion is without doubt the lowest form of social control.

Informal means of Social Control

 Belief:
o Belief is a conviction that a particular thing is true.
 Folkways:
o “Folkways are the typical or habitual beliefs, attitudes and styles of conduct
observed within a group or community” (Lundberg)
 Mores:
o “Mores are those customs and group routines which are thought by the members
of the society to be necessary to the group’s continued existence” (Gillin and
Gillin)
 Customs:
o Customs are the long established habits and usages of the people. They are those
folkways and mores which have persisted for a very long time and have passed
down from one generation to another. They arise spontaneously and gradually.
There is no constituted authority to declare them, to apply them or to safeguard
them. They are accepted by society. They are followed because they have been
followed in the past.

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Sociology Lecture # 5 Arooj Shahzad
Year: 2018
 Religion:
o Religion also exercises a powerful influence upon man’s behavior in society.
Religion pervades practically in all the societies, though there may be different
forms of religious beliefs and practices.
 Art and Literature:
o Art in its narrow sense includes painting, sculpture, architecture, music and dance.
Literature includes poetry, drama and fiction. Both art and literature influence the
imagination and exert control on human behavior.
 Public Opinion:
o The influence of public opinion as a means of social control is greater in simple
societies. In a village the people are known to one another personally. It is
difficult for a villager to act contrary to the public opinion of the village. Public
opinion greatly influences our actions. For fear of public ridicule and criticism we
do not indulge in immoral or anti-social activities.

Anomie
 Conflicting sets of norms and values in society.
 No clear guideline to follow.
 Anomie, also spelled anomy, in societies or individuals, a condition of instability
resulting from a breakdown of standards and values or from a lack of purpose or ideals.
 The term was introduced by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim in his study
of suicide. He believed that one type of suicide (anomic) resulted from the breakdown of
the social standards necessary for regulating behavior. When a social system is in a state
of anomie, common values and common meanings are no longer understood or accepted,
and new values and meanings have not developed. According to Durkheim, such a
society produces, in many of its members, psychological states characterized by a sense
of futility, lack of purpose, and emotional emptiness and despair. Striving is considered
useless, because there is no accepted definition of what is desirable.

Alienation
 Alienation, a sociological concept developed by several classical and contemporary
theorists, is "a condition in social relationships reflected by a low degree
of integration or common values and a high degree of distance or isolation between
individuals, or between an individual and a group of people in a community or work
environment". The concept has many discipline-specific uses, and can refer both to a
personal psychological state and to a type of social relationship.

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Sociology Lecture # 5 Arooj Shahzad
Year: 2018

Social Integration
 Social integration refers to the principles by which individuals or actors are related to one
another in a society; system integration refers to the relationships between parts of a
society or social system. Despite the use of the word integration there is no assumption
that the relationships so described are harmonious. The terms social integration and
system integration can embrace both order and conflict.

Social Disintegration and Pakistani Society

 East Pakistan fell from Pakistan, in result of Social and Cultural Disintegration, in 1971
and emerged Bangladesh as an independent state.

 Adequate socialization of cultural traits could not be inhibited into the people of that
Province.

 The people of Bangladesh departed from the common goals of Pakistni Ideology in
which an integrated state, consisting of two provinces East Pakistan and West Pakistan
was created in 1947.

Deviance Definition
 Hortun and Hunt define: “any failure to confirm to customary norms is called
Deviance”
 Louise Weston says: “behavior that is contrary to the standards of conduct or social
expectations of a given group or society define as Deviance”
 Ian Robertson mentioned Deviance as: “behavior that violates significant social norms
and is disapproved by large numbers of people as result”

Causes of Deviance
 Broken Family and Improper Socilization
 Lack of interest in Educaion
 Lack of Religious Education and Morality
 Rejection by Neighbourhood
 Lack of basic facilities
 Declining Moral and Religious values
 Desire of Accumulation of Wealth
 Parentless Child
 Mass Media

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Sociology Lecture # 5 Arooj Shahzad
Year: 2018

Crime: An Absolute Deviance

 Violation of Criminal Law for which penalities are imposed by some competent
authority.

Types of Crimes
 Personal Crime:
o Crimes against persons, also called personal crimes, include murder, aggravated
assault, rape, and robbery
 Professional Crime:
o Crime is adopted as a profession. The person/criminal develop skills and
techniques of crime.
 Organized Crime:
o Organized crime is committed by structured groups typically involving the
distribution and sale of illegal goods and services. Many people think of the Mafia
when they think of organized crime, but the term can refer to any group that
exercises control over large illegal enterprises (such as the drug trade, illegal
gambling, prostitution, smuggling, or money laundering).
 White Collar Crime:
o White-collar crimes are crimes committed by people of high social status who
commit their crimes in the context of their occupation. This includes embezzling
(stealing money from one’s employer), insider trading, tax evasion, and other
violations of income tax laws.

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Sociology Lecture # 5 Arooj Shahzad
Year: 2018

Sociology Past Papers: Questions Practice

Question # 1 (2017)

Marx and Weber theorized that modern society alienated people. How do their approaches
contrast each other and how their concepts of alienation can be compared with Durkheim
concept of Anomie?

Question # 2 (2004)

What are the social effects of Deviance and Crime- Fighting Programmes including
Imprisonment work in Pakistan?

Question # 3 (2001)

Discuss briefly the internal and external means of Social Control with reference to
Pakistani Society?

Question # 4 (1999)

What is Deviant Behavior? Discuss the major types of Crime in Pakistan with Your
suggestions for their reformations.

Question # 5 (1995)

Is Deviance a behavior that is teamed in the same way as conformity? Illustrate with
example how one gets socialized as Deviant.

Question # 6 (1987)

‘Informal methods of Social Control are far more effective than the formal ones’.

Question # 7 (1986)

“Although the means used for Social Control are basically the same in all societies, the
devices and techniques and the emphasis given on them, vary a good deal, among different
societies.” Discuss in detail the agencies of SOCIAL CONTROL and the methods and
means employed both by primitive societies and advanced or civilized societies for
controlling human behavior.