Social control refers to the processes by which groups maintain orderly behavior among members. In small-scale societies, social control is informal and based primarily on norms, while larger societies rely more on formal laws and codified punishments. As societies transition from small-scale to states, social control shifts from an emphasis on status to a contractual relationship with the state governed by laws. Formal legal systems in states include policing, courts, and harsher punishments such as imprisonment and capital punishment, which are meant to enforce laws through threat of sanction. However, state social control systems also reflect biases and political aims.

1. Social Conflict and Control
Egyptian Uprising, February 2011

2. Summary: Politics,
Conflict and Control

3. Systems of Social Control
• Social control:
– The process by which people maintain orderly
life in groups
• Social Control consists of the culturally
defined rules and ways to ensure that
people follow the rules
– This happens through positive or negative
sanctions

4. Two Major Instruments of Social
Control
Norm: accepted
standard for
behavior, usually
unwritten
Law: a binding
rule about
behavior

5. Social Control and Scale of Society
• Systems of social control vary depending on
social scale
• Small-scale, face-to-face groups
– Social control less formal
– More likely based only on norms
• Large-scale societies
– Norms still regulate daily life
– Formal laws also exist
– Codified punishment exists for breaking laws

6. • Example: US
Society
• Range of
behavior,
associated
sanctions
• Do you agree
with all of these
“punishments”?

7. Social Control in
Small-Scale Societies
• Small-scale groups: norms are main
instrument for establishing proper behavior
– Implicitly supported by value/belief systems,
specific decisions often made by consensus
• Punishment for norm violation Ridicule and
shaming
• Goal?: restore normal social relations (as important
or more important than punishment itself)
– Ostracism for serious offenders
– Capital punishment extremely rare

8. Social Control in States
• Move from “status to contract”
– H. L. Maine, legal scholar
– In traditional society (small-scale), your actions
towards others are defined by your status
• People tend to be related, so kinship status already
has behavioral norms built in
– In state society, you must enter a contract with
the state to behave according to law
• States much larger, most people not related
• Kinship no longer as important in regulating people’s
behavior

9. Social Control in States
• Based on formalized law
• Increased specialization
– Policing:
• Surveillance and threat of punishment
• Costly, only associated with states
– Trials and Court systems
• Meant to ensure justice and fairness
• May reflect biases in state
• Power-enforced punishment

10. Prisons and Death Penalty
• The prison has a long
history—ever since the
existence of the state
• U.S. imprisons more people
than any country
– Related to war on drugs
– Disproportional numbers of
minorities
• Executions: a political
message about the state’s
power and strength
– U.S. is 5th in the world
– No other Western state still
uses the death penalty