Sociology 1025A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Social Control, Photovoice

• School: Western University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: Sociology 1025A/B
• Professor: Lauren Barr

Document Summary

We are all participants in social control, which is directed at unacceptable (deviant) acts. This is constant, and it makes us who we are . Social control maybe: formal or informal: laws (formal), dress code (bra straps, clothes have to be certain length); informal , retroactive or preventative, directed at others or directed at ourselves: constant process both internally and externally. We can learn a lot about the laws and then the values of the people. For example: school: kids are told not to take stuffs what do not belong to them , the entire process that make sure the person won"t steal in the future maybe. All known societies have norms (e. g. : generally accepted ways of doings things) about appropriate behavior. At the formal level, norms are enforced with laws regulated by a criminal justice system that includes police, courts, prisons, etc. At the informal level, norms may be enforced with shaming, communal pressure, etc.