PS 3250 Chapter 9: Chapter Nine Book Notes
17 Feb 2019
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Document Summary
Society is a name we give to the product of countless interactions carried on by people living within some geographical and political boundary. We define social control as any action, either deliberate or unconscious, that influences conduct toward conformity, whether or not the persons being influenced are aware of the process. Peaceful and predictable coexistence makes society possible. To increase peace, predictability, and social unity, societies need mechanisms for minimizing nonconformity and deviance and for maintaining social order. We may classify social control along two dimensions: direct versus indirect and formal versus informal. Direct control is coercive, and indirect control is persuasive and voluntary. Indirect control is better than direct control because those who are directly controlled only can be trusted to behave well when they are being watched, but indirectly controlled individuals watch themselves. Informal control begins with the socialization process in which we internalize rules of proper conduct. Being censored by opinion is informal censure.
