Social Control
Question One
Social Control is how human behavior is regulated within society. This is accomplished through means such as rules, accepted norms, laws, and other structures of society. This practice aims to maintain social order. Social control is grouped into two: formal and informal. Formal social control is enforced by government structures put in place such as the police, federal agencies, and city authorities among others. These organs of the state ensure that the Law is strictly adhered to. Failure to this, punishment and correctional measures established by law are applied by formal institutions such as the Judiciary against the law-breaker (Mears et al. 217). Besides the rule of law, there are norms and values of a society that have been learned through socialization. These are regulated through informal social control and enforced by family, caregivers, friends, colleagues, and also teachers at school (Felson 120). For instance, hard work will be praised while laziness will be disapproved. In this case, hard work has been embraced as a virtue in society and is hence encouraged and rewarded. Some of the ways that social control has affected my life include my beliefs impacted through religion, my principles, following the law, and enjoying peace. Growing up, I was introduced to a set of beliefs based on religion. These were enforced through social control hence I still practice them up to date. I am a well-principled person due to social control. Also, I am a law-abiding citizen and most importantly, I enjoy living in a peaceful and orderly country due to social control.
Question Two
Deviance is when accepted social behavior is violated. Through social control, a certain code of conduct is stipulated and everyone is expected to adhere (Bogdan and Taylor 34). However, there are cases where certain individuals may go against such code. This calls for the correction of such behavior. The question of who decides what is deviant or not depends on whether it is a case of formal or informal social control. The government, for instance, has set a comprehensive set of laws to guide on the accepted behavior in the case of formal social control (Selznick 79). Informally, society has certain norms and values which dictate how members of that society conduct themselves. However, there are many cases where both institutions set a similar code of conduct. For example, the government forbids the killing of people, and so does society. There are a few cases where I have taken part in acts of deviance, including at home and in school. Through various types of punishment such as grounding and detention respectively, I learned that such acts were unacceptable hence deviant.
Question Three
The government shutdown is a result of a lack of funding legislature known as the appropriations bill leading to the closure of many federal operations. Government shutdowns occur when there are disagreements by the parties passing the legislature. For instance, the 2018/2019 shutdown was as a result of disagreements between President Donald Trump and the Congress. In such a case, Congress is deviant by refusing to pass the funding legislature. This is done to show that they do not support a certain activity by the president. For instance, in the recent shutdown, Congress was not in support of funding for the US-Mexico border wall. In a similar case in 2013, the republicans were against the affordable care act proposed by President Barrack Obama. Such deviance is not without casualties. Federal employees are furloughed and go without salaries for the period of shutdown. Citizens are also affected as they are denied some of the federal serviced offered by the paralyzed institutions. The government is also impacted as it loses a lot of revenue which can run into billions of dollars (Bendersky 164).
Question Four
Different sociologists view deviance in varying perspectives. One of these is the functionalist viewpoint. In this case, deviance is viewed in terms of what function it plays in society. Sociologists who prescribe to this school of thought believe that deviance is essential in society by defining behavior as acceptable or deviant. This classification then acts as a basis of social integration and solidarity. Structural functionalists further state through solidarity, behavior marked as deviant may eventually become acceptable in the wider society (Nichols 157). A good example of this is homosexuality.
Sociologists who prescribe to conflict theories view deviance in terms of its cause. In this case, deviance results as a result of inequalities that exist within society resulting in conflict. A good example that supports the conflict perspective is the fact that youths from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds tend to commit more crime compared to those from rich backgrounds. To suppress such deviance, the government puts in place institutions such as the police force, courts and correctional systems (McCaghy et al. 93).
Finally, interactionists view deviance as learned behavior resulting from social interactions. Through association with deviant people, a person learns the attitudes and techniques for similar behavior. This explains why a person who hangs around criminals is likely to participate in a crime. Interactionists do not believe that deviance is in-born, rather learned and practiced for personal gain (Smetana and Onderco 516).
Works Cited
Bendersky, Corinne. “Resolving ideological conflicts by affirming opponents’ status: The Tea Party, Obamacare, and the 2013 government shutdown.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 53 (2014): 163-168.
Bogdan, Robert, and Steven Taylor. “Toward a sociology of acceptance: The other side of the study of deviance.” Social Policy 18.2 (1987): 34-39.
Felson, Marcus. “Linking criminal choices, routine activities, informal control, and criminal outcomes.” The reasoning criminal. Routledge, 2017. 119-128.
McCaghy, Charles H., et al. “Why Is Certain Behavior Deviant?.” Deviant Behavior. Routledge, 2016. 91-116.
Mears, Daniel P., et al. “Culture and formal social control: The effect of the code of the street on police and court decision-making.” Justice Quarterly 34.2 (2017): 217-247.
Nichols, Lawrence T. “Editor’s Introduction: Constructionism as Interpretive Tradition and as Emergent Deviance in Sociology.” The American Sociologist 50.2 (2019): 155-159.
Selznick, Philip. “Legal institutions and social controls.” Vand. L. Rev. 17 (1963): 79.
Smetana, Michal, and Michal Onderco. “Bringing the outsiders in: an interactionist perspective on deviance and normative change in international politics.” Cambridge Review of International Affairs 31.6 (2018): 516-536.
