• Each group, culture, subculture, etc., has a system of norms and values
• Social control is the means of instilling said values within a certain group
• Where does social control come from when we are young?
– Parents
• What are some other obvious means of social control?
– Friends
– Schools
– Work
– Government

• We follow social norms without even thinking
– Driving
– School
– Even a situation like elevators
• This reflects our socialization
• Why do we follow these norms?
• The fear of being punished or sanctioned
• There are formal and informal sanctions
– Ridicule
– Jail time or fines

• Why can social control be difficult?
• People are always trying to tell you to do the opposite
• Functionalists believe social norms are key to the survival of a society
• Rule breaking will end us all
• Conflict theorists believe that it is needed for a society to grow and expand
– We are founded on resisting social control
• What other issues has the United States attacked with resistance to social control?
– Slavery
– Women’s suffrage
– Civil rights

• Social control functions at group levels and societal levels
• Peers and authority figures have some “control” over us
• There is a difference in how it happens
• Conformity is going along with peers to fit in
– Who do we conform to?
– Peer pressure can grow from conformity
• Obedience is compliance with authority
– Who do we obey?

• We often seek to conform to common opinions
– This can lead to prejudice and racism
– How did the Nazis get started?
• Hearing one person say something can make you think and feel the same way
– Not unlike opinion leaders
• A study was conducted in 1991 with racism at Smith
College
– They found the students’ responses mirrored the opinions of the other survey takers
– Proved that in a small group conformity can influence people’s outward attitudes

• Stanley Milgram conducted a study starting in 1961
(published in 1963 and later in 1975)
• Got the idea from the obedient nature of the Nazi
Party in Germany
– In a way he wanted to examine who should be held responsible for what happened
• The study was conducted at Yale University
• Subjects included people from all walks of life: engineers, teachers, laborers
• He told those involved he was researching the
“effects of punishment on learning”

• There were three roles: experimenter, teacher, learner
– Learner and experimenter were in on the study
– The teacher is the one being studied
• The learner would be strapped into what appeared to be an electric device
• Teacher would have control of the device with varying levels of electricity
– Teacher was shocked to prove the realness
– The experiment was “rigged”
• Learner would give incorrect answers and would respond to the shocks in increasingly vocal ways
• If the teacher wished to stop they would be told:
– “The experiment requires that you continue”
– “You have no other choice: you must go on”

• In one word, kind of messed up
• Prior to the study many social scientists believed only a small number of people would administer shocks to complete strangers
– Study found quite the opposite
• Nearly 2/3rds of the “teachers” were obedient
• They obeyed the “experimenter” because he was an authority figure
• The “experimenter” was a scientist in a lab coat
• We often obey people we don’t know because of a uniform or a title
– Who?
• In the study they viewed themselves as carrying out their duty
• Study has come under criticism as many feel it was psychologically damaging to the “teacher” and immoral
• Milgram went on to state that “if a system of death camps were set up in the United States…one would be able to find personnel in any medium sized American town”

• Informal social control can be good or bad
– Smiling, laughter
– Ridicule, sideways look
• These are casual ways of enforcing our norms
• In the United States we view spanking and striking our children as acceptable
• Called corporal punishment
• Some sociologists warn this can cause more violence later in the child's life and aggressive behavior
• Despite this, in 1998, almost 60% of pediatricians advocate the use of corporal punishment

• Formal control comes from authority figures
– Lets review: Who are they?
• In some ways it is a last resort if socialization and informal sanctions have failed
• Which punishment is becoming the most common?
– Six to seven million adults are either in jail, on parole, or on probation
– One in thirty adults
• How severe should punishments be?
• Varies from country to country

• What event caused changes in social control?
• Post 9/11 we have ramped up social control at airports and government buildings
• Informal controls have changed as well
– It is your patriotic duty to report things that look out of the ordinary now
• Some of the increases in control may not be legal
• Thank you, Patriot Act
• FBI can pry into your life without a warrant
– School records
– Library records
– Health records
– Pretty much whatever they want
• What group is negatively stereotyped as a result?

• Some norms or values are so important that we make them into laws
– A law is a governmental social control
• Laws govern just about every aspect of life
– Laws against murder
– Laws regulating hunting
– Laws regulating taxes and corporations
• Lawmaking is a social process
– Laws were originally passed down from generation to generation
• Now it reflects an ever-changing society
• Right and wrong can change as well as the punishments for them
• Laws are debated almost constantly
– Prohibition and the 55-mph speed limit failed
– Why?