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Informal means of Social Control

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Informal means of Social Control

Social control is the essence of smooth, functional societies. This denotes all those means and processes which are used to maintain the social order in society. Every society has its own way of controlling its individuals and the existing normative patterns. Nevertheless, social deviance is still very common in societies. Deviance, as R. K. Merton explains is of various kinds ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"oCMFajKY","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Merton, 1959)","plainCitation":"(Merton, 1959)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":360,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/REWWH4MH"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/REWWH4MH"],"itemData":{"id":360,"type":"article-journal","title":"Social Conformity, Deviation, and Opportunity Structures: A Comment on the Contributions of Dubin and Cloward","container-title":"American Sociological Review","page":"177-189","volume":"24","issue":"2","source":"JSTOR","archive":"JSTOR","abstract":"Six of the articles in this issue of the Review are concerned with deviant behavior. And three articles--those by Robert Dubin and Richard A. Cloward, upon which Professor Merton comments, and the following paper by Dorothy L. Meier and Wendell Bell--are clearly in the Durkheimian tradition. It is not surprising that these contributions conspicuously exploit Merton's essay, \"Social Structure and Anomie,\" first published in 1938, itself a modern landmark in that tradition. These papers not only illustrate the continuing influence of Durkheim but they specify possibilities, at least, of cumulative theoretical development. Professor Merton's commentary--written at short notice, and at the request of a persistent but grateful editor--attests once more to the viability of the tradition and promises further significant analysis of deviant behavior, to be sure, and of conformity conduct as well.","DOI":"10.2307/2089428","ISSN":"0003-1224","title-short":"Social Conformity, Deviation, and Opportunity Structures","author":[{"family":"Merton","given":"Robert K."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1959"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Merton, 1959). Some individuals are rebellious or innovative, and they exhibit non-conformity with culture. However, this phenomenon of social deviance is controlled via different means and methods such as formal means of controls, and the informal means of controls. The formal social control is about the book-documented form of control which signifies the institutionalized law in the land. Whereas, the informal social control is not documented at all, and works differently in different societies. Informal social control is controlling the functionality of society through irregular means of control. Every day several social situations arise, and they create anomie in society. Lately, I have also witnessed one situation where I encountered a form of deviance. A man was not following the right means of voicing his opinions. He was more of a rebellious soul who wanted to perpetuate chaos in society. Besides, he did not incline law and order and was bent upon disturbing the harmonious equilibrium. Nevertheless, he was controlled somehow when I used informal means o social control. I responded to his actions with the help of negative sanction such as ridicule, and negative public opinion. With this effective use of the ridicule, shame, and negative public opinion against his actions, his unruly behavior was controlled. This is how I tried to handle the tricky situation with the use of informal negative sanction.

My use of informal negative sanction really helps in controlling the amount of deviance in society. This is how a responsible member of society should act and feel. The deviant person is effectively controlled with them. Ostracism is the most effective way of managing the phenomenon of social deviance. Besides, several renowned authors have considered negative informal sanctions the most workable way of maintaining the social order of society ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"wXSJL8CT","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(\\uc0\\u8220{}Social Control: An Introduction - James J. Chriss - Google Books,\\uc0\\u8221{} n.d.)","plainCitation":"(“Social Control: An Introduction - James J. Chriss - Google Books,” n.d.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":361,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/IP5USQ4G"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/IP5USQ4G"],"itemData":{"id":361,"type":"webpage","title":"Social Control: An Introduction - James J. Chriss - Google Books","URL":"https://books.google.com.pk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=btZuF51uuHYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=informal+means+of+social+control+horton+and+hunt&ots=aTJcHtf3hA&sig=Am4lecxXwNFWUjsjCenwxdyzo5c#v=onepage&q&f=false","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",7,2]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Chriss, 2012). In this way, when I used to shame and disapprobation for the deviant people, they fear ostracism and then try to become more conformist in their nature. Without a shadow of a doubt, informal negative means of social control are much effective in maintaining a healthy balance in society, and I highly recommend it for the effective social fabric.

When the guy tried to create unrest on the road, I was caught by surprise as he was threatening many others along with his own self. This was really ominous for people if left unchecked, this would have created many problems for them. So, I decide to opt for a more proactive approach and decide to utilize that strategy that could yield maximum result within no time. my reaction was judicious as I made people employ negative sanctions against that deviant person. They started ridiculing and embarrassing him. Once this strategy of negative slogans was used, that deviant immediately responded and then took a breath of sanity. He controlled and paid attention to what he was doing on the road. When he faced such huge negative public opinions instead of praises and compliments, then he rationalized the behavior. He immediately stopped in his heinous designs and this step really cemented the current social order in society. In this way, with my effective approach and the best utilization of negative sanctions, social control was effectively exercised. My endeavor really helped in maintaining the existent social order.

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Merton, R. K. (1959). Social Conformity, Deviation, and Opportunity Structures: A Comment on the Contributions of Dubin and Cloward. American Sociological Review, 24(2), 177–189. https://doi.org/10.2307/2089428

Social Control: An Introduction - James J. Chriss - Google Books. (n.d.). Retrieved July 2, 2019,