We all live surrounded by people, sharing with them our joys and sorrows. But not everyone wants to obey social norms and rules. For a certain streamlining of society, the concept of "social control" was introduced. These new phenomena in society are very effective. We all remember the social censure developed during the heyday of the USSR. When a person did not want to work or hooliganized, he was taken on bail, but was condemned by the whole society for such improper behavior. And it worked! A man, maybe not of his own free will, but began to change. As a result, society achieved its goal. Social control was introduced for the same purpose - to streamline interpersonal and social relations.
Social control: concept, types, functions
Society can be called organized and relatively safe only if there are mechanisms of self-control of citizens and social control of the state. The higher the first concept is developed, the less social tracking will be required by the authorities. Self-control is the responsible behavior of an adult who has developed the skills of volitional effort on himself at the level of self-awareness, control of his behavior in accordance with generally accepted standards in society.
It is capricious, impulsive, spontaneous to act in children. An adult man owns internal self-control so as not to create conflict or other unfavorable situations for himself and society. If a society consists of people with an underdeveloped sense of responsibility, then it needs to be introduced formal forms of social control by special bodies. But we must not forget that constant hard oppression gradually makes self-control less and less significant, and, as a result, society is degrading, since there are fewer and fewer people who can think responsibly and manage their will.
What are the main types of public control?
Existing types of social behavior management are divided into two large sections, which are called formal and informal.
The essence of formal control is the implementation of legislative and rational regulation by state bodies of government and supervision of citizens' behavior. In case of violation of the standards, the state applies sanctions.
Formal control was preceded by informal control, which still takes place in society. Its essence lies in the self-organization of a certain social group, where the rules are not written, but are regulated by the opinion of the group members, authoritative personalities, elders.
How is formal control implemented?
Formal control has its roots in the historical period of the formation of forms of social organization that goes beyond simple, that is, state. Today, the state form of organization of society has reached such a level of development that types of social control, such as formal, are simply obliged to be highly organized. The larger the state, the more difficult it is to organize public order. Formal control is the organization of order on the territory of the entire state, that is, it has a global scale. Its functions are carried out by special people who receive state wages (judges, police officers, psychiatrists). The developing social control in society, its types led to the organization of entire institutions, structures and authorized bodies. Those are the police, prosecutors, courts, schools, the media and the like.
Features of informal control
Informal behavior management at the level of a large society is inefficient. It is localized and restricted to group members. For violation of the norms established in such social groups, a punishment takes the form of threats or real actions: physical impact on the person, rejection of communication, reproaches, ridicule, various kinds of censure ... Informal types and forms of social control do not neglect sanctions in the form exclusions from the community, the so-called ostracism. For a person to whom this group is important, such an action is very tangible. He feels emptiness and hopelessness. This encourages him to take various actions to return to such a group or, conversely, to replace interests and reassess values.
The degree of cohesion of the members of a social group, unity of purpose, opinion determines how effective the informal types and forms of social control, and the level of its organization. Take, for example, the rural community of the past, the traditions of which have been preserved in places to this day - there were no clearly defined rules here, but the preservation of rituals and various ceremonies fosters social behavior, norms and a deep understanding of the need to comply with them.
Socialization as a form of control
At traditional society with unwritten informal rules, the nature and types of social control differ significantly from a modern developed society, where all the norms of behavior of individuals are strictly spelled out and clothed in a code of laws. Sanctions in this group of people are imposed in the form of fines, prison sentences, administrative, disciplinary and criminal liability. To reduce violations of the law, the state through its institutions and structures takes measures to socialize society - through education, cultural work, propaganda through the media and so on.
Coercion of man
If the methods of socialization do not work, you have to apply such types and methods of social control as coercion. If an individual does not want to voluntarily submit, his society compels him to do so by force. Coercion includes the main types of social control, which are described in the norms of each state, based on its norms and laws. Coercion can be local, preventive, for example at the place of work, using the basic laws of the state. It can also be carried out immediately without warning, using harsh forms of influence on a person. Such a compulsory form of social control is the psychological impact on the individual through psychiatric clinics with the use of drug treatment.
Forms of Human Responsibility
If a person does not show responsibility in work or behavior, the state assumes the functions of educating such a citizen by different methods. These methods are not always as humane as we would like. For example, supervision is not a very humane form of instilling responsibility on the part of the state. It is carried out in different ways.
Oversight can be general when the regulatory body monitors the implementation of general standards, without going into details, looking only at the final result. It also happens to be detailed when the controller agent monitors every little thing, regulating the implementation at each stage of the necessary standards. Statewide surveillance can take the form of regulating not only behavior, but also thoughts and private life. That is, the state takes the form of total control, educates informants, applies censorship, surveillance and other methods.
In a developed civil democratic society, social control (types of sanctions) is not total. Responsible behavior that does not require coercion is brought up in citizens.Responsibility can be political, moral, legal, financial. Group and collective responsibility, held together by cultural values, traditions and norms, is very important. When a person is in a team, he has a desire to correspond to a significant group of people. He himself, not noticing, is changing, trying to imitate the members of the team. Such a change in behavior does not imply pressure and violent influence on the person.
Internal control
Internal behavior management implies the concept and types of social control that regulate measures aimed at the effective implementation by citizens of structural units of the tasks assigned to them. Thus, an audit and control body is being formed to audit the financial part, business and job descriptions, compliance with sanitary and epidemiological standards and the like.
On the other hand, under internal control is understood the responsibility of a person. An educated and responsible person will not allow himself to commit offenses or any actions contrary to the basic norms of society. Self-control is brought up in childhood. But also with the help of certain methods of a person it is possible to induce responsibility and regulation of one's behavior, emotions, words and actions.
What are the main functions of social control?
Internal social control, the types, functions with which it is characterized - this is the controllability of powers to avoid abuse at the workplace, verification of document flow and the preservation of material values. As for the functions of social control in general, they can be divided into:
- Regulatory.
- Guardian.
- Stabilizing.
Regulatory - provides the regulation of relations and their management at all stages of development of society and its levels. Protective - aims to protect all the traditional values accepted in society, to stop all attempts to break and destroy these traditions. Stabilizing - takes measures to maintain public order in the norms adopted by law, predicts the behavior of individuals and social groups, preventing actions aimed at destabilizing public order.
A society without values is doomed to destruction. This is what unites and expresses the goals and aspirations of society and its individual citizens. Values have their own classification and hierarchy.
By content:
- spiritual;
- material;
- economic;
- political;
- social.
According to focus:
- integrating;
- differentiating;
- approved;
- denied.
They are also divided according to the needs and type of civilization. In general, we can say that values are classified into:
- formed under the influence of traditions and modernity;
- primary basic and secondary;
- expressing the ideals of society (terminal);
- expressing tools to achieve the goal (instrumental).
Whatever type of value may be, its main task is to be a measure of the level of socialization of a society and the implementation of laws and behavioral norms adopted in it. In the USSR, oddly enough, values were built on the principles of the Bible. The man was convicted of promiscuous sexual relations, disrespect for parents, theft, envy. After the mass revolutions of freedom, the so-called sexual revolutions, the values of society turned upside down. The institution of the family has lost its former significance; children have begun to show less respect for their parents. With no reason, it’s difficult to cultivate responsibility and control people’s behavior correctly. Now social control no longer performs an educational function, but a punitive one.
The role of social control agents
In modern society, there are certain people - agents who exercise social control. These people underwent special training in order to properly organize society.Social control agents are police officers, doctors (psychiatrists), judges, social workers. They do not work on enthusiasm, but receive a certain payment for their work. It is difficult to imagine a modern society without these people, as they are a kind of guarantors of previously adopted decrees, instructions, laws and legislative acts of the state.
Social control today is not based on the principle of "so grandmother said," with the loss of prestige of elders, other controlling methods have emerged that are determined by the state. At the moment, society is organized by institutions. These institutions are diverse:
- police
- court;
- prosecutor's office;
- places of deprivation of liberty;
- media;
- school;
- social services.
These bodies are authorized by the state to maintain, regulate and improve public order through the application of punitive or educational methods to specific people. Naturally, all these methods are used strictly according to the instructions of higher authorities. If a person or group of people does not listen to the recommendations or decisions of social control agents, sanctions are applied to them: criminal punishment, disciplinary or administrative liability.