Describe what values are
- General principles or guidelines for how we should live our lives. Tells us what is right and wrong, good or bad
- shared by most people in a given culture and is what people feel should happen
- are more general guidelines than norms
Describe what norms are
- Specific rules or socially accepted standards that govern peoples behaviour in particular situations.
- social expectations that guide behaviour and explain why people act the way they do.
- Norms keep in check deviant behaviour.
- Can vary culture to culture
Describe what moral codes are
- often used to describe a set of basically rules, values, principles held by an individual, group, organisation or society as a whole
- morals/good ways of behaving
- breaking a moral code would generally be considered serious in society E.g. murder
Provide examples of informal sanctions
- frowning upon behaviour
- name calling
- ignoring behaviour
- labelling behaviour
- parents grounding a child
Provide examples of formal sanctions
- prison
- fines
- community sanctions
- injunctions
- detention
What is social control?
Social control is where; organisations or bodies of people put into place rules or regulations for people to follow to ensure that society runs smoothly by preventing criminal and deviant behaviour.
What is internal social control?
- Control over our behaviour from within ourselves (personalities, values, etc)
What’s external social control ?
Control over our behaviour through social agencies (education, families, etc)
Describe the superego as a form of internal social control
- the superego/moral conscience is developed through early socialisation, it tells us what’s right/wrong and inflicts guilty feelings for misbehaviour
- it stops us from acting on criminal and antisocial urges by allowing use to exercise self-control
explain tradition and culture as a form of internal social control
- Our culture also becomes part of us through socialisation, and we accept its values, norms and tradition as part of our identity
- e.g. Muslim tradition of fasting during ramadan
- conforming to tradition is a way of affirming your identity and being accepted as a member of the community
describe internalisation of social rules and morality as a form of internal social control (include the concepts of socialisation and rational ideology)
socialisation: society’s moral code and rules become internalised as our own personal rules. This occurs through interactions with people in our community, family and wider society. As a result we conform to society’s norms
rational ideology: term used to describe the way we internalise society’s/social rules and use them to determine right and wrong (keep within the law). Making a rational choice to follow the rules or not- weighing the benefit against the harm.
What are agencies of social control
- organisations/institutions that impose rules on us to make us behave a certain way/ensure we follow society’s rules
- includes family, peer groups, education system, criminal justice system (control behaviour through social agencies)
- agencies of social control can give positive sanctions as well as negative to encourage the correct behaviour
Explain the CJS as a form of external social control
CJS has agencies of social control that have the power to use formal legal sanctions
- police:powers to stop, arrest, detain and question suspects
- CPS:charges and prosecutes them in court
- judges/magistrates- powers to bail/remand the accused as well as sentence those guilty to punishment
- The prison service- detain prisoners for their sentence and punish them whilst in prison e.g. solitary
Explain how agencies of social control in the CJS can use their powers as rewards or punishments (to exert social control)
police- p=arrest r= not arrest if cooperate or may just give warning
- CPS: p=prosecute/taking you to trial r=plea bargaining
- judges/magistrates- p=sentence or not let out on bail r=reduce sentence (e.g. may give community sentence or shorten time) if plea guilty early or mitigating factors, can also let out on bail
- The prison service- p= my extend sentence while in prison, put in solitary confinement, take away privileges r= reduce sentence, give privileges (token economy)
- the probation service- p= if breach conditions may make them stricter (e.g. may have to have more regular checkups with probation officer) r=if complete probation order/stick to conditions can be free or make conditions less strict
Describe coercion as a form of external social control
- Use of threat or force to make someone do or stop doing something. Physical or psychological violence or other forms of pressure.
- negative sanctions in the CJS such as a prison sentence for theft is an example of coercion as it prevents reoffending even if it’s only while they are in prison
Describe fear of punishment as a form of external social control
- Making people fear punishment aims to make them abide the law and can be seen as a type of coercion. (e.g. committing an offence leads to being arrested, charged, convicted and jailed, so people don’t do it)
- right realists call this deterrence from offending and prevents would be criminals
- acts as a deterrence both individually (e.g. receive warnings or minor fines for your own crimes which will stop you as you won’t want it to get worse) and en mass (e.g. media showing punishments for crime)
Explain Hirschi’s social bond theory (a control theory)
- argues that crime only occurs when someone’s bonds to society are weak
- attachment: the more we care about people’s opinion of us, the less likely we are to commit crimes
- commitment: if we’re committed to the conventional lifestyle of doing well at school and getting a job, we won’t risk that by offending
- involvement: the more involved we are in things like community work and studying, the less likely we are to offend (this is why youth clubs are justified)
- beliefs: if we’re socialised to believe we should obey the law, we’re less likely to offend
1) What does Hirschi emphasise in his social bond theory? ( a control theory)
2) what supports this idea
1)
- Emphasises the role of parents in creating good bonds which prevent young people from offending. - Low self control is a result of inconsistent or absent parenting and poor socialisation- Lack of self control is a major cause of delinquency.
- parents should:
-involve themselves in their teen’s lives
-take an interest in their schooling and friends
-show disapproval of criminal behaviour and the consequences of offending
2) Riley and Shaw suggest that a lack of parental supervision is a major factor in delinquency
Social control:
Explain Walter reckless’s containment theory
- Everyone has psychological tendencies to commit crime but socialisation provides containment.
• Inner containment = comes from family and upbringing (self-concept/goal-orientation/frustration tolerance/norm retention)
• Outer containment = influences from social, peer groups or the law
Explain feminist theories (control theories)
- Heidensohn: women’s low offending rate is due to their oppression in patriarchal society. Argues that patriarchal societies control women more closely than men making it harder to offend. Women spend more time at home they have less opportunity to offend
- Carlen: women who suffered family abuse or were in care/neglected failed to form bonds of attachment so they commit crime
