What Is Social Control?

Which term describes the everyday influence of family, friends and similar groups that steers us to follow society’s rules?

• Formal social control

• Informal social control

• Social order

• Negative sanction

Which of the following is an agency of formal social control?

• Parents

• Peer group

• Television news

• The courts

Social control is best defined as:

• The ways society influences behaviour so most people obey norms and laws

• Punishments given out by judges

• Informal advice from friendship groups

• The breakdown of law and order

According to the notes, the police maintain social order chiefly by:

• Setting school curriculums

• Running youth clubs

• Investigating crime and arresting suspects

• Offering counselling to offenders

A breakdown in social order becomes more likely when people believe:

• Uniforms look unfashionable

• Parents no longer guide children

• All sanctions are informal

• There is little chance of being punished for crime

Social control first begins when:

• Parents teach children the difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’

• Teachers introduce classroom rules

• Police officers visit primary schools

• Courts sentence the first juvenile offender

The term for a society in which most people follow the rules and act according to shared norms is:

• Formal control

• Sanctions

• Social order

• Deviance

Informal social control is reinforced daily by:

• Judges and juries

• Peer groups and close friends whose opinions matter to us

• Parliament alone

• Prison officers only

Which of the following is a formal sanction listed in the hand-out?

• A court-imposed fine

• A disapproving look from a teacher

• A parent’s lecture

• A social-media “unfollow”

When a court decides guilt and selects a punishment such as a community sentence, it is exercising:

• Informal social control

• Socialisation

• Formal social control

• Peer pressure