Deviant behavior and its types.
Gender as a form of social control.
Social control and its means.
The most important condition for social interaction and the effective functioning of the social system is predictability in the actions and behavior of people. Lack of predictability leads society (social community) to disorganization and disintegration. Therefore, society creates various mechanisms of social control in order to coordinate the behavior of its members.
social control- this is a set of processes in a social system (society, social group, organization) through which certain “patterns” of activity are followed, restrictions on behavior are observed, the violation of which adversely affects the functioning of the system.
social control- is the influence of society on an individual or groups so that they follow the norms in order to maintain stability
values, legal and moral norms
administrative orders, decisions
habits
social norms – these are socially approved and/or legislatively fixed rules, models, standards that regulate people's behavior.
They (norms) can be divided into two main types:
1. Legal regulations- these are norms formally enshrined in various kinds of legislative acts (for example, the Constitution, the Criminal Code, the Rules of the Road)
Violation of legal norms involves legal, administrative and other types of punishment;
2. moral standards are informal norms that function in the form public opinion. The main tool in the system of moral norms is public censure(conviction) or public approval.
In order for people to always behave in accordance with the norms existing in society, it is necessary, firstly, to train people in appropriate behavior and. secondly, to monitor compliance with the rules.
Social control ensures a certain organization of social life, the adequacy of the behavior of members of society to mutual expectations.
Compulsion to proper behavior is already observed in animals, especially those living in packs (monkeys must take care of the leader).
There are also special institutions - judicial, punitive bodies.
Various social institutions act as mechanisms of social control. For example, the institution of the family exercises primary social control and regulates the behavior of people in the marriage and family sphere of society; political institutions exercise social control by political methods, morality, customs, law, etc.
In order for people's behavior to meet social expectations, certain standards of behavior are created (formed) in society - social norms.
They are very different and varying degrees of severity.
Norms- rules of conduct, expectations and standards that govern the interaction of people.
Sample- cultural education, which determines how an individual should respond to a situation that is important for him and his environment. The most frequently repeated way of behaving in certain situations.
The goal of social control is to limit deviant behavior.
Means of ensuring social control:
- socialization
- group pressure (reward/smiles, nods, promotions/, punishment, persuasion)
- government coercion
Methods of social control:
Isolation - separation of the individual from others
Isolation - restriction of contacts
rehabilitation - return to normal life
One of the forms of social control is ideas about gender.
The subordination of women and men is the most important element on which the social order rests. Social conditions are favorable for some, not for others. They obey, others command. People are unequal, why do they put up with this state of affairs. Why respected social order? Voluntary submission is explained by the fact that it is perceived as natural, due to nature itself.
P. Bourdieu shows on the example of male dominance (ethnographic material - peasants - Berbers in Algeria)
First, nature is interpreted through binary oppositions: high/low, dry/wet, light/dark, etc.
All of them are permeated with associations with male/female. Feminine connects with the warmth of the hearth, patience, weakness.
Concepts/stereotypes about gender are so woven into us in the process of socialization that we may not be aware of it. We do not even notice how gender differences affect our behavior. They take root in us from the first days of life.
ETC. Jen Maurice, the famous writer, was James Maurice. She described the experience of a man who, having changed his gender, felt himself in different worlds. She made such an observation - not only the reaction of the people around her changed, but also her own. If she was considered incompetent in opening traffic jams, or the intricacies of driving a car, she began to behave accordingly.
ETC. G. Garfinkel devoted his work to the analysis of an "individual case" of a change in sexual status. The main empirical material is an interview with Angness, a nineteen-year-old girl who was born and raised as a boy until the age of 17 and deliberately changed her sex. From a genetic point of view, Agnes represented a rare case of hormonal feminization during adolescence. Male organs coexisted with female secondary sexual characteristics. Externally, an attractive girl. Until the moment she entered the clinic, Agnes had been living for two years in the guise of a girl and felt like a woman. There was a fiance. Has made operation. Later she admitted that she did not have any biological defects that would lead to feminization in adolescence. From the age of 12, she secretly took estrogen (female sex hormones), prescribed to her mother after a serious surgical operation.
In the 50s. H. Benjamin was the first to describe transsexualism from a scientific point of view as a pathological state of the individual, consisting in a discrepancy between the biological and mental sex.
From 60-70 xx. began to share concepts "floor" (in English sex) - biological sex, physical characteristics and "gender" (in English gender) - social gender, due to socio-cultural characteristics, culturally determined gender differences. As Simone de Beauvoir said, "Women are not born, they are made." The same can be said about a man. Behavior is associated with the assimilation of a set of norms tied in culture to a particular gender. Thus, there is two sexes(male and female) and two genders(masculine and feminine). They are formed through the study of female and male identities - femininity and masculinity .
If a person's gender is determined biologically, then gender is a cultural and social construct. The main political and theoretical question is whether gender is related to and determined by biology. Are differences in behavior always related to biology. To date, the degree of influence of biology on identification has not been unambiguously established.
For example, in the 19th century, medical theories argued that a woman's personality was determined by anatomy and female reproductive functions. The diagnosis of "hysteria" was considered female and was associated with the presence of a uterus. These views have been challenged by feminists
ETC. in most cultures, women give most of their lives to children, so they cannot take an active part in war or hunting.
ETC. twins were born, but one organ was damaged and it was decided to reconstruct his genitals so that they become female. After that, they were raised as a woman. The typical boy and girl grew up. Dolls, married, household help and cars, a policeman. But when she found out about the origin of her gender, she expressed uncertainty about gender.
Those. identification depends on the label given to the person from childhood. In a normal situation, these labels correspond to biological differences in chromosomes, hormones, and anatomy.
Gender learning occurs in the process of socialization. They talk to girls and boys differently, different toys.
ETC. the study of fairy tales showed that men are much more likely to act as heroes there. And if we take into account animals with gender characteristics, then the ratio is 95 to 1. There, men are on adventurous adventures, and women are at home, waiting for them, passive, or Baba Yaga.
Those. Fairy tales already reflect the attitude towards gender and the distribution of gender roles. Therefore, feminists rewrite famous fairy tales (Cinderella is disappointed in the prince and decides to pretend that the shoe is crushing her).
ETC. also in cartoons. Active pursuers and heroes are men.
ETC. We studied what toys children prefer. We analyzed the attitude towards toys that are traditionally feminine, masculine, neutral. Both children and adults equally assigned toys to the corresponding gender. In Italy, children chose gender-differentiated toys more often than in the Netherlands, which is associated with a more traditional Italian culture. In both societies, girls expressed a desire to play with boys' and neutral toys much more often than boys chose girls' toys.
Therefore, many authors say that masculinity is a test, and not just power, for which feminists criticize Western culture - for androcentrism modern culture. Those. for the fact that the real social world of culture is oriented towards a man.
Signs:
Identification of the concept of "man" and "man" (in many languages \u200b\u200bthey are denoted by one word)
The division of language into masculine and feminine is based on a real social asymmetry
Male physiology determines more sports
A woman "drops out" of social life in connection with the birth of a child
Uncomfortable clothing (short skirts hinder movement and make you constantly control yourself)
Society expects certain behavior. Gender doesn't just exist, we "confirm" our gender in interactions every day. The benefits of eliminating gender differences, which feminists aspire to - question (give an essay).
All social norms are accompanied sanctions and are aimed at encouraging generally accepted behavior, generally accepted patterns of action and preventing deviations from it (deviations, “deviances”, from Latin “deviation”).
People who love to philosophize and scold society often talk about freedom, which, from their point of view, is so lacking in a person in the modern world. However, living in a society, we must reckon with it, even if we do not like them. Because anarchy, anarchy, and hence the arbitrariness of the strong is much worse than any laws. In addition, the influence of society is manifested not only at the formal, but also at the informal, psychological level. And this influence, which is very significant for us, is called social control.
Despite the name, social control is not necessarily society's supervision of each of its members and the forcible control of people's behavior. This is primarily an imperceptible and often almost imperceptible influence. Social control is perceived as an external, overwhelming force only if a person consciously or unconsciously violates generally accepted norms, does not meet the expectations of members of his community.
A person brought up within a certain society passes in childhood, learns the norms and rules of behavior. Therefore, he may not notice the action of social control, because its principles do not contradict generally accepted ones.
Therefore, in psychology, social control is considered primarily as the influence of society on the formation of socially acceptable behavior of the individual. And only in the case of antisocial behavior, violation of group norms, evasion from fulfilling the obligations of one's social role, the other side of social control becomes noticeable - coercive and suppressive.
Thus, social control cannot be viewed as an external force in relation to a full-fledged, socialized member of society. Any normal adult person is the same conductor of social control as other people. In contrast to social control, formal legal control is carried out by special state bodies, which seem to stand above society.
Instruments of social control
Formal control is based on the capabilities and status of state institutions, including law enforcement agencies, courts, and the media. This makes it possible to widely use both educational measures, and means of persuasion, and coercive measures. Social control works very differently. Although he also has such channels as persuasion, coercion and education, the tools, mechanisms and methods of influence in social control are completely different.
The mechanism of mental imitation
This mechanism was named the main instrument of informal control as early as the 19th century in the work of G. Tarde, the founder of social psychology. Mental imitation is a very ancient phenomenon that ensures the survival and stable existence of any society: not only humans, but also higher animals.
In humans, imitation is manifested in copying (often unconscious) behavior, communication methods, means and forms of communication of people around. It is this mechanism that is considered the main and most effective tool of socialization and social control in early childhood. Moreover, imitation in humans plays an even more important role than in animals, because the human child is born almost completely devoid of innate, instinctive forms of behavior. He learns upright posture, speech, objective activity, rational thinking from adults, mainly through imitation. Whereas, for example, a puppy does not need to be taught to bark and wag its tail - this is inherent in its nature.
At an older age, when a person can already comprehend his actions, imitation continues to play a huge role. Those norms of behavior followed by our immediate environment are learned primarily through imitation. And often this happens unconsciously, and stereotypes of behavior are fixed on. Therefore, the learned norms are observed automatically, one might say, reflexively.
No persuasion, much less coercion, is needed in this case, and social control undergoes internalization, that is, it becomes intrapersonal. Moreover, the violation of social norms by other people causes a feeling of discomfort, wrongness, a desire to stop antisocial actions. That is, having learned the rules of behavior and group values, a person himself becomes a conductor of social control.
The mechanism of mental imitation makes the work of social control imperceptible, and a person simply does not feel it and does not think about it, does not feel either the violence or coercion of society.
Expectations
Have you noticed how often we do not what we want, but what others expect of us: relatives, friends, colleagues? No, they don't force or persuade us, often they don't say anything at all. We just know that these people expect certain things from us, and therefore we do them. There are several reasons for this:
- we do not want to upset friends and relatives;
- strive to earn respect or support;
- understand the need to conform to the accepted role;
- we just got used to doing what more authoritative, significant, adult people expect from us.
These social expectations are called expectations (from the English expectation). Not spoken out loud, not imposed by force, they control our behavior. The most telling example of the influence of expectations is following stereotypes. So, knowing what people expect from a seller, a doctor, a housing and communal services employee, representatives of these professions consciously or unconsciously try to meet expectations. It is interesting that this mechanism plays not only a positive role. For example, a traffic police officer also knows these expectations.
In the family, in the circle of friends, in the community of colleagues - everywhere expectations are an effective tool of social control. A husband calls his wife if he is late at work, because he knows that his wife is waiting for this call. An office employee stays after the end of the working day to complete a burning project together with colleagues, because he knows that they expect just such an act from him.
Expectations, of course, are not rigidly set, and it happens that people do not follow them, do not justify the expectations of others. Then society applies to them.
Sanctions
It is an important tool of social control, performing the functions of both coercion and encouragement. The term "social sanctions" refers to any action of society aimed at regulating human behavior in accordance with group norms. Sanctions are of two types:
- positive or encouraging, demonstrating the approval of the society and support for the actions of one of its members;
- negative or judgmental - various forms of punishment or coercion aimed at individuals who violate generally accepted rules and norms.
Social psychologists believe that positive sanctions work more efficiently than negative ones, since encouragement stimulates the accomplishment of correct, useful actions for society. But punishment and condemnation can cause resentment, irritation, anger, and even rejection and demonstrative antisocial behavior.
Most social sanctions, both positive and negative, are associated with public opinion - the sphere in which all group-wide problems are raised and solved, including those related to the behavior of individual members of the group. True, most often this applies only to such actions that affect the interests of society as a whole.
Public or group opinion is the attitude of society to some significant events for it, including the actions of individuals. It is considered an integral phenomenon, that is, the result of the interaction of people discussing an important issue or event. In the media, you can find the following phrase: "He is the spokesman for public opinion." From a psychological point of view, this is not true. A single person, even a leader, cannot be the spokesman for the society's opinion; such an opinion is not the "arithmetic average" either. And even, sometimes, it does not coincide with the point of view of the majority of members of society. Here is such a paradox. To study a group-wide point of view on some issue in psychology, there are special techniques, for example, a focused group interview, in other words, the “focus group” method.
Public opinion is a very effective tool of social control. Often, condemnation of 1-2 people can be brushed aside - this is their personal opinion, and it is no more significant than yours. But the condemnation of the community as a whole by a person is experienced very hard. It sometimes creates such an oppressive psychological atmosphere that the violator of the norms is forced to leave the group, leave his job, or even move to another place of residence.
But the approval of public opinion is also perceived very positively, it seems to give a person wings, inspire them to important, significant actions, encourage them to sacrifice their own interests for the good of society. No wonder there is such a saying: "In the world and death is red."
Functions of social control
Social control is an important part of the life of society, which without it could not exist at all. It is more important than the formal legal one, since it is based not on laws adopted by a group of people, but on the needs of society, on traditions, on norms revered by the majority of the members of the group. Often, society is even less strict towards the violator of the formal law than towards the one who does not respect group norms and traditions. Among the many functions of social control, the main ones can be distinguished:
- Regulation of behavior and relations of people in society.
- Ensuring the process of socialization, that is, the assimilation by the individual of the norms of the group.
- Adaptation function - social control helps a new member of the community to adapt to the requirements of society.
- Integration - ensuring effective interaction of group members and rallying them around common traditions and norms.
- Protection of common group interests, ensuring the safety of community members.
- Maintaining the stability of society, preventing attempts by individuals to destroy established norms and values.
Attitudes towards social control can be far from unambiguous, and at times frankly negative. After all, in a number of cases it not only infringes on the rights of individuals, but also supports clearly outdated and non-progressive norms and values. But it should be remembered that this is the main mechanism that ensures the stability of society. Often society simply does not experience too dramatic changes, and when social control collapses, anarchy and chaos ensue.
Lecture:
social control
You already know that one of the functions of social norms is control. It is provided by a special social institution - social control. This term was introduced into science French sociologist Gabriel Tarde and was seen as a way of social rehabilitation of criminals. Then the importance of social control began to be considered more broadly, as a factor of socialization.
social control- verification of the results of the activities of individuals and groups, aimed at maintaining public order.
Important social control functions are:
- directing the social behavior of individuals and groups in the right direction (regulatory function);
- preservation of values existing in society and their transmission from generation to generation (protective function);
- ensuring the predictability of people's behavior in society and maintaining the stability of the social order (stabilizing function).
The structural elements of social control are social norms that a person must follow and social sanctions - measures of encouragement and punishment that lead a person to normal behavior.
Types of social sanctions
There are formal and informal, positive and negative sanctions.
Types of social sanctions |
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№ | Kinds | Subspecies | Examples |
1. | formal, coming from official state. bodies | positive (encouragement) | Announcement of gratitude, the award of a diploma, the issuance of a bonus, promotion, etc. |
Negative (punishment) | Reprimand, demotion, fine, deprivation of title, etc. |
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2. | informal, from people around | positive (encouragement) | Praise, compliments, smile, applause, etc. |
Negative (punishment) | Condemnation, ridicule, criticism, remark, complaint, ignoring, etc. |
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Any social system has certain mechanisms inherent in it, with the help of which the rule of law in society and, in fact, its very existence is maintained. Such mechanisms are collectively called "social control". This is a set of social norms, as well as checking the behavior of an individual for compliance with these norms. These mechanisms are
manifestation of the following:
- social expectations. They are direct or indirect demands of others in relation to an individual. Typically, such requirements are determined based on social status, roles, functions, and so on.
- social norms. These are certain prescriptions that are examples of how the subject should act and behave in society and specific situations. Based on these norms, social expectations are established.
- social sanctions. They are measures of influence on the individual by society in order to bring his behavior to social norms.
Application of social control
Social control can be exercised institutionally and
non-institutional. So, in the first case, it is assumed that supervision and measures of influence will be applied by special state or public bodies and institutions. An example of institutional control is the activity of such state mechanisms as the judiciary, administrative and political law. Non-institutional social control is a special type of self-regulation of society, in which the impact is carried out by the surrounding team through mass consciousness. In this case, public moral and psychological concepts of acceptable behavior play an important role.
Types of social control
As a rule, they reflect the formality of the actions of the institutional and non-institutional levels.
- Formal social control. In this case, clearly defined norms of behavior and influence (legal acts) apply. They are mandatory, which is subject to verification by official institutions and officials.
- informal social control. Accordingly, informal methods for the implementation of moral regulation are used. Usually this type is used at the level of primary social groups: family, close circle of friends and acquaintances, work collective. Specific measures are public censure, condemnation or encouragement and respect, ridicule, ostracism, and so on.
The form of expression of such control is the law at the formal level. On the informal level - public morality, traditions, customs, conscience, taboos as a system of prohibitions, and so on. Thus, if the behavior and actions of the individual do not meet the expectations and requirements of society, in this case, it seeks to force it to comply with them. If such coercion is impossible, such a person is subject to marginalization.
Social cooperation in the conditions of the division of labor is a condition for meeting the growing needs of people, and hence for success in the struggle for survival. In human nature, prone to deviant behavior, there are forces that prevent actions that are inconsistent with the standards of behavior that lead to integration and stability. In Smelser's study, 99% of respondents admitted that they had violated the law at least once in their lives due to the contradiction between the desire for something and social norms and values.
The role of the mechanism of social control - a kind of "bypass valve" - is played by mass youth culture. Possessing the features of super-permissibility, it allows young people to "relax", relieve emotional and deviant stress, maintain control over them from the side of elders and the standards of society's behavior. The confidence of young people in their independence from adults within the framework of youth culture forms a sense and motives of responsibility for their behavior. As a young person grows older, he usually loses interest in this culture, socializes and becomes conformed to the standards of behavior. However, for some young people, the over-permissibility of youth culture forms distinct deviant behavior and motivation.
The ultimate form of social control is insulation from the social environment - to stop the deviant's contacts with other people. This mechanism blocks potential conflicts, deviant motives and actions. Isolated people leave a field for the manifestation of conformal motives, standards of behavior. Such isolation is characteristic of criminals held in prisons. Another social control mechanism is isolation deviant from the social environment by limiting his contacts with other people, suggesting the possibility of returning to society. And finally, it is possible rehabilitation deviants, when artificial conditions are created for them to communicate with their own kind under the control of psychiatrists, guards, etc. For prisoners, such circumstances develop in terms of conditional release, deescort, etc.
Social control is also divided into (1) informal and (2) formal. Informal social control exists, according to Crosby, in the form of: (a) remuneration (approval, promotion, etc.); (b) punishment (a disgruntled look, critical remarks, the threat of physical punishment, etc.); (c) beliefs (reasoned proof of the observance of normal behavior); (d) human re-evaluation of cultural norms (as a result of all previous forms of social control plus the capacity for self-esteem).
Formal control is carried out by the state apparatus, which ensures the enforcement of standards of conduct and the motivation for such compliance with standards. AT political In countries where the basis of society is an authoritarian or totalitarian state, such control is exercised through direct violence against people in all spheres. It often remains illegitimate, giving rise to various types of deviant motivation and behavior in the form of covert sabotage or even rebellion. The idea of freedom as the most important value of the life of the people was never developed in the East (in Asia) - there the obedience to power was considered the main value, and any speech against it was considered as deviant and severely punished.
AT economic and economic-political In countries where the basis of society is a market economy, formal control over compliance with legal norms and standards of behavior is supplemented by control over the powers of officials who control compliance with conforming behavior and the fight against deviant behavior. The idea of freedom has long been a value of Western societies, giving rise to an initiative that violates traditional standards of behavior and to which modern man owes the achievements of the industrial age: among them the rule of law and representative government, the independence of courts and tribunals, judicial proceedings and compensation for damages in case of illegal actions of the state , freedom of speech and press, separation of church and state.
Functions of the social control system
Social control is a system of social regulation of people's behavior in society, ensuring their orderly interaction. In relation to society, social control performs two most important functions: protective and stabilizing, and is divided into two types:
1. internal control or self-control. when an individual independently regulates his behavior, coordinating it with the norms of society, here the main criterion for moral assessment is conscience;
2. external control is a set of institutions and means that guarantee compliance with generally accepted norms.
The system of social control is carried out with the help of social norms, sanctions and institutions (agents of control).
Social norms are prescriptions, requirements, rules that define the boundaries of acceptable, socially approved behavior of people. They perform the following functions in society:
- regulate the general course of socialization;
- integrate the personality into the social environment;
- serve as models, standards of appropriate behavior;
- control deviant behavior. There are two types of social norms:
1. Formal, based on law:
- formally defined;
- enshrined in regulations;
- confirmed by the coercive power of the state.
2. Informal u based on morality:
- not formalized;
- supported by public opinion.
The essence of social norms is as follows:
- they allow the individual to enter into relationships with other people;
- compliance with the norms is strictly controlled by a complex mechanism that combines the efforts of control and self-control through a system of sanctions and rewards.
Compliance with social norms in society is ensured through social sanctions, which represent the reaction of the group to the behavior of the individual in socially significant situations. The whole variety of social norms in society, as the effect of action increases, is divided into four types:
- informal positive sanctions - public approval from the informal environment, i.e. parents, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, etc. (compliment, friendly praise, friendly disposition, etc.);
- formal positive sanctions - public approval from the authorities, official institutions and organizations (government awards, state awards, career advancement, material rewards, etc.);
- informal negative sanctions - punishments not provided for by the legal system of society, but applied by society (remark, ridicule, breaking friendships, disapproving feedback, etc.);
- formal negative sanctions - punishments provided for by legal laws, regulations, administrative instructions and orders (fine, demotion, dismissal, arrest, imprisonment, deprivation of civil rights, etc.).
There are three ways to implement social control in a group and society:
- through socialization. Its essence is that socialization, shaping our desires, preferences, habits and customs, is one of the main factors of social control and establishing order in society;
- through group pressure. Each individual, being a member of many primary groups, must at the same time share a certain minimum of cultural norms accepted in these groups and behave appropriately. Otherwise, group condemnation and sanctions may follow, ranging from mere reprimands to the expulsion of a published primary group;
- through coercion. In a situation where an individual does not want to comply with laws, regulations, formalized procedures, a group or society resorts to coercion to force him to do like everyone else.
Thus, each society develops a certain system of control, which consists of formal and informal ways of regulating people's behavior and helps to maintain public order. Family, relatives, friends, colleagues act as agents of informal control, while formal control is carried out primarily by official representatives of the state endowed with control functions - courts, the army, special services, law enforcement agencies and other authorized institutions.