An Examination of Social Control

It is hard to discuss a subject and analyze that subject when it is an accepted fact that no definition can be agreed upon. The definition of social control or lack of definition is one of those subjects. Many papers have been written, many theories have been proposed and according to Robert Meier in his paper, Perspectives on the Concept of Social Control, no hard definition or theory has ever been agreed upon. The only thing to be done is to read the papers, listen to the theories, use personal experiences, and try to establish a personal idea of the concept of social control.

Some definitions have been established. There are four levels of social control: Macro politics level, historical and cultural level, organizational level, and micro politics level. The Macro level is the political, legal and economic aspect of social control. The Macro level has to do with the legislative arm of society, which passes the laws by which we as a society must live. It is an impersonal level of social control. The politicians’ pass the laws and all of society must live by those laws or be held responsible by the enforcement officials, at which point, the legal system comes into the picture and attorneys get involved. It takes mone

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

An individual will most likely act completely different when they are with their grandparents as opposed to their best friends. The social attitude of men and women and their reaction to certain displays has changed.

In the world of social control an individual’s gender has more to do with it than some people would like to admit or accept. That is hardly a realistic venture. The woman had no way to financial support herself and it boiled down to the person with the money had control or power, and the say in how they lived their lives. Men and woman have to watch the way they interact in the work place. Things that used to be conventional are now looked at under a microscope. How a person responds to society and how society responds in return is part of the historical and cultural level of social control. Now any touch can be taken the wrong way or believed to have a motive that is not healthy. It has become a common practice in the city of New Orleans during Mardi gras for girls to flash guys on the streets. It has to due with personalities, personal experiences, social norms, and the psychology of people in their interaction with others.

Now women have discovered the outside world. The reaction and interaction a person receives in those different settings will help mold the way they behave and establish certain social attitudes. Those who fight the social order within the company will most likely fail professionally or at the very least, become stagnant.

Approximate Word count = 1996
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.