Social Conflict and Control

Egyptian Uprising, February 2011

Summary: Politics, Conflict and Control

Systems of Social Control

• Social control: – The process by which people maintain orderly

life in groups

• Social Control consists of the culturally defined rules and ways to ensure that people follow the rules– This happens through positive or negative

sanctions

Two Major Instruments of Social Control

Norm: accepted standard for behavior, usually unwritten

Law: a binding rule about behavior

Social Control and Scale of Society

• Systems of social control vary depending on social scale

• Small-scale, face-to-face groups – Social control less formal – More likely based only on norms

• Large-scale societies– Norms still regulate daily life – Formal laws also exist– Codified punishment exists for breaking laws

• Example: US Society

• Range of behavior, associated sanctions

• Do you agree with all of these “punishments”?

Social Control in Small-Scale Societies

• Small-scale groups: norms are main instrument for establishing proper behavior– Implicitly supported by value/belief systems,

specific decisions often made by consensus• Punishment for norm violation Ridicule and

shaming• Goal?: restore normal social relations (as important

or more important than punishment itself)– Ostracism for serious offenders– Capital punishment extremely rare

Social Control in States

• Move from “status to contract”– H. L. Maine, legal scholar– In traditional society (small-scale), your actions

towards others are defined by your status • People tend to be related, so kinship status already

has behavioral norms built in– In state society, you must enter a contract with

the state to behave according to law• States much larger, most people not related• Kinship no longer as important in regulating people’s

behavior

Social Control in States

• Based on formalized law• Increased specialization

– Policing: • Surveillance and threat of punishment• Costly, only associated with states

– Trials and Court systems• Meant to ensure justice and fairness • May reflect biases in state

• Power-enforced punishment

Prisons and Death Penalty• The prison has a long

history—ever since the existence of the state

• U.S. imprisons more people than any country– Related to war on drugs– Disproportional numbers of

minorities• Executions: a political

message about the state’s power and strength– U.S. is 5th in the world– No other Western state still

uses the death penalty