How does society make people follow its norms and values?
Social control through formal agencies such as the police, courts and law, and informal agencies such as the family, peer group and media, working through positive and negative sanctions to maintain social order.
A focused answer on social control for WJEC GCSE Sociology: formal control through the police, courts and law, informal control through the family, peers and media, and how sanctions maintain social order.
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What this dot point is asking
This dot point covers social control: the way a society makes its members follow its norms and values so that behaviour stays in order. You need to explain the difference between formal social control (official agencies such as the police, courts and law) and informal social control (everyday agencies such as the family, peer group and media), and how both work through positive and negative sanctions. Social control is closely linked to socialisation and to the study of crime and deviance in Component 2.
What social control is
Formal social control
Informal social control
Sanctions: how control works
Try this
Q1. Identify two agencies of formal social control. [Knowledge recall]
- Cue. Any two of: the police, the courts, prisons and the law.
Q2. Explain why informal social control is so effective in everyday life. [Short explanation]
- Cue. Informal control works because people want the approval of their family, friends and colleagues, so the disapproval of these everyday agencies is usually enough to keep most behaviour in line without the need for formal punishment.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
WJEC (Component 1)2 marksDefine the term 'social control'.Show worked answer →
A short knowledge question (AO1). Reward a clear definition with development.
Definition. Social control is the way a society makes its members follow its norms and values, keeping behaviour in order.
Development. It works through formal agencies such as the police and informal agencies such as the family, using sanctions.
Top marks. A precise definition plus a developed point earns both marks.
WJEC (Component 1)6 marksExplain the difference between formal and informal social control.Show worked answer →
An explain question (AO1 and AO2). Reward a developed contrast with examples.
Formal control. Carried out by official agencies with written rules and powers, such as the police, courts, prisons and the law, which can impose fines or imprisonment.
Informal control. Carried out by everyday agencies without official powers, such as the family, peer group, school and media, which use approval and disapproval.
Top band. A clear contrast, with at least one example and how it works for each type.
Related dot points
- The key sociological concepts of culture, norms, values, roles, status and the difference between ascribed and achieved status, and why these shared ideas hold a society together.
A focused answer on the building-block concepts of WJEC GCSE Sociology: culture, norms, values, roles, status, and the difference between ascribed and achieved status, with clear UK examples.
- The process of socialisation: primary socialisation in the family and secondary socialisation through the agencies of education, peer group, media, religion and the workplace, and how each transmits norms and values.
A focused answer on socialisation for WJEC GCSE Sociology: primary socialisation in the family and secondary socialisation through education, peers, media, religion and the workplace, and the agencies that transmit culture.
- How identity is formed through socialisation: the sources of identity in gender, ethnicity, social class, age, nationality and religion, and how identity can change over time.
A focused answer on identity for WJEC GCSE Sociology: how identity is formed through socialisation, the main sources of identity such as gender, ethnicity, class, age, nationality and religion, and how identity can change.
- The definitions of crime and deviance and how they vary by time and place, and how crime is measured through official statistics and victim surveys, including the problem of the dark figure of unrecorded crime.
A focused answer on crime, deviance and crime measurement for WJEC GCSE Sociology: the definitions of crime and deviance, how they vary, and measuring crime through official statistics and victim surveys, including the dark figure.
Sources & how we know this
- WJEC GCSE Sociology (Wales) specification (C200QS) — WJEC (2017)