Editing Social control (section)

{{Short description|Concept within the disciplines of the social sciences and within political science}}
{{Distinguish|Social control theory}}
[[File:Summerfairesign.JPG|thumb|Signs warning of prohibited activities; an example of social control]]

'''Social control''' is the [[Regulation|regulations]], [[Sanctions (law)|sanctions]], [[Mechanism (sociology)|mechanisms]], and [[Social system|systems]] that restrict the behaviour of individuals in accordance with [[Social norm|social norms]] and [[Social order|orders]]. Through both informal and formal means, individuals and groups exercise social control both [[Internalization (sociology)|internally]] and externally. As an area of [[social science]], social control is studied by researchers of various fields, including [[anthropology]], [[criminology]], [[law]], [[political science]], and [[sociology]].<ref name="M. Innes">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6yXo5ARzFaMC&q=Understanding+Social+Control%3A+Crime+and+Social+Order+in+Late+Modernity|author=M. Innes|title= Understanding Social Control: Crime and Social Order in Late Modernity - Deviance, crime and social order|publisher= McGraw-Hill Education (UK) |date=2003 |isbn=9780335209408}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Social Control |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20control |website=Merriam Webster |publisher=Merriam Webster Inc. |access-date=18 November 2023 | quote = social control [...]: the rules and standards of society that circumscribe individual action through the inculcation of conventional sanctions and the imposition of formalized mechanisms}}</ref><ref name="obo">{{cite web |last1=Carmichael |first1=Jason |date=26 June 2012 |title=Social Control |url=http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756384/obo-9780199756384-0048.xml |access-date=14 April 2019 |website=Oxford Bibliographies |doi=10.1093/OBO/9780199756384-0048}}</ref>

Social control is considered one of the foundations of social order.<ref name="E.A. Ross">{{cite book |author=E. A. Ross |title=Social Control: A Survey of the Foundations of Order |date=2009 |publisher=[[Transaction Publishers]] |isbn=9781412834278}}</ref> [[Sociology|Sociologists]] identify two basic forms of social control. Informal means of control refer to the [[Internalisation (sociology)|internalization]] of [[norm (sociology)|norm]]s and [[value (ethics)|value]]s through [[socialization]].<ref>Lindzey, Gardner (Ed), (1954). ':/Handbook of social psychology''. I. Theory and method. II. Special fields and applications (2 vols), (pp. II, 655–692). Oxford, England: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., xx, 1226 pp.''</ref> Formal means comprise external sanctions enforced by government to prevent the establishment of [[Lawlessness|chaos]] or [[anomie]] in society. Some theorists, such as [[Émile Durkheim]], refer to formal control as [[regulation]].