SOC 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Erving Goffman, Anomie, Labeling Theory

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 105
• Professor: Mustafa Koc

Document Summary

The term social control refers to the techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behaviour in any society. It occurs on all levels of society in the family, in peer groups, and in bureaucratic organizations. Conformity: going along with peers who have no special right to direct behaviour. Informal: used casually to enforce norms (smiles, laughter, a raised eyebrow and ridicule) Formal: carried out by authorized agents, such as police officers, physicians, school administrators, employers, military officers. Some norms are so important to a society they are formalized into laws controlling people(cid:859)s (cid:271)eha(cid:448)iou(cid:396). Obedience: compliance with higher authorities in an hierarchical structure. Milgram pointed out that in the modern industrial world, we are accustomed to submitting to impersonal authority figures, whose status is indicated by a title or uniform. Control theory: our connection to members of society leads us to systematically (cid:272)o(cid:374)fo(cid:396)(cid:373) to so(cid:272)iety(cid:859)s (cid:374)o(cid:396)(cid:373)s. Deviance: behaviour that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society.