Definition 1

Social control is a set of various measures to assess an individual’s behavior and its compliance with generally accepted and recognized norms. These norms are determined by law, ethics, morality, traditions, psychological characteristics. Control can be internal and external

Internal social control

Internal control, or as it is also called self-control. This is a form of control in which each individual independently controls his own behavior and its compliance with social expectations.

Note 1

This control can manifest itself in such personal reactions of the individual as a feeling of guilt for certain actions, emotional manifestations, conscience, and on the other hand, in the form of indifference of a given individual in relation to his behavior.

Self-control of one’s own behavior is formed in the process of socialization of the individual and the development of the individual’s socio-psychological mechanisms. The main elements of self-control are such concepts as will, consciousness and conscience:

• Human consciousness is a personal form of understanding reality in the form subjective model external environment. This understanding consists of various verbal concepts and emotional images. The consciousness of an individual allows her to improve and adapt her social behavior to changing generally accepted standards;
• Conscience is a person’s ability to create his own moral standards and demand from himself their exact fulfillment, as well as constantly evaluate his actions and actions. Conscience does not give an individual the opportunity to violate his own guidelines and principles;
• Will is a person’s conscious regulation of his own behavior, which consists in the ability to overcome various difficulties. Will gives a person the opportunity to overcome his own negative desires and needs, and to act not in accordance with generally accepted norms.

Types of external social control

External self-control is a set of social institutions and mechanisms that guarantee the implementation of social norms and rules. There are two types of external control - formal and informal.

It is based on clearly defined laws, regulations, decrees and instructions. Formal control also includes the prevailing ideology in society. When they talk about formal public control, they mean, first of all, actions aimed at ensuring that all people, without exception, respect the rule of law and public order. Such control is especially effective and necessary in large social groups, such as the state. Violation of social norms under formal control is followed by a punishment that is significant for the offender. Punishment is established by criminal, administrative and civil legislation.

Informal social control is based on the approval or condemnation by relatives and friends, friends and comrades, colleagues, acquaintances of a particular individual act. This control is expressed through the traditions and customs established in society. The agents of this type of control are such public institutions as the family, school, work collective, that is, small social groups. Violation of accepted social norms results in mild punishment. Such punishments may include disapproval, social censure, or loss of trust or respect in the relevant social group.

Social control, its types. Norms and sanctions. Deviant behavior

Social control – a set of institutions and mechanisms that guarantee compliance with generally accepted norms of behavior and laws.

Social control includes two main elements: social norms and sanctions.

Social norms

Social norms- these are socially approved or legally enshrined rules, standards, patterns that regulate the social behavior of people. Therefore, social norms are divided into legal norms, moral norms and social norms themselves.

Legal norms - These are norms formally enshrined in various types of legislative acts. Violation of legal norms involves legal, administrative and other types of punishment.

Moral standards- informal norms functioning in the form public opinion. The main tool in the system of moral norms is public censure or public approval.

TO social norms usually include:

group social habits (for example, “don’t turn up your nose in front of your own people”);

social customs (eg hospitality);

social traditions (for example, the subordination of children to parents),

social mores (manners, morals, etiquette);

social taboos (absolute prohibitions on cannibalism, infanticide, etc.). Customs, traditions, mores, taboos are sometimes called general rules social behavior.

Social sanction

Social sanctions - they are means of reward and punishment that encourage people to comply with social norms. In this regard, social sanctions can be called a guardian of social norms.

Social norms and social sanctions are an inseparable whole, and if a social norm does not have an accompanying social sanction, then it loses its social regulatory function.

The following are distinguished: mechanisms social control:

isolation - isolation of the deviant from society (for example, imprisonment);

isolation - limiting the deviant’s contacts with others (for example, placement in a psychiatric clinic);

rehabilitation is a set of measures aimed at returning the deviant to normal life.

Types of sanctions (types of social control)

Formal(official):

Negative (punishments) - punishment for breaking the law or violating an administrative order: fines, imprisonment, etc.

Positive (incentives) - encouragement of a person’s activity or behavior by official organizations: awards, certificates of professional, academic success, etc.

Informal(unofficial):

Negative - condemnation of a person for an action by society: an offensive tone, scolding or reprimand, demonstrative ignoring of a person, etc.

Positive - gratitude and approval of unofficial persons - friends, acquaintances, colleagues: praise, approving smile, etc., etc.

Types of Social Control

External social control is a set of forms, methods and actions that guarantee compliance with social norms of behavior. There are two types of external control - formal and informal.

Formal social control based on official approval or condemnation, carried out by public authorities, political and social organizations, the education system, the media and operates throughout the country, based on written norms - laws, decrees, regulations, orders and instructions. Formal social control may also include the dominant ideology in society. When we talk about formal social control, we primarily mean actions aimed at making people respect laws and order with the help of government officials. Such control is especially effective in large social groups.

Informal social control, based on the approval or condemnation of relatives, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, public opinion, expressed through traditions, customs or the media. Agents of informal social control are social institutions such as family, school, and religion. This type of control is especially effective in small social groups.

In the process of social control, violation of some social norms is followed by very weak punishment, for example, disapproval, an unfriendly look, a grin. Violation of other social norms is followed by severe punishments - death penalty, imprisonment, expulsion from the country. Violation of taboos and legal laws is punished most severely; individual species group habits, in particular family ones.

Internal social control- independent regulation by an individual of his social behavior in society. In the process of self-control, a person independently regulates his social behavior, coordinating it with generally accepted norms. This type control manifests itself, on the one hand, in feelings of guilt, emotional experiences, “remorse” for social actions, and on the other hand, in the form of the individual’s reflection on his social behavior.

An individual’s self-control over his own social behavior is formed in the process of his socialization and the formation of socio-psychological mechanisms of his internal self-regulation. The main elements of self-control are consciousness, conscience and will.

Human consciousness- this is an individual form of mental representation of reality in the form of a generalized and subjective model of the surrounding world in the form of verbal concepts and sensory images. Consciousness allows an individual to rationalize his social behavior.

Conscience- the ability of an individual to independently formulate his own moral duties and demand that he fulfill them, as well as to make a self-assessment of his actions and deeds. Conscience does not allow an individual to violate his established attitudes, principles, beliefs, according to which he builds his social behavior.

Will- a person’s conscious regulation of his behavior and activities, expressed in the ability to overcome external and internal difficulties when performing purposeful actions and deeds. Will helps an individual overcome his internal subconscious desires and needs, act and behave in society in accordance with his beliefs.

In the process of social behavior, an individual has to constantly struggle with his subconscious, which gives his behavior a spontaneous character, therefore self-control is the most important condition for people’s social behavior. Typically, individuals' self-control over their social behavior increases with age. But it also depends on social circumstances and the nature of external social control: the stricter the external control, the weaker the self-control. Moreover, social experience shows that the weaker an individual’s self-control, the stricter external control should be in relation to him. However, this is fraught with great social costs, since strict external control is accompanied by social degradation of the individual.

In addition to external and internal social control of an individual’s social behavior, there are also: 1) indirect social control, based on identification with a law-abiding reference group; 2) social control, based on the wide availability of a variety of ways to achieve goals and satisfy needs, alternative to illegal or immoral ones.

Deviant behavior

Under deviant(from Latin deviatio - deviation) behavior in modern sociology it is meant, on the one hand, an act, a person’s actions that do not correspond to officially established or actually established norms or standards in a given society, and on the other hand, a social phenomenon expressed in mass forms of human activity that do not correspond to officially established or actually established norms or standards in a given society.

One of the typologies of deviant behavior recognized in modern sociology, developed by R. Merton.

Typology of deviant behavior Merton is based on the idea of ​​deviance as a gap between cultural goals and socially approved ways of achieving them. In accordance with this, he identifies four possible types of deviation:

innovation, which presupposes agreement with the goals of society and the rejection of generally accepted methods of achieving them (“innovators” include prostitutes, blackmailers, creators of “financial pyramids”, great scientists);

ritualism associated with the denial of the goals of a given society and an absurd exaggeration of the importance of ways to achieve them, for example, a bureaucrat demands that each document be carefully filled out, double-checked, filed in four copies, but the main thing is forgotten - the goal;

retreatism(or escape from reality), expressed in the rejection of both socially approved goals and methods of achieving them (drunks, drug addicts, homeless people, etc.);

riot, denying both goals and methods, but striving to replace them with new ones (revolutionaries striving for a radical breakdown of all social relations).

Some reasons for deviant behavior are not social in nature, but biopsychic. For example, a tendency towards alcoholism, drug addiction, and mental disorders can be transmitted from parents to children.

Marginalization is one of the causes of deviations. The main sign of marginalization is the breakdown of social ties, and in the “classical” version, economic and social ties are broken first, and then spiritual ones. A characteristic feature of the social behavior of marginalized people is a decrease in the level of social expectations and social needs.

Vagrancy and begging, representing a special way of life, received in lately widespread among various types of social deviations. The social danger of social deviations of this kind is that tramps and beggars often act as intermediaries in the distribution of drugs, commit thefts and other crimes.

Positive and negative deviations

Deviations (deviations), as a rule, are negative. For example, crime, alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide, prostitution, terrorism, etc. However, in some cases it is also possible positive deviations, for example, sharply individualized behavior, characteristic of original creative thinking, which can be assessed by society as “eccentricity”, a deviation from the norm, but at the same time be socially useful. Asceticism, holiness, genius, innovation are signs of positive deviations.

Negative deviations are divided into two types:

deviations that are aimed at causing harm to others (a variety of aggressive, illegal, criminal actions);

deviations that cause harm to the individual (alcoholism, suicide, drug addiction, etc.).

Test
in Sociology
on the topic: Forms of social control

Completed:
2nd year correspondence student
group 080507
Lineytsev Mikhail Ilyich
Checked:

2011

Content:

Introduction.
Social control and deviant behavior.
Forms of social control.
Formal social control.
Informal social control.
Conclusion.

Introduction

Social control and deviant behavior

Now in the world there is no such ideal society in which each member behaves in accordance with accepted requirements. Very often, so-called social deviations can arise, which do not always reflect well on the structure of society. Forms of social deviations can be very different: from harmless to very, very dangerous. Some have deviations in personal organization, some in social behavior, some in both. These include all kinds of criminals, hermits, geniuses, ascetics, representatives of sexual minorities, otherwise called deviants.
“The most innocent at first glance act, associated with a violation of the traditional distribution of roles, may turn out to be deviant. For example, a higher salary for a wife may seem an abnormal phenomenon, since from time immemorial the husband has been the main producer of material assets. In a traditional society, such a distribution of roles could not arise in principle.
So, any behavior that causes disapproval of public opinion is called deviant.” Typically, sociologists distinguish between 2 main types of deviation: primary and secondary. Moreover, if the primary deviation is not particularly dangerous for society, since it is regarded as a kind of prank, then secondary deviations stick the label of a deviant on the individual. Secondary deviations include criminal offenses, drug use, homosexuality and much more. Criminal behavior, sexual deviations, alcoholism or drug addiction cannot lead to the emergence of new cultural patterns useful to society. It should be recognized that the overwhelming number of social deviations play a destructive role in the development of society. Therefore, society simply needs a mechanism that will allow it to control unwanted deviant behavior. A similar mechanism is social control. Thus, social control is a set of means by which a society or social group guarantees conformal behavior of its members in relation to role requirements and expectations. In this regard, with the help of social control, all the necessary conditions are created for the sustainability of each social system, it contributes to the preservation of social stability, and, at the same time, does not interfere with positive changes in the social system. Therefore, social control requires greater flexibility and the ability to correctly assess various deviations from social norms of activity that occur in society in order to encourage useful deviations and punish destructive ones.
A person begins to feel the influence of social control already in childhood, in the process of socialization, when a person is explained who he is and why he lives in the world. From infancy, a person develops a sense of self-control, he takes on various social roles, imposing the need to meet expectations. At the same time, most children grow up and become respectable citizens of their country who respect the law and do not seek to violate the norms accepted in society. Social control is diverse and ubiquitous: it occurs whenever at least two people interact.

Forms of social control

Over the long years of its existence, humanity has developed a number of various forms social control. They can be both tangible and completely invisible. The most effective and traditional form can be called self-control. It appears immediately after a person is born and accompanies him throughout his entire adult life. Moreover, each individual himself, without coercion, controls his behavior in accordance with the norms of the society to which he belongs. Norms in the process of socialization are very firmly established in a person’s consciousness, so firmly that having violated them, a person begins to experience the so-called pangs of conscience. Approximately 70% of social control is achieved through self-control. The more self-control the members of a society develop, the less that society has to resort to external control. And vice versa. The less self-control people have, the more often institutions of social control, in particular the army, courts, and the state, have to come into action. However, strict external control and petty supervision of citizens inhibit the development of self-awareness and expression of will, and muffle internal volitional efforts. This creates a vicious circle into which more than one society has fallen throughout world history. The name of this circle is dictatorship.
Often a dictatorship is established for a time, for the benefit of citizens and in order to restore order. But it lingers for a long time, to the detriment of people and leads to even greater arbitrariness. Citizens accustomed to submitting to coercive control do not develop internal control. Gradually they degrade as social beings, capable of taking responsibility and doing without external coercion (i.e. dictatorship). In other words, under a dictatorship, no one teaches them to behave in accordance with rational norms. Thus, self-control is a purely sociological problem, because the degree of its development characterizes the prevailing social type of people in society and the emerging form of the state. Group pressure is another common form of social control. Of course, no matter how strong a person’s self-control, belonging to any group or community has a huge impact on the personality. When an individual is included in one of the primary groups, he begins to conform to basic norms and follow a formal and informal code of conduct. The slightest deviation usually results in disapproval from group members and the risk of expulsion. “Variations in group behavior resulting from group pressure can be seen in the example of a production team. Each team member must adhere to certain standards of behavior not only at work, but also after work. And if, say, disobedience to the foreman can lead to harsh remarks from the workers for the violator, then absenteeism and drunkenness often end in his boycott and rejection from the brigade.” However, depending on the group, the strength of group pressure may vary. If the group is very cohesive, then, accordingly, the strength of group pressure increases. For example, in a group where a person spends his free time, it is more difficult to exercise social control than in a place where joint activities are regularly carried out, for example in the family or at work. Group control can be formal or informal. Official meetings include all sorts of work meetings, deliberative meetings, shareholder councils, etc. Informal control refers to the influence on group members by participants in the form of approval, ridicule, condemnation, isolation and refusal to communicate.
Another form of social control is propaganda, which is considered a very powerful tool that influences human consciousness. Propaganda is a way of influencing people, which in some respect interferes with the rational education of a person, in which the individual draws his own conclusions. The main task of propaganda is to influence groups of people in such a way as to shape the behavior of society in the desired direction. Propaganda should influence those forms of social behavior that are closely related to the system of moral values ​​in society. Everything is subject to propaganda processing, from people’s actions in typical situations to beliefs and orientations. Propaganda is used as a kind of technical means suitable for achieving their goals. There are 3 main types of propaganda. The first type includes the so-called revolutionary propaganda, which is needed in order to force people to accept a value system, as well as a situation that is in conflict with the generally accepted one. An example of such propaganda is the propaganda of communism and socialism in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The second type is destructive propaganda. Its main goal is to destroy the existing value system. The clearest example of such propaganda was Hitler’s, which did not try to force people to accept the ideals of Nazism, but did their best to undermine trust in traditional values. And finally, the third type of propaganda is reinforcing. It is designed to consolidate people's attachments to certain values ​​and orientations. This type of propaganda is typical for the United States, where the existing value system is reinforced in a similar way. According to sociologists, this type of propaganda is the most effective; it serves very well to maintain established value orientations. In addition, it reflects established, traditional stereotypes. This type of propaganda is mainly aimed at instilling conformism in people, which presupposes agreement with the dominant ideological and theoretical organizations.
Currently, the concept of propaganda in the public consciousness is associated mainly with the military sphere or politics. Slogans are considered one of the ways to implement propaganda in society. A slogan is a short saying, usually expressing a main goal or guiding idea. The correctness of such a statement is usually not in doubt, since it is only of a general nature.
During a period of crisis or conflict in any country, demagogues can throw out, for example, such slogans as “My country is always right,” “Motherland, faith, family,” or “Freedom or death.” But do most people analyze the true causes of this crisis and conflict? Or do they just go along with what they are told?
In his work on the First World War, Winston Churchill wrote: “With only one draft, crowds of peaceful peasants and workers turn into mighty armies, ready to tear the enemy to pieces.” He also noted that most people, without hesitation, carry out the order given to them.
The propagandist also has at his disposal many symbols and signs that carry the ideological charge he needs. For example, a flag can serve as a similar symbol, and ceremonies such as the firing of twenty-one guns and saluting are also symbolic. Love for parents can also be used as leverage. It is obvious that such concepts - symbols as fatherland, motherland or the faith of ancestors, can become a powerful weapon in the hands of clever manipulators of other people's opinions.
Of course, propaganda and all its derivatives are not necessarily evil. The question is who is doing it and for what purpose. And also about who this propaganda is being directed at. And if we talk about propaganda in a negative sense, then it is possible to resist it. And it's not that difficult. It is enough for a person to understand what propaganda is and learn to identify it in the general flow of information. And having learned, it is much easier for a person to decide for himself how compatible the ideas instilled in him with his own ideas about what is good and what is bad.
Social control through coercion is also another common form of it. It is usually practiced in the most primitive as well as traditional societies, although it may be present in smaller quantities even in the most developed states. In the presence of a high population of a complex culture, so-called secondary group control begins to be used - laws, various violent regulators, formalized procedures. When an individual does not want to follow these regulations, the group or society resorts to coercion to force him to do the same as everyone else. In modern societies there are strictly developed rules, or a system of control through coercion, which is a set of effective sanctions applied in accordance with various types deviations from the norms.
Social control through coercion is characteristic of any government, but its place, role, and character in different systems are not the same. In a developed society, coercion is brought in mainly for crimes committed against society. The decisive role in the fight against crime belongs to the state. It has a special coercive apparatus. Legal standards determine why government bodies may use coercion. The means of coercion are physical and mental violence, i.e. threat. There is also no reason to believe that a threat can only be a means of coercion when it is punishable in itself. The state must also protect its citizens from coercion by threats, which in themselves are not punishable if the content of the threat is an illegal act, otherwise many cases of serious mental violence would go unpunished. The element of coercion, attached to the threat, gives it a different and greater meaning. It goes without saying that the threat must contain an indication of a significant, in the eyes of the threatened, illegal evil, otherwise it will be unable to influence the will of the threatened person.
In addition to the above, there are many other forms of social control, such as encouragement, pressure from authority, and punishment. A person begins to feel each of them from birth, even if he does not understand that he is being influenced.
All forms of social control are covered by two main types: formal and informal.

Formal social control

Etc.............

Social control is a set of means and techniques by which society guarantees that the behavior of its members, individual subjects of management, and social groups will be carried out in accordance with established social norms and values. Order in society means that each person, each subject of activity, accepting certain responsibilities, in turn has the right to demand that others fulfill them.

There are three ways to implement social control.

1. Effective education and socialization, during which people consciously accept the norms and values ​​of society, its separate groups and social institutions.

2. Coercion - the application of certain sanctions. When an individual, group, or subject of management does not follow laws, norms, rules, society resorts to coercion, which is aimed at overcoming deviations from the norm and accepted values. In this sense, social control is closely related to the categories of freedom and responsibility. In fact, effective management presupposes the manifestation of initiative and creativity, independence on the part of all subjects of management, but freedom is impossible without responsibility for social consequences activities that usually occur after the exercise of social control.

3. Political, moral, legal, financial and other forms of responsibility. Such forms of responsibility as group responsibility, collective responsibility, as well as cultural values, traditions, and group norms play an increasingly important role. The effectiveness of social control depends entirely on the nature and extent of the country’s progress towards civil society, whose institutions and organizations are capable of supporting and realizing the interests and needs of their members, protecting them outside and apart from the state.

Social control functions:

Regulatory - control is the most important factor social regulation at all levels of society;

· protective - social control serves to preserve the values ​​existing in society and accepted by it and to suppress attempts to encroach on these values. To such unconditionally significant for modern society values ​​include: human life, property, honor and dignity, physical integrity, freedoms and personal rights, established political system, national, state, religious priorities. This social control feature allows you to broadcast social experience from generation to generation;

· stabilizing - social control, by organizing behavioral expectations, ensures predictability of people's behavior in standard situations and thereby contributes to the constancy of social order.

Social values- shared beliefs in society regarding the goals to which people should strive and the main means of achieving them. Social values ​​are significant ideas, phenomena and objects of reality from the point of view of their compliance with the needs and interests of society, groups, and individuals.

Frankl showed that values ​​not only govern actions, they serve as the meaning of life and constitute three classes: values ​​of creativity; experiences (love); relationship.

Classification of values. 1. Traditional (focused on preserving and reproducing established norms and goals of life) and modern (arising under the influence of changes in public life). 2. Basic (characterize the main orientations of people in life and main areas of activity. They are formed in the process of primary socialization, then remaining quite stable) and secondary. 3. Terminal (express most important goals and ideals, meanings of life) and instrumental (means of achieving goals approved in a given society). 4. A hierarchy from lower to higher values ​​is possible.

N. I. Lapin offers his own classification of values, based on the following grounds:

By subject content (spiritual and material, economic, social, political, etc.); According to the functional orientation (integrating and differentiating, approved and denied); According to the needs of individuals (vital, interactionist, socialization, meaning in life); By type of civilization (values ​​of societies of the traditional type, values ​​of societies of the modernity type, universal human values).

The main function of social values ​​- to be a measure of assessment - leads to the fact that in any value system one can distinguish:

1) what is preferred to the greatest extent (acts of command that approach the social ideal are what are admired). The most important element value system is a zone of highest values, the meaning of which does not need any justification (that which is above all, that which is inviolable, “holy” and cannot be violated under any circumstances)

circumstances);

2) what is considered normal, correct (as is done in most cases);

3) what is not approved is condemned and - at the extreme pole of the value system - appears as an absolute, self-evident evil, not allowed under any circumstances.

Social norms- a set of requirements and expectations that a social community (group), organization, society places on its members in their relationships with each other, with social institutions in order to carry out activities (behavior) of the established pattern. These are universal, permanent regulations that require their practical implementation.

A social norm in the sphere of human behavior in relation to specific acts can be characterized by two main series of numerical, quantitative indicators. Such indicators include, firstly, the relative number of acts of behavior of the corresponding type and, secondly, an indicator of the degree of their compliance with some average sample. The objective basis of a social norm is manifested in the fact that the functioning and development of social phenomena and processes occurs in appropriate qualitative

quantitative limits. The totality of actual acts of action that form social norms consists of homogeneous, but not identical elements. These acts of action inevitably differ from each other in the degree of correspondence to the average model of the social norm. These actions, therefore, are located along a certain continuum: from complete compliance with the model, through cases of partial deviation, up to complete departure from the limits of the objective social norm. In qualitative certainty, in content, meaning and meaning qualitative characteristics social norms, the dominant system of social values ​​ultimately manifests itself in real behavior. Total quantity homogeneous (i.e., more or less corresponding to a certain characteristic) acts of behavior - the first quantitative indicator this set of acts.

The term “social control” was first introduced by a French sociologist. He proposed to consider it one of the most important. Subsequently, R. Park, E. Ross, A. Lapierre developed a whole theory, according to which he was necessary means to ensure that a person assimilates the elements of culture that has developed in society.

Social control is a mechanism that exists to maintain order in society, aimed at preventing unwanted, deviant behavior and punishing them for it. Carried out through regulatory regulation.

The most important condition functioning social system- predictability of people's actions and behavior. If it is not fulfilled, then its disintegration will occur. For the stability of the system, society uses various means, which include social control, which performs a protective and stabilizing function.

It has a structure and consists of sanctions. The first contain prescriptions, certain models of behavior in society (they indicate what people should do, think, say and feel). They are divided into legal (enshrined in laws, containing sanctions for their violation) and (expressed in the form of public opinion, the main instrument of influence is general censure or approval).

Norms are classified by scale into those that exist in small, large groups and in society as a whole. General ones include traditions, customs, etiquette, laws, morals, etc. Norms are the rights and responsibilities of a person in relation to others, the fulfillment of which is expected of him by those around him. They have strictly defined boundaries. These usually include social customs and traditions, manners, etiquette, group habits, taboos, social mores, and laws.

To regulate human behavior, there are sanctions by which he “ correct actions» are encouraged, and penalties are applied for violations. They can be very diverse, ranging from a disapproving look to imprisonment and even death penalty. Sanctions are divided into 4 types: negative (punishments), positive (incentives), formal (various awards, bonuses, certificates, scholarships, fines, imprisonment, etc.), informal (approval, praise, compliment, verbal reprimand, insulting tone).

Types of social control

External (formal and informal) and internal.

Formal control is carried out by government agencies, social and political organizations, and the media, based on official condemnation or approval and operating throughout the entire state. At the same time, the rules governing human activity are contained in laws, regulations, various instructions and orders. Formal social control is aimed at maintaining the existing order and respect for laws with the help of representatives of government agencies. Informal is based on the condemnation or approval of actions by friends, relatives, neighbors, colleagues, and so on. It is expressed in the form of traditions, customs, and also through the media.

Internal social control involves a person regulating his behavior independently, based on generally accepted norms. It appears in the form emotional experiences, feelings of guilt and general attitudes towards committed actions. The main elements of self-control are conscience, will and consciousness.

Indirect (based on identification with a law-abiding group) and direct social control, which is based on accessibility in various ways satisfying needs and achieving goals alternative to immoral or illegal ones.