6.3.2: Control Theory

 6.3.2: Control Theory 

Do you ever feel the urge to do something that you know you shouldn’t, something that would get you in trouble?

 Most of us fight temptations to break society’s norms.

 We find that we have to stifle things inside us—urges, hostilities, raunchy desires of various sorts.

And most of the time, we manage to keep ourselves out of trouble.

The basic question that control theory tries to answer is, With the desire to deviate so common, why don’t we all just “bust loose?"

 The Theory Sociologist Walter Reckless (1899–1988), who developed control theory, stressed that we have two control systems that work against our motivations to deviate.

 Our inner controls include our internalized morality—conscience, religious principles, ideas of right and wrong. Inner controls also include fears of punishment and the desire to be a “good” person (Reckless 1973; Leverso and Matsuedo 2019). Our outer controls consist of people—such as family, friends, and the police—who influence us not to deviate.

As sociologist Travis Hirschi (1969) pointed out, the stronger our bonds are with society, the more effective our inner controls are. These bonds are based on attachments (our affection and respect for people who conform to mainstream norms), commitments (having a stake in society that you don’t want to risk, such as your place in your family, being a college student, or having a job), involvements (participating in approved activities), and beliefs (convictions that certain actions are wrong).

The social control of deviance takes many forms. One of the most prominent is the actions of the police. Credit: Radius Images/Alamy Stock Photo This theory is really about self-control, said Hirschi. 

Where do we learn self-control? 

As you know, this happens during childhood, especially in the family when our parents supervise us and punish our deviant acts (Gottfredson 2011; Morawska et al. 2019). Sometimes they use shame to keep us in line.

 You probably had that finger shaken at you. I certainly recall it aimed at me. Do you think that more use of shaming, discussed in the following Down-to-Earth Sociology, could help strengthen people’s internal controls?

Down-to-Earth Sociology Shaming: Making a Comeback? 

In The Scarlet Letter, a book published in 1850 by Nathaniel Hawthorne, town officials forced Hester Prynne to wear a scarlet “A” sewn on her dress. The “A” stood for Adulteress. 

Wherever she went, Prynne had to wear this badge of shame—every day for the rest of her life. Shaming can be effective, especially when members of a primary group use it.

 In some communities, where the individual’s reputation was at stake, shaming was the centerpiece of the enforcement of norms. 

As with Hester Prynne, violators were marked as deviant and held up for all the world to see. As our society grew large and urban, the sense of community diminished, and shaming lost its effectiveness. Shaming is now starting to make a comeback (Rogers and Miller 2019).

In Pennsylvania, two women took a gift card from a girl at Walmart. They had to stand in front of the courthouse, each holding a sign that read, “I stole from a 9-year-old on her birthday! Don’t steal or this could happen to you.” (Reutter 2015) 

Online shaming sites have also appeared. Captured on cell phone cameras are bad drivers, older men who leer at teenaged girls, and people who don’t pick up their dog’s poop.

 In Spain, where one’s reputation with neighbors still matters, debt collectors dress in tuxedos and top hats and walk slowly to the debtor’s front door. The sight shames debtors into paying (Catan 2008). 

And as shown in the next photo, a judge in Cleveland, Ohio, ordered a woman who drove on a sidewalk in order to pass a school bus to hold a sign at the intersection reading, “Only an idiot would drive on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus” (Reutter 2015). 

​​​Sociologist Harold Garfinkel (1956) gave the name degredation ceremony to an extreme form of shaming. The individual is called to account before the group, witnesses denounce him or her, the offender is pronounced guilty, and the individual is stripped of his or her identity as a group member. In some courts-martial, officers who are found guilty stand at attention before their peers while others rip the insignia of rank from their uniforms. This ceremony screams that the individual is no longer a member of the group. Although Hester Prynne was not banished from the group physically, she was banished morally; her degradation ceremony proclaimed her a moral outcast from the community. The scarlet “A” marked her as “not one of us.”​

For doing what the sign says, this woman must humiliate herself by holding the sign. She is using the sign to help shield her identity. Credit: Aaron Josefczyk/Reuters For Your Consideration → How do you think law enforcement officials might use shaming to reduce law breaking? → How do you think school officials could use shaming? → Suppose that you were caught shoplifting at a store near where you live. Would you rather spend a week in jail with no one but your family knowing it or 6 hours a day for a week walking in front of the store you stole from wearing a placard that proclaims in bold red capital letters: “I AM A THIEF!” and in smaller letters: “I am sorry for stealing from this store and making you pay higher prices”? Why? 171 Your desire to avoid feeling shame is just one of your many internal controls. In the following Applying Sociology to Your Life, let’s see other ways that control theory might apply to your life.

Applying Sociology to Your Life “How Does Social Control Theory Apply to You?” Suppose that your friends invite you to go to a nightclub. When you get there, you notice that everyone seems unusually happy—almost giddy. They seem to be euphoric in their animated conversations and dancing. Your friends tell you that almost everyone here has taken the drug Ecstasy, and they invite you to take some with them. What do you do?

How would social control theory apply to you in such a situation? Credit: Robert Daly/Caiaimage/Getty Images Let’s not explore the question of whether taking Ecstasy in this setting is a deviant or a conforming act, an interesting topic by itself. Instead, think about the pushes and pulls you would feel in this situation. There would be pushes toward taking the drug: your friends, the setting, and perhaps your curiosity or even sense of adventure. Then there are your inner controls. You are intimately familiar with these—those inner voices of conscience and those internal recordings from your parents and from others. Your inner controls also include your fears: of being arrested, of hurting your reputation, and of the dangers of taking illegal drugs. Outer controls would also be significant in your decision—perhaps the uniformed security guard looking in your direction. For Your Consideration

So, what would you decide? Which do you think would be stronger in this situation: the pushes and pulls toward taking the drug or your inner and outer controls? It is you who can best weigh these forces because they differ with each of us. This little example puts you at the center of what control theory is all about.