Unit 6: Social Disorder, Deviance and

Social Control
Meaning and definition of social
problems (disorder and deviance)
and social control.
 Social Problems (Meaning and Definition):

 are the conditions threatening the well being of society

 are conditions or situations which are regarded as threats by
society
 causes dissatisfaction and misery or unhappiness
 social problem is a condition or a type of behavior that
many people believe is harmful.
“A social problem is set of conditions which are defined as morally
wrong by the majority or substantial minority within a society”
- Green
“A social problem is any deviant behavior in disapproved direction
of such a degree that it exceeds to the tolerance limit of the
community”- Lundberg
social problem has two important
components:
a. objective element :
objective element is the reality of the conditions of
poverty: the reality of insufficient access to food,
health services, and education; and high rates of
infant mortality, preventable diseases, and
illiteracy.
b. subjective element of poverty is the level of public
concern about these objective conditions, the
desire to alleviate them, and the belief that this is
possible
 Causes of social problems
1.Social problems are due to MULTIPLE causes
2. Each social problem has complex history and are
due to many causes and they may be as below;
3. Social problems has NO single or simple cause
 Economical causes: Poverty, Unemployment,
Dependency etc
 Biological causes : Disease and defect conditions
etc
 Cultural causes: Homeless, Crime, Divorce etc
 Psychological causes: Neurosis, Epilepsy, Psychosis
 Political causes: conflict, war, corruption etc.
 Deviance (Meaning and Definition):

• Deviance is the recognized violation of cultural norms. Norms

guide almost all human activities, so the concept of deviance is
quite broad.
• Deviance refers to norm violations ranging from minor
infractions, such as bad manners, to major infractions, such as
serious violence.
• deviance is the recognized violation of cultural norms.
• According to sociologist William Graham Sumner, deviance is a
violation of established contextual, cultural, or social norms,
whether folkways, mores, or codified law.
• crime is the violation of a society’s formally enacted criminal
law.
 Types of Deviance:
1. Primary deviance is a violation of norms that
does not result in any long-term effects on the
individual’s self-image or interactions with
others
2. Secondary deviance occurs when a person’s
self-concept and behavior begin to change
after his or her actions are labeled as deviant
by members of society.
• One category of deviance is Crime; the violation of a
society’s formally enacted criminal law.
• Crime is the violation of criminal laws enacted by a
locality, a state. Or the federal government.
• A crime is therefore an act of deviance that breaks not
only a norm, but a law.
• There are two major types of crime:
a. Crimes against the Person, also called violent crimes,
are crimes that direct violence or the threat of
violence against others. It includes murder.
b. Crime against Property, also called property crimes,
is crimes that involve theft of property belonging to
other.
“Crime is an act forbidden by the law of the land and for
which penalty is prescribed”
- C Darrow
Crime;
• Is the omission of an act
• Is behavior of an individuals which the group
strongly disapprove
• Is an act forbidden and punishable by law
• Is an legal concept and from social point it is an
antisocial behavior
• Is maladjustment between and groups, which create
a critical social situation that is forbidden by the law.
 Causes of Crime:
• No single cause but a combination of many causes working together.
According to Hayes these are the causes of crime:
1. Subjective
a) Traits which are inherited
• Inborn defects
• Neurotic nervous disorders
• Disease conditions
• Morbidity – abnormal disorders
b) Traits which are acquired
• Alcoholism
• Drug addiction
2. Objective: All social environmental condition such as;
a) Condition of an antisocial personality
b) Impel the individual to commit crime
• Failure of family
• Bad company
• Lack of education
• Social disorganization etc
 Prevention and control of Crime:
1. Certainty of punishment
2. Promotion of education
3. Counseling and support
4. Religious involvement
5. Full employment and adequate wages
6. Guidance and cooperation
7. Prison reform
8. Ex-criminal adjustment to society
9. Meditation and promotion of ethics etc
Difference between Deviance and Crime:

Deviance Crime
• Deviance is when there is a • Crime implies any illegal act
non-conformity concerning or omission, which amounts
the well established social to the violation of the law,
and cultural norms and often prosecuted by the
principles. state and punishable by law
• Documentation Not • written or documented Well
• Control by Social • Control by Police and
organizations and groups. judiciary.
• Not severe • Severe
 social control (Meaning and Definition):
• social control attempts by society to regulate people’s
thoughts and behavior criminal justice system the
organizations—police, courts, and prison officials— that
respond to alleged violations of the law.
• Social control refers to the foundation of social order as well
as to the definition of and response to crime and/or deviance.
• The concept was initially introduced in sociology to refer
broadly to the foundations of social order, especially in
societies that were undergoing rapid social change and
exhibited an increasingly individualist values system
• Ogburn and Nimkoff have said that social control refers to
the patterns of pressure which society exerts to maintain
order and established rules.
 Types of Social Control:
1. Formal social control:
This type of social control is exercised by known and
deliberate agencies of social control, such as law,
punishment, army, Constitution etc. Man is forced to
accept these forms of social control. Generally these
forms are exercised by secondary groups.
2. Informal social control:
These agencies of Social Control have grown according
to the needs of the society. Folk ways, mores,
customs, social norms etc. fall under this category of
social control. Generally primary institutions exercise
this type of social control.
 Means/ Mechanism of Social Control :

1. Informal means of Social Control:

a. Norms: (Norms are rooted in the institution. They provide the
standard of behavior and are regulatory in character).
b. Value: (It consists of culturally defined goals. It is held out as a
legitimate object of realization for all or for diversely located
members of the society).
c. Folk Ways: (Folk are a people with a community sense. They have a
uniform and a common way of living).
d. Mores: (Mores are such folkways as are based on value judgment and
are deeply rooted in the community life).
e. Custom: (Custom is “a rule or norm of action.” It is the result of some
social expediency).
f. Belief System: (Belief system has deeply influenced man’s behaviour. It
has provided the sanction to the social norms and conditioned the
growth of culture).
g. Ideology:
Social determination of thinking is ideology. Social
thinking has always been influenced by
ideology.
h. Social Suggestions:
Social suggestions and ideas are an important
method of social control
i. Religion:
It includes those customs, rituals, prohibitions,
standard of conduct and roles primarily
concerned with or justified in terms of the
supernatural and the sacred.
2. Formal Means of Social Control:
a. Education:
Education is a great vehicle of social control. After the
family, it is the class room, the peer group and the
leaders which exercise influence on a child by our
ancients.
b. Law:
Law is for all practical purposes, as observed by Professor
Holland “a general rule of external action enforced by a
sovereign political authority”.
c. Coercion:
Force as a means of social control is as ancient as the
society itself.
Agencies of Social Control:
There are various agencies through which social
control is exercised. By ‘agencies’ of social control
we mean those arrangements through which
values and norms of society are communicated.
• 1. Family:
• 2. State:
• 3. Educational Institutions:
• 4. Neighborhood:
• 5. Public Opinion:
• 6. Propaganda and Press:
• 7. Economic Organization:
 Social disorder:
• The underlying goal of social control is to maintain social order, an
arrangement of practices and behaviors on which society’s
members base their daily lives
• Social disorder refers to the way in which people and things are
not placed or arranged in relation to each other.
• It can be defined as a condition of a society or group characterized
by the disharmonious social relationship.
• Every individual of the society has expected social rules and
values. When s/he goes against of these expected behaviors, it
results in social disorder.
• Social order depends upon the successful integration and
coordination of role behavior between individuals, between
individuals and the group and social institutions.
• However, change and disharmonies are present in the orderly
societies too
 Linkage with Management and Business
Administration
• Deviance is the behavior that violets the standards of conduct or expectation of
a group or society. Such deviance activities always affect any social
organization.
• Organization itself is a society where different members work harmoniously. Any
deviance act might hamper in the management as well as administrative
activities. If any member of the organization involved in criminal activities, it
may spoil the company’s reputation. So such activities must be controlled by
imposing certain normative system.
• Every organization has direct relation with the public. They have certain
limitations as well as public expectations. If these expectations are violated by
any member of the organization, s/he should be brought under penalty as a
means of social control.
• Those who violets company’s norms, may be corrupted, may have exploitative
nature and they often discriminate the juniors. If the organization faces the
problems of social disorder and deviance, that lessens the goal attainment, and
scope. So, such deviance must be controlled.
• Every organization is supposed to have the mechanism of control to establish
 Questions for practices:
• List any four agents of social control.
• Specify the means of informal social control.
• Define Deviance.
• Differentiate between Deviance and Crime.
• Define Social Control.
• List out the formal and Informal means of
social control.
• Linkage with Management and Business
Administration