An Examination of Social Control essays

An Examination of Social Control essays It is hard to discuss a subject and analyze that subject when it is an accepted fact that no definition can be agreed upon. The definition of social control or lack of definition is one of those subjects. Many papers have been written, many theories have been proposed and according to Robert Meier in his paper, Perspectives on the Concept of Social Control, no hard definition or theory has ever been agreed upon. The only thing to be done is to read the papers, listen to the theories, use personal experiences, and try to establish a personal idea of the concept of social control. Some definitions have been established. There are four levels of social control: Macro politics level, historical and cultural level, organizational level, and micro politics level. The Macro level is the political, legal and economic aspect of social control. The Macro level has to do with the legislative arm of society, which passes the laws by which we as a society must live. It is an impersonal level of social control. The politicians pass the laws and all of society must live by those laws or be held responsible by the enforcement officials, at which point, the legal system comes into the picture and attorneys get involved. It takes money to hire a lawyer and those without the financial means are left behind. Theres never any really interaction with the average Joe or regular people in the Macro Political level. Everything is pretty much left up to the powers that be at the top of the political ladder and the law enforcement officers and the lawyers. At the Macro level public harassment and the psy-complex are affected due to laws passed over the years and the governmental body getting involved. Women are no longer at the mercy of patriarchal culture. But it should also be noted that the laws passed to protect against such social transgressions are not gender specific. Control is beginning to have blurred lines. Men, as...