WJEC Criminology: Unit 4- AC2.1

AC2.1- Explain forms of social control

Social Control:

• Refers to the ways in which peoples thoughts, feelings, apperance and behaviour are regulated in social systems
• This involves forms or pressures to persuade or convince members of society to conform to the rules

Hirschi's control theory:

• Developed in the 1960's to explain ways to train people to engage in law-abiding behaviour
• It argues that humans require nurturing in order to develop attachments or bonds to people
• These bonds are crucial in developing internal forms of social control, such as a conscience
• Crime is the result of insufficient attachment and commitment to others 
• Hirschi stresses the importance of the individual bond to socirty in deterring conforming behaviour
• Young people who are not very attached to their parents or to school are more likely to be deliquent than those who are strongly attached
• Young people who have a strongly positive view of their own accomplishments are more likely to view society's laws as valid constraints on their behaviour 

Internal forms of social control:

• Rational ideology: our conscience, feelings of guilt, anxiety or worry from within
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