Social Control Through Law

Legal Methods (Project)

Methods of Social Control through Law

Submitted To: Submitted By:

Prof. (Mr.) P.K. Pandey Abhishek Raj

Roll No. 703

1st semester

2012-17


CONTENT

1. Acknowledgement

2. a. Objective

b. Literature review

c. Methodology

d. Hypothesis

e. Sources of data

f. Types of legal study

3. Law: an overview

4. Social control

5. Law; an instrument for social control

6. Conclusion

7. Bibliography


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I owe loads of thanks to those great people who helped and supported me

during writing of this project.

I would like to thank my mentor and teacher Prof. (Mr.) P. K. Pandey Sir who

has been my Guide in making of this project right from the very beginning. He

has been correcting various project related documents with utmost attention

and care. He has taken the pain to go through the project and make

necessary corrections as and when needed.

I express my thanks to Vice-Chancellor of Chanakya National Law University

for extending his support.

I would express my deep sense of gratitude to our Librarian for his immense

support and appreciation of my work.

I would also like to thank my Institution and my faculty members without

whom this project would have been a distant reality. I also express a heart-

felt thanks to my family members and my well-wishers.

Abhishek Raj

1st semester

2012-17


OBJECTIVE

No stone has been left unturned to make this project a worthy task. To let it

not go a futile exercise every possible step has been taken. It is being

believed by the researcher that it will open the door of success in making

many such academic researches and even better than it, whenever needed.

It made the researcher to have a clear understanding of social control and

its components, especially its means. Apart from these, study on the social

control through law.

LITERATURE REVIEW

After organising a small discussion and referring to different books

available in library it has made the researcher infer that social control is a

very vast topic to study and it has several components in it. Its means

include: informal and formal means. Law is a formal means of social

control.

METHODOLOGY

This research is the result of study by purely doctrinal methods.

Doctrinal study deals with theoretical study which includes use of Journals,

Articles, Newspapers, Websites, Books, etc. which shows in itself the very

pattern of study.


This method of study is adopted because it is less exhaustive, less time

consuming and most importantly it deals with library study in general. And

as a matter of fact, it is one of the best methods to be adopted so as to get

authentic material and provides numerous solutions to the problems.

This study will help in acquiring authentic as well as a general view of the

society at large which help arrive at a definite conclusion which will further

help in understanding the role of law as an important instrument for social

control.

HYPOTHESIS

• Laws are the general conditions of human activity prescribed by the

State for its members.

• Law is law only if enacted by a proper law making authority. It is a

product of conscious thought: planning and deliberate formulation.

• Law applies equally to all without exception in identical

circumstances.

• Violation of law is followed by penalties determined by the authority

of the state.

Therefore, the researcher hypothesises that law is a very effective

tool or instrument for social control and it has a great role in it.

SOURCES OF DATA

The data is arranged to give the research a proper format as this project is

acquired from Secondary sources.


The Secondary sources include the sources of thesis i.e. written work,

library study. The data collected includes –

� Books

� Article

� Journals

These data are further backed by study/ reference material available on

Internet.

TYPES OF LEGAL STUDY

Descriptive and analytical study has been adopted by the researcher in

creating project work. It is intended to be a comparative, exploratory

project coupled with their critical analysis.


INTRODUCTION

Society is a collection of groups and individuals. For the welfare and

advancement of society, it prescribes norms to maintain harmony or order.

Order in society exists when the majority of people conform to certain rules

and norms. Some members of society do not comply with certain norms of

life. Such deviated persons are compelled to conform to norms. Such

compulsion is called social control is to ensure conformity to society’s

norms and expectations.

Law is the most important formal means of social control. Early societies

depended upon informal means of social control but when societies grew in

size and complexity they were compelled to formulate rules and

regulations which define the required types of behaviour and specify the

penalties to be imposed upon those who violate them. Law is a body of

rules enacted by legally authorised bodies and enforced by authorised

agencies. It defines clearly rights, duties as well as the punishments for

their violation. The modern societies are large in size. Their structure is

complex consisting of a number of groups, organisations, institutions and

vested interests. Informal means of social control are no longer sufficient to

maintain social order and harmony. Perforce modern societies had to

resort to formal means of social control.

In modern society relationships are of a secondary nature. Security of life

and property, as well as the systematic ordering of relationships make

formalization of rules necessary. Law prescribes uniform norms and

penalties throughout a social system. The body of law in every state is

being increased. What was the in mores and customs earlier, has now been

formalized into a body of law.


The Hindu marriage act, 1955 has laid down the rules regulating the

marriage among Hindus. It has been recognised the right of a Hindu woman

to divorce her husband. A number of laws have been enacted governing

food handling, fire protection, sewage disposal, traffic, sex regulation,

entertainment and education etc. law prohibits certain actions, for

example, anti- untouchability act prohibits untouchability in any form and a

person practising untouchability is liable to punishment. Prohibition act

forbids drinking at public places. Smoking in cinema halls is prohibited

under law. A uniform civil code if and when enacted may remove the social

barriers in the Indian society. In this way, law exercises a powerful

influence upon the behaviour of people in modern societies. Today law

takes an ever larger part in total social control.


LAW: AN OVERVIEW

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through

social institutions to govern behaviour, wherever possible. It shapes

politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social

mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything

from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets. Property

law defines rights and obligations related to the transfer and title

of personal and real property. Trust law applies to assets held for

investment and financial security, while tort law allows claims for

compensation if a person's rights or property are harmed. If the harm is

criminalised in legislation, criminal law offers means by which the state can

prosecute the perpetrator. Constitutional law provides a framework for the

creation of law, the protection of human rights and the election of political

representatives. Administrative law is used to review the decisions of

government agencies, while international law governs affairs

between sovereign states in activities ranging from trade to environmental

regulation or military action. Writing in 350 BC, the Greek philosopher

Aristotle declared, "The rule of law is better than the rule of any

individual”.

The philosophy of law is commonly known as jurisprudence.

Normative jurisprudence is essentially political philosophy, and asks "what

should law be?", while analytic jurisprudence asks "what is law?". John

Austin's utilitarian answer was that law is "commands, backed by


threat of sanctions, from a sovereign, to whom people have a habit of

obedience".1

• The word `law` is a general term and over a period of time has attained

different connotations to signify varied purposes.

• Persons carrying different vocations prefer to identify `law` as to the

purpose the prescribed set of rules are intended to achieve: -

(i) A Citizen may think of law as a set of rules, which he must obey.

(ii) A Lawyer who `practices law` may think of law as a vocation.

(iii) A Legislator may look at law something created by him.

(iv) A Judge thinks of law as a guide and principles to be applied to

making decisions.

(v) A Social Scientist may think of law as a means of social control.

(vi) A Legal Philosopher may consider law as `dictate of reason` or `right

reasoning.

• It is often preceded by an adjective to give it a more precise meaning

e.g. Commercial/ Mercantile law, Civil law, Criminal law, Industrial law,

International law.

• In the legal sense with which we are concerned in our study of

Commercial Laws, the definition of `law` includes all the rules and

principles which regulate our relations with other individuals and the

State and which are enforced by the State.

DEFINITON OF `LAW` - ARTICLE 13 (3) OF CONSITTUTION OF INDIA

1 . . Law, www.wikipedia.org, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law, 02 Nov. 2011.


• Clause 3 of Article 13 of the Constitution of India defines `law` as under

(a) `law` includes any

� Ordinance,

� order,

� bye-law,

� rule,

� regulation,

� notification,

� custom or usage having the force of law;

• An amendment to an existing law is also law.

• `Law` in the context of the provisions of the Constitution of India may

also be defined as – “It is an Act passed by the legislature and assented

to by the President of India or Governor of a State.” [Arts 111 and 200 of

the Constitution of India].2

All legal systems deal with the same basic issues, but

jurisdictions categorise and identify its legal subjects in different ways. A

common distinction is that between "public law" (a term related closely to

the state, and including constitutional, administrative and criminal law),

and "private law" (which covers contract, tort and property). In civil

law systems, contract and tort fall under a general law of obligations, while

trusts law is dealt with under statutory regimes or international

conventions. International, constitutional and administrative law, criminal

2 . Law and its Sources, www.slideshare.com, www.slideshare.net/.../chapter-01-sources-of-law-

presen... - United States, 02 Nov. 2011.


law, contract, tort, property law and trusts are regarded as the "traditional

core subjects", although there are many further disciplines.


SOCIAL CONTROL

Social control refers generally to societal and political mechanisms or

processes that regulate individual and group behaviour, leading to

conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state, or social

group. Many mechanisms of social control are cross-cultural, if only in the

control mechanisms used to prevent the establishment of chaos or anomie.

Some theorists, such as Emile Durkheim, refer to this form of control as

regulation. Sociologists identify two basic forms of social controls:

Internal Control- Internalisation of norms and values by a process known

as socialization. Socialization is defined as "“the process by which an

individual, born with behavioural potentialities of enormously wide range,

is led to develop actual behaviour which is confined to the narrower range

of what is acceptable for him by the group standards.”[1]

External Control- External sanctions, which can be either positive

(rewards) or negative (punishment). [2] These sanctions come from either

formal or informal control.

While the concept of social control has been around since the formation of

organized sociology, the meaning has been altered over time. Originally the

concept simply referred to society’s ability to regulate itself [3]. However, in

the 1930’s, the term took on its more modern meaning of the individual’s

conversion to conformity [4]. Social control theory began to be studied as a

separate field in the early 20th century. The means to enforce social control

can be either formal or informal. [5] Sociologist Edward A. Ross argued that

belief systems exert a greater control on human behaviour than laws

imposed by government, no matter what form the beliefs take.

1. Lindzey, Gardner (Ed), (1954). Handbook of social psychology. I. Theory and method. II. Special fields and

applications. (2 vols)., (pp. II, 655-692). Oxford, England: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., xx, 1226 pp.

2. Jary, David; Jary, Julia (1991), The HarperCollins Dictionary of Sociology, New York: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-

06-461036-5

3. Sociological Theory and Social Control Morris Janowitz American Journal of Sociology Vol. 81, No. 1 (Jul.,

1975), pp. 82-108 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Article Stable URL:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2777055

4. Sociological Theory and Social Control Morris Janowitz American Journal of Sociology Vol. 81, No. 1 (Jul.,

1975), pp. 82-108 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Article Stable URL:


5. a, b, Poore, S. Overview of Social Control Theories. The Hewett School. Retrieved on: September 2, 2007.


Informal social control

The social values that are present in individuals are products of informal

social control. It is exercised by a society without explicitly stating these

rules and is expressed through customs, norms, and mores. Individuals are

socialized whether consciously or subconsciously. During informal

sanctions, ridicule or ostracism can cause a straying towards norms. The

person internalizes these mores and norms. Traditional society uses mostly

informal social control embedded in its customary culture relying on the

socialization of its members

Informal sanctions may include shame, ridicule, sarcasm, criticism and

disapproval. In extreme cases sanctions may include social discrimination

and exclusion. This implied social control usually has more effect on

individuals because they become internalized and thus an aspect of

personality. Informal sanctions check 'deviant' behaviour. An example of a

negative sanction comes from a scene in the Pink Floyd film 'The Wall,'

whereby the young protagonist is ridiculed and verbally abused by a high

school teacher for writing poetry in a mathematics class. (Another example:

About a boy, who hesitates to jump from a high springboard, is possible to

say, that he is effeminate. By the fact, that he eventually jumps, he escapes

from this denotation. His behaviour is conditionally controlled by a shame,

which is unpleasant. [6]

As with formal controls, informal controls reward or punish acceptable or

unacceptable behaviour (i.e., deviance). Informal controls are varied and

differ from individual to individual, group to group and society to society.

For example, at a women's institute meeting, a disapproving look might

convey the message that it is inappropriate to flirt with the minister. In a

criminal gang, on the other hand, a stronger sanction applies in the case of

someone threatening to inform to the police. [7]

6. Holland G., Skinner B. F. The Analysis of behaviour (The autoinstructing program). McGraw-Hill

N. Y., 1961, Lesson 33.

7. Livesay, Chris, "Informal Social Control", Culture and Identity (Sociology Central), retrieved

2007-09-08


Formal social control

Informal social control is often not sufficient in a large society in which an

individual can choose to ignore the sanctions of an individual group. Thus,

there is a need for formal control to supplement informal control [8]. This

form of control usually takes the form of government action. Government

and organizations use law enforcement mechanisms and other formal

sanctions such as fines and imprisonment. [5] In democratic societies the

goals and mechanisms of formal social control are determined through

legislation by elected representatives and thus enjoy a measure of support

from the population and voluntary compliance. Douglas D. Heckathorn

notes that the effectiveness of any type of formal control is determined by

the relative strength of the sanction in terms of extent of punishment,

monitoring ability, and degree of group or informal control on the

individual [9].

Applications of social control theory

According to the propaganda model theory, the leaders of modern,

government-dominated societies employ indoctrination as a means of

social control. Theorists such as Noam Chomsky have argued that systemic

bias exists in the modern media. [10] The marketing, advertising, and public

relations industries have thus been said to utilize mass communications to

aid the interests of certain political and business elites. Powerful

ideological, economic and religious lobbyists have often used school

systems and centralised electronic communications to influence public

opinion. Democracy is restricted as the majority is not given the

information necessary to make rational decisions about ethical, social,

environmental, or economic issues.

8. Crime as Social Control Donald Black American Sociological Review Vol. 48, No. 1 (Feb., 1983),

pp. 34-45 Published by: American Sociological Association Article Stable

URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/2095143

9. Collective Sanctions and Compliance Norms: A Formal Theory of Group-Mediated Social Control

Douglas D. Heckathorn American Sociological Review Vol. 55, No. 3 (Jun., 1990), pp. 366-384

Published by: American Sociological Association Article Stable URL:


10. Chomsky, Noam; Herman, Edward (1988), Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the

Mass Media, New York: Pantheon, ISBN 0-679-72034-0


To maintain control and regulate their subjects, authoritarian

organizations and governments promulgate rules and issue decrees.

However, due to a lack of popular support for enforcement, these entities

may rely more on force and other severe sanctions such as censorship,

expulsion and limits on political freedom. Some totalitarian governments,

such as the late Soviet Union or the current North Korea, rely on the

mechanisms of the police state.

Sociologists consider informal means of social control vital in maintaining

public order, but also recognize the necessity of formal means as societies

become more complex and for responding to emergencies. The study of

social control falls primarily within the academic disciplines of

anthropology, political science, and sociology.

The continual application of low-level fear, as in mass surveillance or an

electronic police state also exerts a powerful coercive force upon a

populace.


LAW: AN INSTRUMENT FOR SOCIAL

CONTROL

In primitive societies the folkways, the mores and customs suffice to

control the individual behaviour, since there is almost unquestionable

compliance with the. But, as discussed above, in modern civilized societies

customs tend to loosen their hold with the result that laws are enacted by

the state to control the individual. The transition from customs to law is

just a part of the general rationalisation in modern society.

Various definitions cited. The term ‘law’ has been variously defined by the

writers. According to Sumner laws are actually codified mores. Kant

defined law as ‘a formula which expresses the necessity of action.’ Krabbe

defines law as ‘the expression of the many judgements of value which we

human beings make, by virtue of our disposition and nature.’ According to

green, ‘law is a more or less systematic body of generalized rules, balanced

between the fiction of performance and the fact of change, governing

specifically defined relationship and situations, and employing force or

threat of force in defined and limited ways.’ According to duguit laws are

‘the rules of conduct which normal men know they must observe in order

to preserve and promote the benefits derived from life in society.’ Another

sociologist writes ‘law is the standard of conduct, which in consequence of

the inner impulse which urges men toward a reasonable form of life

emanates from the whole, and is forced upon the individual. It is

distinguished from morals, custom, and religions as soon as the point is

reached at which compulsory standards are separated from those demands

that involve merely social amenity.’ According to MacIver and Page law is


the body of rules which are recognised \, interpreted and applied to

particular situations by the courts of the state.’ B. N. Cardozo writes, “law is

a principle of rule of conduct so established as to justify a prediction with

reasonable certainty that it will be enforced by the courts if its authority is

challenged.” According to Max Webber, law, ‘is an order, the validity of

which is guaranteed by the probability that deviation will be met by

physical or psychic sanction by a staff specially empowered to carry out

this sanction.” Hertzler comments, “law in effect structures the power

(superordinate-subordinate) relationship in society; it maintains the status

quo and protects the various strata against each other, both in

governmental and non-governmental organizations and relationship.”

According to Roscoe Pound, “Laws properly so called are a species of

command. But, being a command, every law properly so called flows from a

determinate source or emanates from a determinate author.”

Two approaches. Thus there is marked disagreement among scholars as to

what the law is. There is no single definition of law which will encompass

preliterate legal arrangements, the Code of Hammurabi, and law define it as

the command of the sovereign or the dictates of the state. Those taking the

sociological view define law as the rules of right conduct. The problem here

is “shall we keep the word ‘law’ for the specialized system with their codes;

their apparatus for setting disputes,, and the penalties for those who have

broken the rules, or shall we regard these as mere specializations of a

similar kind of control which may be found in unorganized forms, but

without what we ordinarily think of as “legal sanctions?”

Those who hold the former view argue that jurisprudence makes it

convenient to use the word ‘law’ in a specialized sense, while the advocates

of the latter view hold that primitive peoples had something which may be


called law and that the rules of voluntary associations like trade-union,

club, university, family, as much as regulate the behaviour of man as the

law of land. Enactment of enforcement by the state should not be

considered essential elements of law. Pollock writes, “If we look away from

such elaborate systems as those of the later Roman Empire and of modern

Western Governments, we see that not only law but law with a great deal of

formality, has existed before the state had any adequate means of

compelling its observance-and indeed before there was any regular process

of enforcement at all. “ This means that two views may be taken of law. In a

wide sense, it included all the rules of conduct observed by men as a matter

of habit. In a narrow sense, it may mean the body of rules which are

recognised or made by the state and interpreted by the courts of land.

Custom becomes law when the state is prepared to enforce it as a rule

binding on citizens. To avoid the confusion between custom and law we

should use the term ‘law’ in the narrow sense, i.e., as rules enacted or at

least interpreted and enforced by special agencies of the state.

In a leading case, i.e., in I. Narasimha Rao and Ors. vs. Govt. of Andhra

Pradesh and Ors. (23.09.1976 - APHC)[1], Hon’ble judge stated that:

• Rights of the people and social control through law are not

antithetical. They are not mutually exclusive either. The power of the

State, manifesting through Law is extended, with the object of

securing greater equality in personal rights, particularly in economic

sphere and of organising public resources for common good. There

does not involve in these extensions of State power any loss of

personal liberty much less any sacrifice of liberty for equality. Liberty

1. Narasimha Rao and Ors. vs. Govt. of Andhra Pradesh and Ors. (23.09.1976 - APHC)


is no more to be the exclusive preserve of the chosen few. Freedom

can never be absolute. The freedom of each is limited by equal claims

of others. Whenever there are great inequalities of power, freedom

cannot be general. In order to secure freedom for all, it is necessary

that all should be equally protected against the abuse of power and

that the power of the State should be employed to reduce or remove

arbitrary inequalities and to ensure that the common resources

should be used not for personal ends but for the general well-being.

• The formulation of any theory of social justice, man need not and in

fact should not be taken as an individual set against society. The

dignity and individuality of the individual which the constitution

exalted could have relevance only in a human social context. Men

realise their individuality and their humanity only as social beings.

That is the meaning we find in the growth of social legislation and

social control through law. The power of social justice finds its outlet

in the method of sociology.


CONCLUSION

According to Holland, law is a general rule of external action enforced by a

sovereign political authority to particular situations by the court of the

state. Ross says, “Law is the most specialised and highly furnished engine of

social control employed by society. The state enacts laws to control the

behaviour of individuals in the society. Disobedience of these laws and

their infringement is punished by the government. The control of the law is

the control of the administrative power which is vested in the government

officials. Law empowers the executive to punish those who violates

established social order and also engages those who act rightly and co-

operatively. Law exercise powerful control upon the behaviour of people

by preventing everyone from becoming an obstacle in the path of other and

by protecting the obedient from the disobedient of law.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS:

1. Bhushan, Vidya, An Introduction to Sociology, 46th Edition,

2012, Allahabad: Kitab Mahal

2. Myneni, S.R., Sociology for Law students, 2nd edition. 2011,

Delhi: Allahabad Law Agency

INTERNET MATERIAL:

1. http://books.google.co.in/books/about/Social_Co

ntrol_Thrrough_Law.html?id=1sCffAYNpu0C

&redir_esc=y

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_control

3. http://psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid

=81770

Social Control Through Law

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