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Sociology 3.2 Mechanisms of Social Control, Social Order and Conformity. …

- - - - This means that social order is constantly under threat because citizens may see themselves as outsiders and cause what is considered to them as "uprisings"
      - These potential conflicts have led to many governments seeking to control by consent, persuading individuals that the 'law is blind, and it only seeks to protect all social groups equally.
        
        Control by consent is criticised by Marxists for being an ideological device that aims to convince individuals that these social controls are necessary when in reality, they are used to control the proletariat.
      - It is also known that imprisonment is used disproportionately between social groups. For example, the upper class are less likely to be imprisoned due to the connections that they have, or the money they can use to commit bribery. This is also common between racial groups due to racism and racial profiling.
  - - - Employers have the power to give employees informal and formal warnings before completely terminating their employment.
- - - - Positive sanctions may include praise, an extra show of love and affection, or material things that a child may like.
      - For negative sanctions, parents may show children a "withdrawal of love" or keeping them from doing or using the things that they like. Some cultures may allow or even encourage the use of physical punishment.
        
        A study in 2013 by Sylvia Y.C.L Kwok found that 72% of Chinese children said that their parents beat them as a form of punishment. Kwok concluded that it is common for Chinese parents to physically and emotionally punish their children to solve conflicts and discipline them.
        
        However, over 40 countries consider physical punishment as a crime.
  - - - Some adolescents may even identify with spectacular youth subcultures which are often portrayed by the media as 'threatening'.
        
        However majority of the youth do not come in contact with these spectacular youth groups, since they are mostly involved with mundane aspects of life such as peer groups, school and social media.
        
        Peer groups may use positive sanctions such as additional respect or status to reward those who act in ways that are fitting to the overall norms of society.
        
        Peer groups may also use negative sanctions such as gossip, ridicule, shame or exclusion to criticise and control the behaviour of potentially deviant individuals.
        
        It is argued that peer groups may sometimes have more influence over an individual than their parents. However, studies show that these adolescents still end up conforming to the same values as their parents.
  - - - However, critics of media point out that these representations of media are often ideological and sometimes exaggerated.
        
        The media can often encourage negative aspects of society such as patriarchy and the justification of inequalities. For example, the media can shame women who are not up to the patriarchy's 'standards of femininity. They can also enforce stereotypical gender roles.
        
        Marxists can also argue that the media embraces capitalistic values by encouraging conspicuous consumption with advertisements. The media also often praises those who are wealthier by labelling them as self-made, ignoring the possibility that they are just enjoying the wealth that their previous generations owned.
        
        Stanley Cohen coined the term "moral panic" after analysing the media response to an incident during a bank holiday in the UK involving the "mods and the rockers" Although there was some violence, Cohen argued that the media had exaggerated the events which had caused the general public to seek a harsh punishment for these two groups of youth.
        
        Stanley Cohen states that moral panic happens when something is suddenly defined by the media as a threat to society.
  - - - The same principle is evident in modern societies since governments are now implementing the use of surveillance systems, therefore, individuals, in theory, are now trying to monitor their own behaviour, just in case they might be watched.
        
        The use of surveilance by the govenment is often a topic of debate, as some consider it a breach of privacy