How Does Society Control Us? Continued

The police and the courts are the dramatic face of social control, but they are not the part you meet most often. Long before any law is involved, you are kept in line by people who care about you and whose opinion you care about: your family, your teachers, your friends, the voices in the media, your faith community and your colleagues. This is informal control, and it does the everyday work of keeping society orderly.

This note looks at the informal agencies one by one and the sanctions each uses, from a parent's reward to a flood of likes online, from being ostracised by friends to being dismissed from a job. It then asks the opposite question: why do some people refuse to conform? You will explore sub-cultures, from youth and online groups to protest and religious movements, and learn why joining them can make perfect sense to the people involved.