Social control is a concept involving how a society governs the behavior of its own citizens through a variety of psychological or physical actions. While public humiliation is a form of psychological social control, actions like corporal punishment or use of force during an arrest are examples of physical social control. Violent social control methods are also present in some well-known films. “Code red” was a term mentioned in the movie A Few Good Men (1992), and describes when soldiers discipline one another informally; usually through physical punishment. Because the standards of a society, both moral and legal, are what guide these social controls, and standards vary through generations, the controls will continually evolve to match new standards.
In U.S. history, violent forms of social control were a common way of dealing with problems in a society. One common example of violent social control in the history of the United States is that of lynchings, or unofficially ordered hangings. In the novel, Contempt of Court, by Mark Curriden (1999), a prisoner is taken, by a mob, from the jail in which he is held. The actions of this mob constitute the society’s effort to deter illegal activity. This use of violence as social control gradually lessened over time. Another example of social control through physical violence is one which some of the middle aged and older generations of today can attest to experiencing first-hand. Corporal punishment was utilized in schools for the purpose of “[inflicting] pain without causing injury” to misbehaving children (Laurence, 2011).
The modern use of violent social control is common with law enforcement officers. Use of force by officers is the center of media attention on multiple occasions each year. David Ono reported on such a case this year. When 8-year old Aiden Elliott was misbehaving in school teachers failed to calm him down, the police were called in (Ono, 2011). Officers attempted to stop Aiden, and ended up pepper spraying him after peaceful efforts failed. The spray worked and Aiden was subdued, but concerns over whether the use of pepper spray was necessary quickly arose. I see this as an example of the evolution of moral standards in our country. Moral standards concerning use of force on a child by a non-family member were once lax. Corporal punishment was a way to deal with unruly children, because the public saw it as a good lesson for children to learn. My dad has told me about his many experiences with being paddled by the principal of his elementary school for bad behavior, and how he knows now that it was not an unreasonable punishment (C. Johnson, personal communication, 12 April, 2011). The current moral standards regarding corporal punishment have changed, as is shown in this example, to focus on the safety and well-being of children in school. The morality of using physical force on a child to compel cooperation has changed, leaving it acceptable in less than half of schools in the United States. Social control has evolved to accommodate the moral and legal values of society. Violent actions meant to control behavior in society are now primarily carried out by law enforcement officers for the state. These actions are also closely scrutinized by the media, in order to confirm that the current standards of social control are being met and not exceeded.
References
Brown, D. (producer), & Reiner, R. (director). (1992). A Few Good Men [motion picture]. United States: Columbia Pictures.
Curriden, M. & Phillips, L. (1999). Contempt of Court: The Turn-of-the-Century Lynching That Launched a Hundred Years of Federalism. New York: Faber and Faber.
Laurence Lwo, L., & Yuan, Y. (2011). Teachers' perceptions and concerns on the banning of corporal punishment and its alternative disciplines. Education & Urban Society, 43(2), 137-164.
Ono, D. (2011, April 6). Unruly 8-year-old pepper sprayed by police. ABC7 Eyewitness News. Retrieved from http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=8057576
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