Formal and Informal Agents of Social Control

What this note covers

1. Defining Social Control and Its Agents
2. Formal Agents: Law, Police, and Courts
3. Informal Agents: Family, Peer Groups, Media, and Religion
4. Reinforcing Conformity: How Agents Work Together
5. Responding to Nonconformity: Sanctions, Stigma, and Resistance
6. Power, Social Control, and Who Sets the Norms
7. Synthesis: Comparing Formal and Informal Agents

7 sections · 14 key terms & formulas · 6 common mistakes