Full text of "Social Control"

JOSEPH S. ROUCEK, Ph.D. Chairman, Depammnts of Sociology and Political Science University of Bridgeport AND ASSOCIATES SECOND EDITION w A IlPfl LIBRARY D. VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY, Ix PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY NEW YORK TORONTO LONDON D. VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY, INC. 120 Alexander St., Princeton, New jersey 257 Fourth Avenue, New York 10, New York 25 Hollinger Rd., Toronto 16, Canada Macmillan & Co., Ltd., St. Martin’s St., London, W.C. 2, England All correspondence should be addressed to the principal office of the company at Prmceton^ N. J, Copyright, ©, 1947, 1956, by D. VAN NOSTRAND COMPANY, Inc. Published simultaneously in Canada by D. Van Nostrand Company' (Canada), Lid. Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. 56-7244 No reproduction in any for 77 t of this hook, in ivhole or hi part {except for brief quotation in critical articles or revie^dis), may be made without written authorization from the publishers. First Edition, June 1947 F our Re printings Second Edition, January 1956 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Dedicated to Dr. Henry W. Littlefield Vice-President, University of Bridgeport a scholar and a good friend Associates Preface to the Second Edition The popularity of the first edition of the present work, originally pub- lished in January, 1947, has certified the need for systematizing the area of Social Control for the growing number of courses in this field. Yet, the rapid advancement in the technological means of Social Control has already surpassed one aspect not treated in the original edition, namely, the field of Television. This revision contains a chapter on this ever-more- important means of public communication and control. The chapters on Public Opinion, Propaganda, and Motion Pictures have been rewritten. Most of the others have been revised in their conclusions, and all have additional bibliographical references to the latest literature. Special appreciation is given for technical and typing assistance to Miss Dianne McDougall and Emilio F, Riccio, both of the Political Science Department, University of Bridgeport. JOSEPH S. ROUCEK University of Bridgeport Bridgeport^ Conn. November^ Preface to the First Edition This book is designed to serve as an introductory text for the growing number of courses in Social Control in our higher institutions of learning. The subject encompasses the whole field of sociological thought, espe- cially as it seeks more concretely to answer specific problems growing out of the present characteristics of our civilization. In this respect, the volume will also be useful in the introductory courses to Sociology and Social Psychology. The organization and treatment are such that it can be used in advanced courses as well. From the time that the American Sociological Society devoted itsPro--' ceedings in 1917 to this topic, Social Control has become one of the main vi' Preface to the First Edition centers of Arnerican, sociological interest and has produced considerable literature exploring the various ramifications of this vast field. \ et, there are very few volumes that summarize and synthesize the widely available studies, possibly because there is little agreement about the definition of the term, the field concerned, or the boundaries of this branch of So- ciology. This book aims to fill the definite need of bringing to the student and layman a wealth of knowledge that has been accumulating through the work of many scattered experts, but all bearing upon the central theme -Social Control. A notable eccentricity of our age of specialization is for one author to attempt to be panoramic, for the flood of materials in every field is so great that even specialists find it difficult to keep abreast of their own specialties. In the plan of this book, experts and teachers in the varied phases of Social Control have contributed those chapters for which they are best qualified by virtue of close and continuous study. It is believed that this method is well adapted to bringing to readers a comprehensive, thorough, and well digested presentation of contemporary factual knowledge and thought. The reader will find the volume well integrated; furthermore, the questions, suggestions for term papers, and bibliographies at the end of each chapter will be useful tools for instruc- tors as well as students. Societies have always regulated their members by means of social con- trol described here. But modem knowledge raises new and pressing issues, by making possible the deliberate and scientific exploitation of the avenues through which meanings are communicated and experiences shared. Especially is this true with the rise of large masses of more or less politically conscious people, nearly all of whom are accessible to the propagandist at any time and regardless of the factor of distance. No government has been able to ignore these recent trends. But in our democracy, which depends upon the informed, the educated, and the responsible citizen for its very survival, the need for an understanding of the basis of social control is immediate and vital. The task of being an editor of a volume so conceived is difficult. The job could not have been done without the effective cooperation of the co-authors, to whom my thanks are extended. Special credit is due to my friend. Professor Paul Walter, Jr., University of New Mexico, who brought the plan to realization. JOSEPH S. ROUCEK Hempstead, Long Island Jafniary, 2^47 Contents , / Part L THE FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIAL CONTROL CHAPTER PAGE L The Nature of Social Control . 3 11. Socio-Psychic Processes in Social Control 17 III. Social Control and the Conditioning of Personality ... 31 IV. The Fields of Behavior 48 V. Social Cohesion and Social Control 62 Tart IL institutions as elements of social control VI. State, Law and Government 79 VII. Religion VIIL Marriage, Home and Family 118 IX. Education .131 X. Social Classes .149 XL How Science Modifies Institutions 167 Part III. means and techniques of social control XIL Ideologies 185 XIIL Conceptual Means of Social Control . 205 XIV. Language and Semantics 223 XV. Art and Literature 240 XVL Recreation and Social Control . . . ■ 260 /XVII. The Leadership Process ... . , . , , . , , ^ 278 XVIIL Secret Societies . .... . ... . . , . , ^ 295 XIX, Nonviolent Means of Social Control . ... . . . . . ' 315 XX. Violence and 'Terror . ... , . ' . . , , ^ - 330 , XXL Economic 'Control . XXIL Contents Part IV. SOCIAL control and public opinion CHAPTER XXIII. Public Opinion XXIV. Propaganda XXV. The Press . . XXVI. Radio .... XXVII. Motion Pictures XXVIII. Television . . Part V. contemporary problems of social control XXIX. Totalitarian Ways of Life XXX. Recent Types of Charismatic Leadership .... XXXI. Social Control and the Atomic Bomb Index Part I The Foundations of Social Control FOREWORD Group life is a phenomenon common to all living things, but at the human level it is distinguished by balance between stability and flexibility. Among many animal species group activity is transient and unstable; among others, notably ants, termites and bees, it is stable and lasting but rigid and inflexible. The significance is that man alone enjoys the benefits of con- tinuous organized cooperation and at the same time the ability collectively to modify his relationships and ways of life. But he also, alone of living things, stands constantly on the brink of disasters which may at any time result from his own collec- tive follies. Social control makes possible this distinctively human bal- ance between stability and flexibility in organized group life. The foundations of social control are in the psycho-biological equipment of the individual and in the social framework within which he moves. Until these twin-rooted foundations are clearly understood the vast and intricate superstructure which ages of cumulative social heritage have built upon them re- mains essentially meaningless. The first five chapters of this book treat in turn the Nature of Social Control, Socio-Psychic Processes in Social Control, Social Control and the Conditioning of Personality, the Fields of Behavior, and Social Cohesion and Social Control. They are designed to give the reader a graduated portal by which to enter into the complexities which lie beyond. Chapter I The Nature of Social Control The increase of crime and chaos in the postwar world and the developv ment of weapons of war far more destructive than those of the past are only two of the reasons for being concerned with problems of the control of human conduct. Are peoples and cultures to disintegrate under the dis- ruptive forces of contemporary discord and frustration? Is some ruthless nation to use atomic energy to slaughter half the world and then to enslave the survivors? Such questions reveal the disparity between man’s increas- ing control of natural phenomena and his failure to progress in the control of the behavior of human beings. While the techniques for managing the forces of nature have become increasingly dependable and predictable^ methods of social control are little, if any, more effective than they were in the dawn of history, even wdth the recent development of such agen- cies for mass propaganda as the press, the motion picture, and the radio. Yet if mankind is ever to be free from fear of aggression, individual or collective, the wise control of human conduct is far more significant than any degree of mastery of the world of nature. As used in this volume, social control is a collective term for those processes^ planned or unplanned^ by vohich individuals are taught^ per- suaded^ Of compelled to conform to the usages and life-values of groups. Social control occurs when' one group determines the behavior of another group, when the group controls the conduct of its own members, or when individuals influence the responses of others. Social control, conse- quently, operates on three levels— group over group, the group over its members, and individuals over their fellows. In other words, social con- trol takes place when a person is induced or forced to act according to the wishes of others, whether or not in accordance with his ' own individ- ual , interests.^ ' Social control should be distinguished from self-control,, although the two are closely akin. At the individual level social control refers to the attempt to influence others, while self-control refers to the individual’s /'Muc^ chapter has been published in Sociology and Soc'id Research, XXVIII (November-December, 1943), pp. 95-102. It is reprinted with permission of the editors. . . ■ . ^ "For a similar, definition see Embail Young, Sociology (Cmciimati; American Book Co., 1942), p. 894. Social Control attempt to guide his own behavior in accord with some previously devel- oped ideal, goal, or purpose. The goal is, of course, usually determined by the values and folkways of the group to which the individual belongs. In a sense, then, self-control is derived from, and originates in, social control. For example, a boy may exhibit self-control in a doctor’s ofEce, but his effort to avoid crying out from pain probably comes from his ideal of the proper conduct of a teen age boy, and, as every, school nurse knows, his self-control will be strengthened by the presence of one of his comrades.' For convenience, consequently, social control and self-control are to be separated, but their close relationship needs to be recognized. Social control should not be confused with personal leadership. When one person tries to control the behavior of others, he is usually thought of as exercising leadership rather than social control But when he gathers a group of followers who join with him in endeavoring to influence the conduct of a larger group, he is acting as an agent of social control. In addition, it should be noted that leadership is sometimes used as a term of approbation for those whose attempts at social control are in harmony with one’s own wishes or life-values. Somewhat similarly, propaganda may be a term to indicate the speaker’s disapproval of some effort at social control^ The Development of the Concept of Social Control As a generalization about human behavior social control is both old and new. In the earliest and most primitive forms of human life, social control existed as a potent force in organizing socio-cultural behavior. Just as the individual is enveloped in the atmosphere, he is also surrounded from birth to death by social control of which he may be unaware unless insight or unusual experience leads him to its recognition. Accordingly any formal statement of the concept is comparatively recent, altlioiigh it is foreshadowed in Plato’s Republic, 369 b . c ., and, much later, in Comte’s Positive Philosophy, 1830-1842, and it is greatly clarified in Lester F. "Wdxi's Dynamic Sociology , 1883. In 1 894 Small and Vincent, in discussing the effect of authority upon social behavior, observe that ■ even leaders are greatly influenced and limited by the will of their followers. These authors then conclude, *‘The reaction of public opinion upon authority makes social control a most delicate and difficult task.”^ This somewhat incidental reference seems to have been the first use of the term in scholarly writing.^ In the same ®The subject of leadership is treated in detail in chapter XVII of this book, and propaganda in Chapter XXIV. * Albion W. Small and George E. Vincent, Introduction to the Study of Society (New York: American Book Co., 1894), p. 328, B. Hoilingshead, “The Concept of Social Control,’’ American Sociological Review, VI (April, 1941), pp, 217-224. [i] The Nature of Social Control 5 year Ross ‘^developed the germs’’ of the first book in this field,^ This volume finally appeared in ipoiJ In it Ross acknowledges his debt to Lester Fo Ward, his friend and counselor. In his treatment of social control Ross excludes the influence of the individual upon the group and minimizes the importance of crowd be- havior. Consequently his conception now seems somewhat narrow. He emphasized what were once called “social instincts”— sympathy, socia- bility, and a sense of justice— and the means by which the group brings pressure upon the individual, especially in crises, to induce him to act in accordance with the folkways and mores. The so-called social instincts are now neglected, but the means of social control have continued to receive the attention of scholars, even though the tendency is now to emphasize the pervasiveness of social control in everyday life as well as its power in times of crisis. In the year following the appearance of Ross’ pioneer volume, Cooley presented a conception of social control that admirably supplements that of Ross.^ Cooley’s emphasis is on the effect of group pressure upon the personality of the individual and the necessity for studying a person’s life history in order to understand his behavior. In particular, his discus- sion of “the looking-glass self” and the social origins of the conscience have been far-reaching in leading others to study the process of socializa- tion and the interaction between the individual and his group.^ A third aspect of social control is emphasized by William Graham Sumner.^^ According to this author, social behavior cannot be under- stood without a study of the folkways, mores, institutions, and value- judgments which underlie the rules of conduct of the group. These socio-cultural forms which organize the responses of individuals are of primary importance in deciding the direction in which social control operates. In other words, the life-values and social organization of the group largely determine whether the agents of social control will encour- age or inhibit any specific item of behavior. Sumner’s volume, which has been called “the Old Testament of the sociologists,” treats of social control only incidentally but is of great significance in showing, largely by a profusion of illustrations, how folkways and institutions limit the behavior of individuals— “the mores can make anything right and prevent condemnation of any thing.” ' ® Edward A. Ross, “Recoilectdons of a Pioneer in Sociology,” Social Forces, XX (October, 1941), p, 32. ^ Edward A. Ross, Control (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1901). ® Charles H. Cooltj,: Human Nature and the Social Order (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1902) . . . ■ chapters V and X. ■ , (New York; Ginn and Co., 1906); ^ especially chapter XV. mmMimrnmm Social Control and the Academic Disciplines Social control is to be studied as an approach to the uiiderstanding of group behavior rather than as an established department of teaching and research. For example one phase of social control is education which, in its broadest meaning, is a collective term for the agencies which transmit the social heritage, either unchanged or altered in form or function. In its restricted sense education is used to indicate collectively the organiza- tion and activities of schools and other institutions for training individuals in accordance with the cultural patterns and life- values of the group. Generally, however, education is used to refer chiefly to the intellectual or indirect means of influencing conduct; in the study of social control, the more overt or immediate means of altering behavior, especially through the emotions, are emphasized.^^ The study of social control is an important aspect of sociology and of social psychology, but it is not co-extensive with these branches of learn- ing. Sociology is the discipline which emphasizes group patterns of conduct and the interaction of individuals and groups. Social psychology deals with the intellectual and emotional aspects of the individuaFs response to the behavior of others. Social control is, accordingly, inti- mately connected with both sociology and social psychology as an important topic of both disciplines. Other academic disciplines have also contributed to the understanding of social control. Cultural anthropology has provided data on the rules and life-values of diverse primitive societies and has aided in increasing the objectivity of studies of contemporary civilization. From psycho- ^ Education and social control is treated more fully in chapter IX of this book. [i] The Nature of Social Control 7 logical research has come understanding of the learning processes by which individuals are conditioned by the practices and precepts of their fellows. Many of the contributions of the social sciences to social control will be indicated in subsequent chapters. Without further discussion, it should be evident that social control is a concept that is significant for many jSelds of knowledge and that cuts across the boundaries of the traditional academic disciplines. It is, there- fore, a unifying factor in the study of human behavior. This partial integration of several fields of investigation is one of the more significant aspects of the study of social control. The great success of such natural science integration as is illustrated by engineering or architecture lends encouragement to the development of similar concepts and practices in the field of the social sciences. This volume, consequently, makes one of its most important contributions in stimulating further study and research in a synthesizing approach to social science. Purposes of Social Control The aims of social control, according to Kimball Young, are ‘*to bring about conformity, solidarity, and continuity of a particular group or society.’’ These purposes may possibly guide far-seeing statesmen or social scientists, but most individuals who endeavor to control their fellow men show little perspective in their efforts. Often they merely struggle to increase the acceptance of the modes of conduct that they themselves prefer. This preference may be based upon childhood train- ing, insight derived from life experience, or the desire to exploit others in order to gain power— economic, personal, or political. Social control, it is true, often perpetuates the accumulated wisdom of men long gone^ but only rarely are living men and women cognizant of the significance of the cultural patterns they transmit or modify. Some reformers and exploiters do seem aware of their purposes and aims, but most of them either lack insight or conceal their true motives by “good reasons” in the form of altruistic rationalizations. Examples of such rationalizations may easily be observed in radio or newspaper advertising. In long-time perspective the social scientist can note that the efforts of men to obtain greater acceptance of their . own ■ values and patterns of' living do result in, a greater regularity and- predictability of social be- havior. The assumption, however, , that men in general are concerned with the advantages of regularity, or predictability of conduct is difficult to accept without also assuming that the average man possesses a high degree of insight and social understanding. ^®Yonng, op. ch.^ p. 898. 8 Social Control [i] The student may well attempt for himself an analysis of the purposes of social control by observing a number of examples and then attempting to discover the motives involved, especially those that are concealed or unconscious. Advertising and propaganda in their varied forms can readily be classified as more or less exploitative. But it is more difficult to understand the motivation of parents who endeavor to train their children in outmoded patterns of conduct. Such parents may be uncon- sciously identifying themselves with their own parents, they may be assuming that what proved satisfactory to them will also be good for their children, or they may be acting primarily from habit and distrust of the unfamiliar. Self-appointed guardians of respectability and morals may be honestly trying to prevent others from making costly errors or they may be covertly struggling for recognition in the commiinitv. The motivation of teachers illustrates the complexity of the purposes behind efforts to control the conduct of others. All teachers are active agents of social control, but their motives are not easy to catalog. A few obviously enjoy the prestige of exercising control over the behavior of others. Some cautiously adhere to the preferences of the powerful, while others, warped or embittered by their own experiences, use their class- rooms as vantage points for attacks upon the prevailing folkways and life-values. Many carry on the traditions without much attempt at re- valuation or realistic alteration to meet contemporary needs. Some, at least, have identified themselves with the attempt to improve human conditions by training others. Such an analysis of the motives of teachers and of other agents of social control can easily be continued to great length but perhaps sufficient indication has been given of the complexity and of the obscurity of the purposes of those who endeavor to influence the behavior of others. If a simple classification is desired, however, the general purposes of the agents of social control can be designated roughly as (i) exploitative ^ motivated by some form of self-interest, direct or indirect; (2) regula- tory, based upon habit, and the desire for behavior of the customary types; and (3) creative or constructive, directed toward social change be- lieved to be beneficial. But again it should be remembered that motivation is often too complex or too obscure for easy analysis or classifi^cation. Means of Social Control The means by which individuals or groups induce or compel con- ormity to their preferences in conduct are so numerous and varied that a large portion of this volume is devoted to their treatment. In consider- mg these means the student should bear in mind that the significance of institutions and agencies of control depends largely upon the cultura. or [i] The Nature of Social Control 9 social setting. For example, in a homogeneous rural community, gossip may be a potent means of enforcing conformity but would be of little importance in the impersonal life of an American metropolis. Similarly, in West Africa the threat of employing magic or witchcraft may intimi- date the boldest but would be of small influence in Denmark or Switzer- land, Adolescent boys and girls may be quite fearful of ridicule by their age-mates but almost oblivious to criticisms by teachers or parents.- The overt techniques, such as ostracism or infliction of pain, should, not, moreover, be overemphasized. Perhaps even more effective are those means of control that gradually build up in children social attitudes and values that are approved by the group. These in turn aid in developing the personality patterns, “persistent behavior traits,” that facilitate the desired types of conduct and inhibit others. As W. L Thomas has aptly said, “The condition of morality, as well as of mental life, in a community depends on the prevailing copies.” The social models persistently brought to the attention of the young and impressionable have a pro- found influence in determining the development of ideals, habits, and other personality traits. The strength and pervasiveness of social control is well illustrated by the fact that an individual may be alone and yet be clearly under its influence. The unhappy drunk, stumbling homeward, is overwhelmed by the recollection of his mother, “What would she say if she saw me now?” On his tropical island, Robinson Crusoe was so conditioned by Ws childhood in England that he was distressed over his lack of garments even though he had no companions and the climate was suitable for a minimum of clothing. Similarly, the conscience, a resultant of social training, pricks the secret violator of the mores of his group. The relative efEcacy of the means of social control varies with changes in the social organization and life-values of the group. For example, in a static society, custom is a powerful means of influencing the responses of individuals. “This is the way our fathers always did” carries prestige and conviction. In contemporary American life, however, the influence’ of tradition has been weakened, except perhaps in law, politics, and religion. Similarly, during the Middle Ages the tenets of feudalism exer- cised vast control over social behavior, from the serf’s hut to the noble- man s castle, but today they have only historical significance. Attempts to classify the diverse means of obtaining social control are many and varied. In this volume the institutional and the non-institutional agencies are treated separately, partly as a matter of convenience. The verbal and gestural or symbolic means may be contrasted with those involving force. Punishment typifies the negative or repressive means of T Psychology of Yellow Journalism” American Maga^ne, ivAV (Marcii, 1908), p. 496. eliminating undesired behavior, whiie rewarcis anci praibe a^e oiLeii useci positively to induce socially approved activities. Informal means of social control are very powerful in primary social groups where Interaction is on a personal basis. Formal sanctions, typified by law and its admioistra- tion, are usually associated with the larger secondary social groups where impersonal relationships predominate. The weakening of kforrna! social control in the larger and more mobile communities has been noted by many observers, some of whom attribute to this source a recent deteriora- tion of American character in urban areas.^'** Social Control and Maladjustment ■ When the agencies of social control lose their power, the behavior of the group becomes unstable and unpredictable. If the socieu^ is a chang- ' ing one, the lack of standards of conduct may be the result of conflict between the old and the newly developing rules of conduct. This conflict of standards leads to social disorganization. Social disorganization is often only a temporary disturbance while old rules are being replaced by new ones. Sometimes, however, a clash of cultural values may weaken all codes of conduct and result in an amoral society, where even previous incentives for action become insignificant. Under such circum- stances a people may be so overcome by apathy that they lose the desire to work, to rear children, or even to live.^® This destruction of the zest for living, especially for living according to the established norms, fre- quently occurs when a pre-literate culture is overwhelmed by the intro- duction of a complex civilization. Often members of such a group may be properly described as “de-tribalized’— emancipated from social restraints and freed from adherence to the values and mores of the tribe. A somewhat similar deterioration may accompany a change in en- vironment that makes the former codes of conduct inapplicable or inadequate. The dramatic consequences of social disorganization or of cultural deterioration should not, however, obscure the obvious fact that social norms are perhaps never completely realized in the behavior of every member of a group. Even though the child is surrounded from birth by adults with relatively unvarying standards of conduct, he may develop Fuller treatment of this subject will be found in Chapter XIX. G. H. Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers, The Clash of Culture and the Contact of Races (London: George Routiedge and Sons, 1927), pp, 197-206 and 217-233. See also W. H. R, Rivers, Essays on the Depopulation of Melanesia (Cambridge: Cambridge Uni- versity Press, 1922). Pauline V. Young, The Pilgrims of Russian To*wn (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1932). [l] The Nature of Social Control 11 traits in conflict with the norms— perhaps by chance, through inability to learn, or individual variation in response, or even because of an abnor- mality. At any time, therefore, even in the most stable societies, some deviation from the idealized cultural norms may be found, as illustrated by psychopaths, eccentrics, and criminals.^^ In any culture, moreover, social control rarely operates uniformly upon all groups. Minority peoples, for example, frequently differ from the dominant group both in social norms and in control of conduct. The private courts of immigrant groups or so-called ‘‘gangster trials” illus- trate how such minorities may develop in-group ethical codes and may even organize their own legalistic agencies for the settlement of intra- group conflicts. On one of the islands off the Carolina coast Negroes often have trials before the congregation of the church, partly to escape appearance before the legally constituted courts, which are often referred to as administering “the unjust law” or “the white folks’ law.” Similarly, in each socio-economic class, variations in social control may direct behavior into different channels or result in attitudes easily separable from those of other groups in the same culture area.^^ Members of any group, accordingly, are likely to be subjected to rather different social pressures and may develop diverse and conflicting attitudes and life- values. In most societies, consequently, there are conflicting patterns of con- duct. The individual may then have to choose his own standards. His choices will vary with his own personality trends and with his responses to the social control exerted by his differing associates. Such cultural conflict, of course, increases greatly any tendencies toward personal deterioration or social disorganization. The results of social control are, therefore, not always beneficial to society or to the individual. Exploitation is obviously often injurious to many. Even attempts at constructive reform may merely confuse the public and end in inactivity. Efforts to regulate behavior in accordance with the established norms may have such harmful consequences as blind adherence to custom, cultural lag, mental conflict, emotional instability, neurosis, and even psychosis. These untow^ard consequences vary with the individual and with the culture. An aggressive individual may from social control in a peace-loving group, although he might be hon- ored in a warlike society- The outcast squaw-man who could not pass the initiation tortures of the plains Indians might have been a leader among the more artistic pueblo dwellers. : Bronislaw Malinowski, Crmie mid Custom in Savage Society (New York: Har- court. Brace and Co., 1926). See also W, L Thomas and Florian Znaniecki, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (New York: Alfred A. Knoof. ,^®For examples, see Alfred Winslow delphia: J. B. Lippincott Go., 1941 ■ j2 Social Control [l] Special codes also often run counter to the justifiable interests of individuals or of minority groups. For example, established norms may be too restrictive for the creative or too conservative for the adventurous individual. Moreover, the regulations are often formulated by a dominant group and may be openly or secretly opposed by others. This results in a constant struggle between opposing wishes. These wishes may not be demonstrably harmful-they may merely happen to be in conflict with the rules prevailing in a particular culture. Yet such conflicts often result in social and emotional maladjustment,^® [l] The Nature of Social Control 13 formity of conduct. This tendency is increased by greater familiarity with effective methods of influencing behavior. ^ ^Having the knowledge we may set hopefully at work upon a course of social invention and experimentd^ In the totalitarian states, emphasis upon social control already has reached near the maximum in state direction and regulation. The increasing ^complexity of culture is, however, likely to increase rather than to diminish the need for effective social control, either volun- tary or authoritarian, especially of those who may unleash upon mankind the destructive forces of atomic energy. Summary The term social control, as used in this book, refers to the processes, planned or unplanned, by which individuals are taught, persuaded, or compelled to conform to the usages of groups. It is distinct from self- control, although the latter, in so far as it reflects group norms, is derived from social control. Social control is as old as human society, but its deliberate study as a discipline which cuts across all social science fields, is quite recent in origin. Ward, Sumner, Cooley, and Ross, in the pioneering days of American sociology, made significant contributions to the concept and its study. They^ provided varying emphases on the means, the sources, and the personality phases, which have been followed in later studies and writings The motivations behind deliberate exercise of social control are many and c^plex, often not fully realized by the person who exercises con- trol. Only for convenience may they be classified as exploitative, regu- latory, and creative. The means employed vary with the cultural settings of various groups. They may be institutional or non-institutional, sym- bolic or coercive. ^ All groups show some lack of uniformity both in the standards and eftectiveness of social control. Always there are some maladjustments and conflicts, as illusttated by the psychopaths, the eccentrics, and crim- mds. In times of rapid social change deviations may be so numerous and widespread as to be characterized as social disorganization. When pre- literate peoples come under the domination of complex civilizations the old norms and controls may become so weakened as to destroy aU incen- tive for ordinary life activities, and even the zest for living. Significant for the present and future is the decline in individual adequacy to cope with social forces, and the resultant need for group action. Th is has led to multiplication of voluntary agencies of social md Conduct (New York: Henry Holt and Co., QUESTIONS 1. In what ways is social control to be distinguished from control of nature? 2. How is self-control to be separated from social control? 3. When is leadership an aspect of social control? 4. Are persons who are alone still subject to social control? 5. What means of social control are more effective in small intimate groups? 6. In what ways may social control be modified among minority groups? 7. What are some of the injurious consequences of social control? 8. How has social planning increased the importance of social control? 9. Do you think “human nature” will rebel against an increase of social controi! 10. Is military or school morale or “spirit” a form of social controi? SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR TERM PAPERS AND FURTHER RESEARCH 1. The place of social control in the study of the social sciences. 2. An analysis of the methods of social control among students. 3. An analysis of the methods of ten obser\^ed overt social control situations. 4. The weakness of informal means of social control in American city life. 5. Newer means of social control. 6. Unfavorable consequences of excessive social controi. 7. Social control in totalitarian states. 8. The future of social control in the United States. 9. Wartime rationing as a form of social control. 10. Social control of the atomic bomb and similar weapons of war. BIBUOGRAPHY Books Morroe Berger, Theodore Abel, and Charl'es H. Page, eds., Social Control and hidi- vidua! Freedom in Modem Society (New York: D. Van Nostrand Co., 1954). Essays by the students of Robert M. Maciver. L. L. Bernard, Social Control in Its Sociological Aspects (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1939). A keen analysis of social control. John Maurice Clar, Social Control of Business (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1939). The relation of social control to economic life. Charles H. Cooley, Human Nature and the Social Order (New York: Charles Scribner^s Sons, 1902). A classic study of the influence of social pressures upon the personality of the individual. Leonard W, Doob, The Plans of Men (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1940). How the hopes and plans affect social control. Georges Gurvitch, “Social Control,” Chapter X, pp. 267-296, in G. Giirvitch and A. E. Moore, eds., Twentieth Century Sociology (New York: Philosophical Library, 1945) . An excellent survey of the theoretical aspects of this field. [i] The Nature of Social Control 15 Rudolf Heberie, Social Moveinents (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1951). A valuable evaluation of the attractiveness and means used by social movements of the modern times. Paul H. hmdis. Social Control: Social Organization and Disorganization in Process ' ■ (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1939). A textbook dealing with the working of the social institutions and other regulatory patterns. R. T. LaPiere, A Theory of Social Control (New York: McGraw’-Hiil Book Co., 1954). An effort to combine the theoretical and practical aspects. Halford E. Luccok, Connmnicating The Gospel (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1954). The theological aspects of religious social control. F. E._ Lnmley, Means of Social Control (New York: The Century Co., 1925). Still valuable as a description of many of the means of enforcing norms of conduct. Karl Mannheim, Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge (New York: Oxford Uni- versity Press, 1952). Noteworthy essays on the field known as the sociolojtv of knowledge. Margaret Mead, Sex and Tempera 7 ne? 2 t in Three Primitive Societies (New York: William Morrow and Co., 1935). A dramatic account of the organization of per- sonality under diverse social pressures. James R. Newman and Byron S. Miller, The Control of Atomic Entergy (New York: Whittlesey House, 1948). Problems of the legal and social control of atomic fission. * Roscoe Pounds, Social Co 7 itrol Through Law (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1942). The law and the courts as means of social control. Edward A. Ross, Social Control: A Survey of the P oimdatio 7 is of Order (New York: Americah Book Co., 1901). A pioneer work with an excellent description of the means of social control. William G. Sumner, Folkways (New York: Ginn and Co., 1906). The classic treat- ment of the folkways and mores as bases of social control. John Van Sickle, Planning for the South (Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, 1943). An inquiry into the economic social controls. Periodicals Read Bain, “Verbal Stereotypes and Social Control,” Sociology and Social Research, XXIII (May,^ 1939), pp. 431-446. Harold Benjamin, ed., “Education for Social Control,” Annals of The Afnerica^i Academy of Political and Social Science, CLXXXII (November, 1935), pp. 1-242. L. L. Bernard, “Methods of Generalization for Social Control,” Atneriean ' Sociological Review, V (June, 1940), pp. 340-350. E. S, Bogardus, “Rationing and Social Control,” Sociology and Social Research, xxvn (July, 1943), pp. 472-479. Lee M. Brooks, “Fifty Years Quest for Social Control,” Social Forces, XXIX (October, 1950), pp. 1-8. Robert Alan Dahl, ed., “The Impact of Atomic Energy,” The Annals of the American ' Academy of Political and Social Science, CCLXXXX (November, 1953). John Dewey, “Social Science' and Social Control,” New Republic, LXVII (July 29, 1931), pp. 276-277; “Education and Our Present Social Problems,” School and XXXVII (April 15, 1933), pp. 473-76. A. B. Hollingshead, “Concept of Social Control,” American Sociological RevieWyVl .(April,. 1941 ),pp. 217-224. , . ' G. L. Hunt, “Religious Ideology as a Means of Social Contxoip Sociology and Social XXXin (January, 1949), pp. 180-187. ' Harold Lasswell, “The Garrison State and Specialists in Violence,” The American. .Journal of Sociology., 'XCV, (January, 1941), pp. 455-467. E. M. Lemert, “The Folkways and Social Control,” American. Sociological Review, ,.VlI (June, 1942), pp. 394-399. , , Simon Marcson, “The Control ot Ethnic Eonmct, v vi^ci^cniuer, E. a'^McDonagh,' “Military Social Controls,” Sociology and Social Research, XXIX F. R “Sockfconttol°Md the Technicways,” Social Forces, XXII (December, E. Geo 4 ^Pa^V“Personal versus Social Control,” Jmmial of Educational Sociology, XIII (November, 1939), pp. 132-139- j c ■ i . 1 « A. J. Reiss, Tr., “Delinquency as the Failure of Personal and Social Controls, American Sociological Review, XVl (April, 1951)1 PP- 196-208. A. D. Ross, “Social Control of Philanthropy,” American Journal of Sociology, LVIII (March, 1933), PP- 4 Si- 6 o- ^ , , x c • r t tt >: E. A. Ross, “Social Control,” American Journal of Sociology, I, 513, 733; 11 , 90-433, 547, 823; III, 64, 236, 328, 649; V, 475, 604; VI, 29-550. E. A. Schuler, “V for Victory: A Study in Symbolic Social Control,” Journal of Socio-Psychic Processes in Social Control The study of the processes of social control gives rise to a very signifi- cant question: How does it happen that man is able to develop intricate social relationships with his fellows and a complicated social orderliness? The answer lies in an understanding of the nature of the human being and his capacity for responding to the objects, the ideas, and the other human beings that make up the social environment in which he lives. In other words, men learn in social experience how to maintain an orderly system of life. There are, then, two essential elements in the explanation: man s capacity for an orderly social life and the social experience which furnishes the matrix or mold in which that orderliness finds expression. These are not distinct elements but interweaving factors, each dependent upon the other. ^ Socio-Psychic Process Defined The psychic nature of man cannot be viewed, except theoreticaUv, apart from the social experience in which it functions. The human being does not simply respond but rather he responds to situations that con- front him, and the responses he makes are greatly influenced by his previous response-experiences. Endowed with the most complex nervous structure of all animals, man is capable of an enormous variety of re- sponses. Human social behavior cannot be described adequately in terms of either psychic processes alone or in terms of social experience alone but in term of the two functioning together more or less inseparably. Ihe analysis of social relationships and social orderliness may be ap- proached in terms of what are called socio-psychic processes, which* are those characteristics of thought and feeling -which arise in interactions among persons in organized group life, and -which are basic to all human social behamor. ^ Every social act of an individual involves his capacity to respond, conditioned by previous experiences. Although It is possible to distinguish a number of socio-psychic proc- esses that are involved in social control, the treatment that follows is concerned primarily with perception, symbolism, conceptual learning, the influence of social control on personality development, and the 18 Social Control [ii] emcrg’cticc of social consciousness. Since all social control is dependent upon communication, these processes are discussed with particular refer- ence to the communicative process. Coimnunication. The basic essential of social control and of all processes involving human social relationships is communication. Cominiinicatioii is the transmission of meaningful stimuli between individuals and provides the technique for sharing experiences and developing understandings. In its absence social life cannot exist since relationships among human beings and social orderliness cannot be achieved. Communication is fundamental to all social processes and is necessarily involved in every single act of social behavior.^ The Methods of Communication. The many and varied methods of com- munication include all the ways by which meaning is transferred from individual to individual. It is possible to distinguish two classes of techniques in the communicative process. The primary techniques are universal and embrace principally language and gesture; the secondary techniques facilitate and extend the process of communication, and include writing, printing, the means of transportation, telegraph, tele- phone, radio and motion pictures.^ These media of communication have the effect of vastly extending in space and of speeding up the transfer of meanings, thus enlarging the possible areas of contact for the individual The place of communication in social control may be demonstrated in several ways. In the first place, the human individual must become aware of the group objectives and values that serve as guides to social behavior. The nature and significance of the folk^vays, mores, and institutions must be learned. The established modes of behavior to which he must conform and the importance of conforming are made known to him by language and gesture and by various of the mediated methods of communication. In the second place, the means and techniques of social control are de- pendent upon communication. Social inducement to conformitv, either in the form of sympathetic guidance or of group pressure, obviously involves the communicative process. The possibility of penalties inflicted for departures from the group code is communicated to the individual and the knowledge of these penalties is often sufficient to bring about conformity. Punishment involves suffering, either physical or mental, loss of prestige, or inconvenience, and an awareness of this as a possible consequence of non-conformity is in itself a deterrent. This av- areness depends upon communication. ^Edward Sapir, “Communication,’^ Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, W, p. 78. Jh2d., pp. 78-80. For a more extended treatment, see Wiliiam Albi^, Public Opimon (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., lotjo), chapter III [ii] Socio-Psychic Processes in Social Control 19 Perception In the course of his normal experience the individual becomes aware daily of hundreds of objects distinct from himself. He sees trees, houses, people, and automobiles; he reads the newspaper, a letter from a friend, or a magazine; he hears people talking and engages in conversation with some of them; he listens to music over the radio or at a concert; and he handles numerous objects— pencils, clothes, books, and apples. The process of becoming aware of and responding to them is called percep- tion. This awareness is achieved through the senses with which the individual is endowed. But the sensory equipment alone does not explain the process of perceiving; the sense organs are merely the physical appa- ratus that receives impressions of .the objects which we encounter. Our interest is in seeking to understand what happens when perceiving takes place. When any one of the objects mentioned in the preceding paragraph— pencil, tree, apple— is encountered, the person reacts to it as a unit ^ and not to the particular items or related individual stimuli that are involved. The perception “pencil” or “tree” or “apple” is in each instance a total experience. In the case of the apple, it is possible to distinguish certain particular items in the perception such as its color, shape, odor, and the like. But in the perceptual experience “apple” these items are not reacted to as such. It is true, to be sure, that any one of these single qualities or characteristics may be focused upon, but in that case a very different perceptual experience takes place. The reaction is then to color or shape and not to the apple. This is, of course, not the same as the perception “apple.” The essential point to understand is that in perceiving the reaction is not to the individual stimuli but to the rela- tionships among them. In perception we react to “patterns” or “configurations,” that is, to totalities of individual items.-^ If a chord is struck on the piano, it is heard as a chord and not as the individual tones that compose it. The tones compose the chord, to be sure, but the reaction is to the whole pattern and not to the particular items in it. When a series of notes are played in succession, we hear them not as individual notes but as music, that is, as a pattern. Writing is reacted to not as so many individual black marks on paper but as words. These may be arranged in innumerable patterns and convey many different meanings. The perceptual pattern is independent of its constituent parts. This fact may be illustrated by referring to what is known in music as “trans- been developed and elaborated in Gestalt Psycholoey. See Wilbam &em. General Psychology From the Personalistic Standpoint, translated by Howard D. Spoerl (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1038), chapter V ' ‘Stem, op. cit., p. 112. / 20 Social Control [ii] posability.” This means simply that the pattern may be transposed from one set of individual items to another without disturbing the pattern. In music the same melody may be played in any one of several different keys, each involving different tones. But the melody remains the same. When the tune of the “Star Spangled Banner” has been learned, it can be recognized easily regardless of the key or the instrument on which it is played. In the same manner, the same words, once they are learned, are recognized whether they are written with a black pencil on wdiite paper or written with white chalk on a blackboard. Several pertinent questions relating to perception naturally arise at this point. Do different persons react in the same manner to the same perceptual patterns.^ Does a person necessarily react in the same manner at different times to the same or similar patterns? Consideration of some of the factors that enter into perceptual experience will throw’ some light on these questions. Obviously reactions to similar patterns ^•ary with different persons and with the same person at different times. Whether a given stimulus will be reacted to in one or another way depends upon the past experience of the person and the habits of perceiving he has formed, the preoccupation or mental set at the time he has the perceptual experience, and the setting or context in which the stimulus occurs. We may note, then, three significant influences on perceptual experiences: habit, mental set, and context.® Obviously, these influences are developed in social experience. Habit. The way a person perceives depends on his previous experience and the habits of perception he has formed. Persons tend to react in the manner to which they have become accustomed. The experienced driver of an automobile sees before him at an intersection a red traffic light. He responds by bringing his car to a stop and refrains from starting again until the red light goes off and a green one comes on. There is nothing about the color red that necessarily denotes danger and there is nothing in the nature of the individual or in his visual sense that makes him respond to a red light in a particular manner. Why, then, does he respond in this manner? The answer lies in his previous experience; he has formed the habit of reacting in this way. Another person, unfamiliar with traffic signals, would most probably not respond in this fashion at all. The trained scientist in a laboratory reacts to an experiment in a manner veiy different from the layman who has no knowledge of labora- tory techniques and the subject matter of the science. An expert teleg- rapher’s re sponse to the cUcking of the telegraph instrument is ve^ “Each of these has been tested experimentally. For reports of some of these ex- periments and for a more extended treatment of these TpK r? i • ii Fundmals of Gejieral Psychology (Boston: Houghton Miffli/ Co., pm [n] Socio-Psychic Processes in Social Control 21 different from that of the casual bystander who has had no experience with telegraphy. Examples of habits in perceptual response are numerous. We are all familiar with the many different reactions that are made to words, musical notes, signs, and signals to which we have learned to respond in certain ways. Mental Set. A person’s mind plays an important part in the way one responds to objects, sounds, and persons. The manner in which people react depends to a considerable extent on the way they are prepared to react at a particular moment. A simple remark that might be passed as a mere pleasantry at one time is reacted to as an insult at another time. A person reading a very exciting mystery story late at night is likely to be disturbed by sounds in and around his house that would ordinarily not disturb him in the least. Context. The context in which a stimulus-pattern occurs influences the response that is made to the pattern. The driver of an automobile does not stop his car at any red light. He distinguishes a red traffic light from a red light in a residence window at Christmas time or a red light in a store sign. The difference is not in the light but in the setting in which it appears. We are aware of how words and phrases differ greatly in terms of their contexts. They can convey totally different meanings when used in different relations to other words or under different circumstances. Symbolism Communication among human beings is carried on by means of sym- bols. Words, gestures, signs, and objects of various kinds are employed by human beings to convey meanings to each other. A symbol is some- thing that is associated with or stands for something else; it is a substitute for another object, response or situation.® Reaction to symbols depends upon a recognition of their relationship to or association with the thing for which they stand. Symbols may be and usually are quite unlike the things for which they stand. W’ords as symbols are usually very different from the objects and situations they designate. The word “apple,” whether written or spoken, bears no resemblance to the fruit. At the same time the word can arouse certain responses similar to those elicited by the sight of an apple. Every culture includes a great variety of symbols by means of which thoughts, ideas, and images are transmitted to the persons sharing that culture. Symbols as cultural elements have to be learned. They are not inborn but are acquired only in social experience. They have evolved in ®Dashieli, p. 461. 22' ■ Social Control [ii] culture essentially because of their economy and coiw eiiience in human group living. Their use increases enormously the number of environ- mental influences which can elicit a git^en response; it would be very inconvenient if the idea of an apple or a factory could be conveyed only by displaying these objects. Symbols also are a simple means of repre- senting complex and sometimes abstract reality ^ that could not otherwise be communicated without a much greater expenditure of time and effort. Symbols are a valuable means of preserving the experiences of the past. They afford us contacts with the men and events of years gone by. There are many group symbols that play an important part in the life of every society. Flags, mottoes, songs, stames and slogans are symbols of this sort. Many such symbols are associated with experiences through which the group as a whole has passed. They are held in reverence and defended emotionally. These symbols serve to arouse group spirit and loyalty and to remind the group members of their obligations. The significance of symbolism in social control is obvious. Much of the control in human society is achieved symbolically. The modes of behavior to which conformity is expected are made known to the indi- vidual by means of symbols, principally by language. Group symbols are employed constantly to inspire conformity by serving to recall group sacrifices and achievements in the past as well as to present group ideals and standards. There is nothing inherent in the symbol itself that induces conformity; the symbol is employed in social control only as a device for transmitting meaning. Conceptual Learning A significant part of every culture is a body of concepts or generaliza- tions. A concept designates certain common properties of objects and situations that have a meaning independent of their immediate setting.^ Fruit, for instance, is a concept that indicates certain properties or char- acteristics common to a great number of very different kinds of objects. The concept covers properties possessed by apples, oranges, bananas and grapes. These common properties have a meaning quite apart from the specific objects or kinds of objects with which they are connected. Each of the specific kinds of fruit falls into this category because of the ele- ments common to all of them. Origins of Concepts, All concepts originate empirically. Repeated expe- ' riences with various objects and situations may lead to the recognition of common c haracteristics possessed by certain of them. The process ’Albig, op. 1938)! p™ k 8 ff Houghton Mifflin Co., [n] Socio-Psychic Processes in Social Control 23 .whereby these characteristics are differentiated from objects and situa- tions is known as abstracting,^ A concept is, of course, an abstraction and has a meaning of its own. Concept formation is illustrated by Hull in an interesting account of how a child may arrive at the concept “dog.’’ A young child finds himself in a number of somewhat different situations, to which he reacts by approach, and hears each situation called “Dog.” The specific situations are separated from each other in time by an indeterminate period during which other absorbing situations are con- fronted. In this way the child is not able to anticipate the “dog” expe- riences. With each situation called “dog” he is faced with the problem of how to react. In time the child has a “meaning” for the word dog. This meaning is found to involve the characteristics more or less common to all dogs but which are not common to other animals or objects in his experiences. He has abstracted from the situations involving dogs those properties that are common to all of the situations but not to the other situations to which he has reacted.^^ In a well-controlled experiment with adults, Hull used a number of complicated Chinese characters which were shown one at a time to each subject participating in the experiment. The characters were arranged in twelve separate series. Each of the characters in a series, although very different from the others, contained an element common to all in that series. As each character was displayed, a word corresponding to the series to which the character belonged was pronounced and the subject repeated the word. The problem confronting the subject in the experi- ment was to leam that all of the characters having a common element are designated by a given term.^^ The problem was obviously one of abstracting the common element in the different situations presented. Other experiments with the process have been made. Verbal Symbols, Concepts are usually expressed in verbal symbols, but they are not always or necessarily verbalized. We are so accustomed to expressing concepts in words that we find it difficult to realize that responses on a conceptual basis can be made without being able to report the generalization underlying the response. Experiments have indicated that certain animals below man may learn to respond on a conceptual basis althougli they are incapable of verbalization. Other experiments with both children and adults have demonstrated the same possibility in _ op, 349. Arnold L. Geseil, How a Baby Grows (New York- toper and Brothers, 1945) is a valuable coUection of stills from the Yale films of development, a seven years’ research project on the growing baby. “C. L. Hull, “Quantitative Aspects of the Evolution of Concepts,” Pjvc/jo/oo-ic-a/ \ionographs (1920), pp. 5-6. Quoted in Munn, op. cit., pp. 349-350. * Hull, op. cit. For a concise description of this experiment, see Dash'iel!, op. cit. 'P* 55<5“558. ■ ’ ; [ii] Socio-Psychic Processes in Social Control 25 Personality and Social Control Personality represents the sum-total of adjustments of the individual to the social and cultural order in which he lives and of which he is a part. It is not inborn but is achieved in social experience. Its development depends quite obviously upon communication whereby the cultural attainments of the group are transmitted to the individual w'ho comes at birth into a cultural setting that is already existent. Through contacts tvith his fellows he learns the patterns of social life, acquires the culture )f the group, and achieves an adjustment to the requirements of the social )rder. Culture provides the framework of personality development. The otality of social traits displayed by the individual personality reflects he previous social and cultural experiences of the person. The various lements of culture are reacted to by the individual and these reactions ifluence the course of his development. In every culture there may be istinguished two general classes of elements: material and non-material, laterial culture includes inventions, machines, tools, weapons, clothing, tid all the other material objects. Non-material culture includes lan- uage, beliefs, codes of conduct and the like. Personality development ivolves reactions and adjustments to both aspects. ersonality Adjustment. For the most part personality adjustment is lade to the culture of a particular society. Outside of this general cul- iral order the individual may find himself more or less bewildered and mfused, that is, when he is confronted with a strange culture to which ! has not made adjustment. A person reared in America, if suddenly 1 msported to the society of a primitive African tribe, would not know 1 >w to act or what to expect of others. The development and wide- s read use of mediated methods of communication, however, have vastly i tended the range of contact so that cultural barriers, while still very i portant, are becoming less significant socially than they have been. Social control does make for social stability in human society, but it a o serves the functions of orienting the individual to the social order a 1 of guiding him in the development of meaningful social relationships V ch his fellows. In this way social control is of great significance to the h man individual in the “development of an integrated socially effective P "sonality.” ‘Paul H. Landis, Social Control: Social Organization and Disorganization in P cess (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1939), p. 32. Ralph Lmton, The C tural Background of Fersonalny (New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1945), is a vj able analysis of the interrelations of culture, society and the individual. Social Control Social Consciousness The emergence of social consciousness is a significant aspect of the ■ process of social control as well as of personality development Social consciousness is an awareness on the part of the person of the attitudes of others toward him and toward various kinds of behavior* It involves a recognition of the fact that others are reacting to the same ob| acts and' situations and that there are certain similarities or differences between their reactions and his own. Social consciousness includes not only an awareness of the reactions of others toward one’s actions but also imagery of the probable reactions of others toward certain forms of behavior.^^ The Process of Interstimulation, The development of social conscious- ness results from the reactions on the part of the individual to the responses made by other persons to his actions. Flis actions operate as a stimulus to responses from other individuals, and their responses in turn stimulate further action on his part.^® The process is one of interstimu- lation in which the mutual responses of individuals take on social meaning. As a result of the emergence of social consciousness, the individual becomes aware of his relative position in the social group. He feels that he has a certain prestige, honor, or place of dignity. In short, he regards himself as having status. This consciousness of status operates as a pow- erful element in social control. The individual tends to conform to the established modes of behavior and to avoid those actions wdiicli incur group displeasure or disapproval This does not mean that he does not subscribe in thought and sentiment to the codes prevailing in the group; He may believe wholeheartedly in the code, but this belief is a product of social experience and participation in group life. There are usually in every group, however, individuals who because of limitations of heredi- tary capacity or faulty socialization do not understand the code or do not respect it and violate it. Consciousness of Kind. Another aspect or phase of social consciousness that influences the process of social control is what Giddings designated as the consciousness of kind.” This refers to “a state of consciousness in wbch any being, whether low or high in the scale of life, recognizes another con scious being as of like kind with itself.” ” Within the larger D Tif Tp Psychology (Boston: Houghton JVIifffin Co., 1924), Fumbk uliity PsychoTolZlBuMin^'tirS'' 7 'Zra^^ of Meaning,” chology (New York: McGrlSyol'bo^,^^^;) PP ^ 1896) P^’sicipks of Sociology (nFw York: The Macmillan Co., m ''O,- rfi I [ll] Socio-Psychic Processes in Social Control 27 groups to which the, individual belongs are usually a number of smaller groupings of persons. The individual is identified with some of these groups and not with the others. Membership in these smaller groups is based on certain similarities of the members within the group which distinguish them from others on the outside. These similarities and differ- ences may be on the basis of kinship, beliefs, interests, skills, knowledge, training or previous experience, or other factors that indicate similarities and differences in society. Classes of groups characterized by a consciousness of kind include family, occupational, economic, ■ religious, intellectual, and others. Mem- bers of specific groups in each of these classes recognize their similarities to each other and their differences from the members of other groups. Each of the specific groups subscribes to certain modes of behavior and exerts pressure upon its members to conform. The consciousness of kind obviously serves not only as a factor in group formation and integration but also as an element in social control and personality development. Summary The development of relations within groups and of social orderliness is explained in the processes of perception which involves habit forma- tion, mental set, and the context within which experiences occur for the individual; symbolism and the communicative process; and conceptual earning. The development of personality, a product of social experience, is involved, and of particular importance from the standpoint of social control is the emergence of social consciousness, with its concomitant ‘consciousness of kind.’^ These are the principal psycho-social factors vhich make possible the control of the individual member by his group ind by others, and his development into mature social membership. QUESTIONS 1 . ' What do human beings respond to? 2. How can human social behavior best be explained? 3. , Define communication. ■ 4» What are the media of communication and what are their effects on social ilationships? 5. How is the place of communication in social control demonstrated? 6. What happens when perceiving takes place? 7. What do we react to in perception? S, Do different persons react in the same manner to the same perceptual patterns? 9. Will an individual react in the same manner at different times to the same or nilar .patterns?, ' ' 10. What are the significant influences on perceptual experiences? 11. What is habit and what are some examples of perceptual habits? 12. By what means are ideas transmitted to the people of a particular culture? 28 Social Control 13. How are symbols acquired? 14. How do concepts originate? 15. Explain the vicarious acquisition of concepts. 16. Define the process of interstimulatioii. 17. What is consciousness of kind? SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR TERM PAPERS AND FURTHER RESEARCH 1. The philosophy of individualism and social control. 2. The primary techniques of communication. 3. The role of mental set in perceiving. 4. Acquisition of symbols. 5. The empirical basis of conceptual learning. 6. Consciousness of kind in occupational groups. 7. The process of interstimulation. BIBLIOGRAPHY Books Alfred Adler, Practice and Theory of Individual Psychology (New York: Harcourt Brace and Co., 1924). An introduction to Adler’s theories of psycholoo'v. ’ Albig, PaZ-fo (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1939), chapters lll-Iy. An interesting and well illustrated treatment of communication and the psychological processes involved in public opinion. Janies H. S. Bossard, The Sociology of Child Development (New York: Harper and Brothers, rev. ed. 1954). A pioneer work in this field. Noman Cameron, Tfe Psychology of Behavior Disorders, A Biosocial Interpretation (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1947). A study of psychological disorders from the biosocial viewpoint. ^ / a Charles Horton Cooky, Social Organization (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909}, chapters I-III, VI-X. Social consciousness and its relation to primarv ffioup experience; communication and its relation to human nature and individualim Albert Deutch, The Mentally III in America (New York: Columbia University Press, A introduction to the “abnormal area” of personality. Arnold L. Gessel, Ho>w a Baby Grows (Now York: Harper and Brothers, 1943). An authoritative study of the growth of the individual. ' Personality and Psychotherapy (New York: ^utairr'^^^ analysis in terms of learning, thinking, and ’^“^am. Mental Disorders in Urban Areas (Chicago: “ ^‘^“l^g^al study of schizophrenia and other “Jo / 4 do/erce 72 t Character and Personality (New York: A p t 5 m "^9^9) • An able introduction to this field. Wdey and Sons, 1949). On Clyde formation of the personality ^ P^^onality (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Ralnh Linton 0 ° *®atenal on personality in nature, society, and culture. UnivSpr^U Man in the_ World Crisis (New York: Columbia Dolop’v Specialists in the various branches of anthro- to s£’hj£jl. r problems in an effort to synthesize the knowledge of sciences that deal with huikn beings. See also [ii] Socio-Psychic Processes in Social Control 29 Linton’s The Cultural Background of Personality (New York; Appleton-Centory- Crofts, 1945). Fred A4cKinney, The Psychology of Personal Adjustment (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1949). An enjoyable combination of scholarship and popularization. Gardiner Mujyhy, Personality (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1947). An excel- ' lent biosocial study of the personality. W. H. Mikesell, ed., Modern Abnormal Psychology (New York: Philosophical Library, 1950). A useful symposium. Edward Sapir, “Communication,” Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences^ VI. IV, pp. 78-80. A concise statement of the nature of communication and its social signifi- cance. Periodicals Franz Alexander, “Psychoanalysis and Social Disorganization,” American Journal of Sociology y XLII (May, 1937), pp. 781-813. Read Bain, “The Concept of Social Process,” Publication of the American Sociological Society, XXVI (August, 1932), pp. 10-18. ?». Baxter and B. Shirzaher, “Language Contributions to Democratic Social Behavior,” Elementary English Review, XXI (April, 121-125, 'L D. Benne and W. Stanley, “Reactions Against Antomism: Sumner’s Folkways,” Educational Forum, VII (November, 1942), pp. 51-56. lerbert Blumer, “Social Disorganization and Individual Disorganization,” Americmt Journal of Sociology, XLII (May, 1937), pp. 871-877. llaud C. Bowman, “American Culture and the Problem of Personal Organization,” Social Forces, XIX (May, 1941), pp. 483-491. I. C. Canady, “Contributions of Cultural Anthropology to the Study of Human Behavior,” School and Society, LXVIII (October 16, 1948). . Stuart Chapin, “Definition of Definitions of Concepts,” Social Forces, XVIII (December, 1939), pp. 153-160. .. H. Danhof, “The Accommodation and Integration of Conflicting Cultures in a Newly Established Communist,” American Journal of Sociology, XLVIIII (July, 1943), pp. 14-23. ingsley Davis, “Extreme Social Isolation of a Child,” Ibid,, XLV (January, 1940), PP-554-565- >seph H. Fichter, “Marginal Catholic,” Social Forces, XXXII (December, 1953 ), pp. 167-173. bn Gillin, “Personality in Preliterate Societies,” American Sociological Review, IV ^ (October^ 1939), pp. 681-702. , . G. Gough, “Sociological Theory of Psychopathy,” Atnerkan Journal of Sock LIII (March, 1948). ] N. House, “Social Relations and Social Interaction,” Ibid., XXXI (March, 1926) pp. 617-633. 1 iby J, R. Kennedy, “Single or Triple Melting Pot,” Ibid., XLVIIII (January, 1944), ^ PP- 331-339- I E. Lane, “Businessmen and Bureaucrats,” Social Forces, XXXII, 2 (December, ^953)rPP-T45‘i52. ■ 1 'mid Lippitt, “Field Theory and Experiment in Social Psychology: Autocratic and Democratic Group Atmospheres,” American Journal of Sociology, XLV (July ;i939),,pp.. 26-49. , ^ , I >nislaw Malinowski, “The Group and the Individual in Functional Analysis,” American Journal of Sociology, XLIV (May, 1939), pp. 938-964. I R. Mangos, “Personality Adjustment of Rural and Urban Children,” American Sociological Review, Xlll (October, 1948), pp. 566-575. J. W Foliey, “Teacher Community Approach to Educational Problems of Great Cities,” Rect>rd, LV (December, 1953), pp. 153-159. V Riley and S. H. Fiowerman, “Group Relations as a Variable in Communications KtsQ^chT Afnerican Sociological Review, XVI (April, 1951), pp. 174-180. Social Control [n] “”“■■■ (M.y, HAPTER in ocidl Control and the Conditioning ^Personality /Igainst the background of the chapters dealing with the natnre of L exercised, this chapter will be limited to the point at which social c itioUmpinges upon personality. Mention should be made at the out- £ of mo fallacies underlying popular thinking about control: that social o itrol may be entirely impersonal, and that it can be automSc Se r. A in the vagueness of the C( .trol IS a relationship between persons. In the last analysis it is the in angement of one personality upon another personali^ C^oms pi cesses, institutions of themselves effect no control. Th ^do not eS tl e observe customs, thos^ewhrpaSc- p. e in racial processes, those who belong to institutions exercise fo oiy ,0 them on the part of other persona. In this sense, ,h”peS,rfa h, measure of his capacity, experience and activit,-, is the society iid 0. Tol IS but a function of personality conditionincr TKnc u • • _ J IS no less important-namely^hat social control s”i— i L7 ~£s?t"“ per mal desires when these are in violation of social mA i of *ei 'Ee”' “<i°Ws SSol7:t te z :zz “ “v bi omij/s'crsS Social Control [ill] Personality is Acquired is born without a^^lixS''pSrnro?hfe''^M' analogy from animal behaLr attributed' m rh mechanisms of social adaptation which j’-uman infant inborn hate, 1 ■-tincta-We, fear, Freod, Jmg, Watsol AllpoJ Bmari and ni’ "‘"‘u *' '™* stincts are now crenerallv Hinnrrf.f- ^ so-called in- viscera! chances apoetitejand f ^daotic, undefined reflexes, fined as cle^Sc™ E ^nd jtfeVrf ^ vidual, they may function much like animal^etvS pTtirns°^ these ex“ LletLtilfS^ formity. There is no known liSTth^^^^ personality can acquire although thev are K 'll which the human of his interaction with the various arsons T framework mally the child first takes over the mtterm n^h'^T^-i Nor- group he acquires other patterns Cwha 'S^ added to, substituted for, or blended wirh <-k These may be In his later, wider relationships, in order to censure, he finds it expedient to aconire cn • conspicuousness or differ from those of either familv nr patterns which may grouping throughout life adds new or shXlf dife ^"cceeding facilities for group adjustment Th. patterns to his in to pcrsonalig,. He .equation and .dcponal systems o„ce\aned, h^"r is 2t ‘"■T""”' affair, nor is it mechanically determined The entirely haphazard ize and systematize its experience at cve Personality tends to organ- thus to determine the meaning and valufof iSi''^ development and bear upon it. This organized experienc! f ^^^er brought to selected for inclusion or what can be integited SudV^"^ Personality is Orderly and Consistent fefinitely known, nor is it known why exSelf't^ is not lation bring satisfaction while inconsismnt^ which fit the constel- mksomeness. While this tendency makes for ^"d also makes for conservatism and retards th,. “’^egration of personality, it ment. Th r'0'nc'4it*irT.,juU • . ^ ^ Speed of 'ner.<;n'n<3li+''«-r . < mafas foe faegT“ ment. Thit co^titm i, so™X*ut,ltd h Ill] Social Control and the Conditioning of Personality 33 )Ilowing the action patterns of his fellow beings, he can increase his itisfactions and reduce the risks and pains of living. This discovery takes him both suggestible and imitative. It is through society’s better iderstanding and use of these mechanisms that both social control and ; iciai progress have been facilitated. No evidence exists that there has I ;en an upton in the curve of fundamental mentality or that any im- j -ovement in the I.Q. of the average human animal has taken place ithin the past five millenniums. In the absence of practical eugenics 1 reditary nature has changed little. The upswing of civilization^eems t be due to the growth of vast social resources for redirecting the expan- s )n of human nature and substituting preferred activities for those c ndemned by experience. Thus, although man is not equipped by nature \ th patterns for pursuing^ existence in human society, he inherits an e uipment capable of acquiring an unlimited variety of them through e aerience and contact with many different groups. Progressive Conditioning Studies in conditioning of response in animals and human infants have _d nonstrated that it is an essential step in the learning process. Theoret- ic lly, conditioiimg can be distinguished from learning of which it is ui ally the accompaniment. When contrasting the processes, condition- in is usuaUy spoken of as extra-organic and learning as mainly intra- 01 amc. As the two are never found operating entirely independently oi each other, we use learning as the broader and more generic of the ty ) terms. At a very early age, through the association of taste and VI an the sight of the milk bottle wiU produce the same salivary reaction as ictual ingestion; a further association of the sound of a rinmng bell r„ ’’T' “y reaction pe ds upon a number of factors including the nervous reaction of the i imsm, the vividness of the substituted stimulus which identifies it wi 1 the original m the mind of the child, and the number of times the p .edure IS repeated. A part of the conditioning of no small imporm^e IS 1 e subtle change which takes place in the nerve routes, emotions and the ight patterns accompanying it. «nonons and n Jrocess of Learmng. This complex process, while not as yet com- P ' y_ understood, is of sufficient practical value to be used in the tra: imission of culture through the teaching-learning technioues From the ™wp„tat of the individLl. learning S the ol pS th^nh Wh h social control can be exercised. This process of Lming operatiL igh the Childs long infancy upon his deficate nervous system, make! oocial Lontrol it possible for him to acquire the culture of the groups with which he is rought into contact. He becomes accustomed to havina each eroun expect certain things of him and of expecting certain thin<Ts of it paring his activities with those of others, he Rets meanbgs fL T responses his actions produce in other members of the group^ Transmission of Culture Culture. Culture is a general term covering a group’s wavs technionpc lea^gly r chiirSe^T by th= grolp and Animals react to symbols as when the S oL'do^atSofhe^Xs' Xois; tf IE ftcilWes which niake for ’XTiaiSSion* society exercises conno!^vS'thetoSual*'’co’”'"**°°' '"''“b substance, texture taste smell ^ * Conceptions of size, shape, complex, can b^c^nv and with othSlErXs S““’ "“«bborhood, sdsool, church, individual, nndertakef to mould hifh^ht’ "^boough its relations with the prtcip.doninano*ty“XCXh“ “ * slightly different requirinents h? P new group with bewilderment. As n^ .Z- ^ experience a sense of Jive place to a mild anticipatory pleZrZS^^’ tends to « for .he she« j„y o^ diio'STanfjSXX "ill] Social Control and the Conditioning of Personality 35 istinctive controls which they possess. He has certain broad, general, Qcial capacities but no social patterns, so that above all other creatures, e needs and must have direction. That direction is provided in the many atterns available to him and forced upon him by his society. These roup patterns are present due to the fact that his ancestors have built 1 orderly and measurably consistent system of living. The group habits :e the result of the balancing of trial and error over a long period. They •e neither innate, instinctive, absolute, nor the result of revelation. The idividual is capable of embracing this orderly life but his only guide to is his experience. His experience comes primarily from his own limited nge of action, but he is theoretically capable of taking over all the ; ‘.quired patterns of the race. Race experience is passed down from ( le generation to another in the form of culture. Society has acquired { insiderable skill in initiating each new member into the complex- 1 T of its culture. If society can be said to have any object in c ntrolling the individual, it is to help him to assimilate the greatest j issible amount of the group’s culture in the shortest possible time. Society is a never-ending, ever-changing stream of tested individual 2 d group experiences. The individual, being what he is, fits into this s ‘earn, becomes part of it, conforms to it, and may slightly modify it. I ir this reason social control is comparatively easy of realization. I arning the Rules for Living in Society. Orderliness is a primary requi- s 2 of human society. There can be no game unless the players observe ti 5 rules. It cannot be said that the individual is orderly but that he has tl 5 capacity for the acquisition of orderliness. He must learn every rule. I ! is born with no pattern for effective social functioning. He must not o ly take over the content of his group’s culture, but he must also dis- c ;'er ways to acquire it. The group’s culture is orderly but it is not ei irely consistent, for its rules and practices often conflict. Not infre- q mtly the precepts it places before its young are quite inconsistent V :h its own behavior. No educator teaches his students to smoke but nr, tiy indulge in the practice; students may listen to what the teacher sa s, but imitate what he does. No child appropriates the Simon-pure ci ture which his group desires him to have and entirely eschews its U! lesirable phases. The child cannot or does not follow all the rules. E' ;n when he has reached adulthood, the group still finds it necessary to hs e a set of elaborate devices and restraints designed to curb his appe- tit 5, desires, perversities, his unwillingness to observe the rules and to sn yin line. This procedure, however, is subordinate in its effectiveness to he imposition of control through the early learning process. In view of his, it is obvious that the emphasis should be placed on the problem of milding personality out of raw and unformed human material through p.& Social Control 36 x^uiiLrOi, r ^ Wffl to ft™ ”'''T P°"'''=' «re“u« r" ™" ““ ^ “oStTS lin« of human a«tiet„ ia a^ “'" "P defensible. In all societies it has ^ not altogether tained by the vigilant and -^7 be, W Resistmce to Social Pressurp, r- • the stimuli at the point of their impin'emTn^^^^^^^ therefore, to consider same time, to consider what resistfnr-^ individual, and, at the result of the conditioning of his respons^L^^y within the individual as a three levels, depending upon his a-^e^and d i exercised on of them operate on the organic automatic primary the earliest behavior patterns teflexive levels and form havior of the child XreTpect^rh;?*^ “ ".^g%'ble. The bt mg, excretion, and cuddling fall inw^thk’ develops, the emphasis shife to an LterJld- Personality suggestion, imitation, inhibition and other f which ahty of the individual is mS^ d^hblm" Person- method of the control largely dictates the "rhe growing child’s acceptance /no l^^er ^ stage. A may dislike the taste of spinach bu/for socio-organic. He reception, or escape from censure freal reward ity, he requires the spinach-eating pattern nonconform- the control is on the higher and mL ! l ^ it. Later grou^accyted patterj. 'SrSSr »“ S ststance may be stubborn! him. Here the re- coTOroe in comparison with yourif “? “P*™ “f being terns, the matm-e person examines and i ” t:onfronted with new pat- fitness for inclusion in the constellation^of q'^^stions their ^ready a part of his personality. If the /ew ^ mtegrated patterns r hreatens the consistency of the natter, ^ assimilated ntay^bbotnlytesistdteso^cidpteLSt” >■= PWblem of iimiug the individudta tolSl'”'"." the mdthereactiotKofthemdiridualwonldbTTu I? *"= ™ and hetedities, even of idS ttiorj?'"'' *' “™->- heoome marked with the uneonseb* S’ differences sentiment, impnlses and othet A r III] Social Control and the Conditioning of Personality 37 itive experience.^ Nor is the acquisition of the group’s culture patterns mform. There is infinite opportunity for the play of finely shaded hoices so that, while the resulting constellation of factors in one indi- iduals experience, theoretically, might be identical with that of another, )r practical purposes, it never is. There is no intention to imply that all choices are mechanically deter- ined to the degree that they can be predicted. Some experiences are . irced upon the individual and brook no exercise of choice. Even here 1 eir effect upon one may differ markedly from that upon another. This . pends not only on the fund of experience already present, but upon ( ose long recognized, deep-seated hereditary or acquired biologkal -tors like the shape, size and proportions of the features of the head and I rw of the body; the functioning of the endocrines or glands of internal s 'le ion; sickness or Jsease; body chemistry; rapidity and quality of reaction; and a host of other physical qualities which are some- les lumped together under the term “constitutional factors.” Not only es this imponderably complex “constitution” determine the personality ^ .nd it also coloK • I* -j T ux zsiQ eiemcnts wi u ^vidual will deliberately select for inclusion in his personality. Identification of Individual and Group The choices of the individual are limited by the group’s culture. He j ^neither choose what is not present, nor is he allowed to elaborate a ‘ ^ the culture of which he is w Hh' ° f- tiot only his freedom, but his life, a fact w ch Galileo iscovered when he insisted that the sun stood stiU and the ea h moved. Particularly is this true on the first and second develop- ro ital levels. On the third level, the individual has been so accustomed S ? a his excursions beyond them are seldom more ml h P of certain phases of the existing culture. Inventions of amcal devices and the many discoveries in the field of science law au government are found to be projections based upon group Smrl idy accumulated. Even the person who “goes insane” does so in terms of IS own culture. For the most part, the individual in the his mowledge, activity and experience, becomes but the carrier of his Z S k" S^-P - but another parof htS culturally he has no identitv anart from it Ae t t • OW ‘seffMd other do not exist as mutuaUy exclusive socklfocts.’^^'y^e - ^ X lie s= Vo*. Ctefe Social Control fin] person and the society are part of one complex social whole. When per- sonality is stressed, the individual aspect of society is emphasized. When society is spoken of, we are emphasizing the social aspect. Self and society are twin born and independent ego is an illusion.® In this fact we have a clue to the explanation of the individual’s con- ception of himself, to his standards, conscience, stereotypes, and other attimdes, why it becomes necessary for him to rationalize, why mental conflicts arise, as well as to his feelings of satisfaction and well-beino-. All of the elements he appropriates from the culture of his group must be revived into the organized and consistent whole of his personality. This is not the way the growing child thinks of himself. He has been at pains to distinguish his body from the physical environment. He prob- ably suffered a series of shocks as he discovered that the toes on his feet belonged to him, were movable at his will and were apart from the rest ot the world; that he was quite separate from the crib which confined im or the mother who fed him. This early egocentric conception of himself IS graduafly revened with the realization that he is a part of the poup and that his mind is never fully divorced from the minds of others. It would appear, however, that such a realization is never complete or absolute. Even do^ro to old age, he clings to the shreds of his separate- ness and gets a thrill out of boasting that he is “not as other men are.” Self As a Reflection of Group Defmtion. Actually, one’s conception of tasdf IS the reflection in his consciousness of how others regid him, how they have defined him, what they conceive his role to be, as these facts are evidenced in the words and actions of all he contacts. Out of ^is multiple observations comes his general definition of his place, his role and worth m society. The combinations in self-definition arising from interaction with others are infinite, so that probably no two per- EL^drU''""r Always Ae n^th? to catch the infinitesimal changes acco^rdinT ?hk CO ^ self-definitfon accordingly. This consciousness of the reaction of others in his mlieu social prommence. Failing complete approval of the living he mav even M or fjom A. great dead or d.e?„born of the S’. CLZZ can escape the process as long as he is human. Thus we speak of man as highly suggestible and generaUy amenable to social contrS Men boast of individual codes, standards of conduct, and moral nrinci- ondetatood, these are not separate fr^n, th^gt,?; b“t -f?* a.„fa Scribe,* s»,, D. Appleton-Cenmry, 1945)’. ^^ckground of Personality (New York: I ii] Social Control and the Conditioning of Personality 39 r :her combinations of elements taken over from the culture and organ- i; :d into fairly consistent systems. They are usually defended as better t in other systems, similarly elaborated, from which they differ. Inci- c ntally, they satisfy the ego and bid for a change of social attitudes ^ lich will further individualize the mirrored self. I versify of Codes and Standards. Anomalously enough, the more com- f jx and dynamic the civilization, the greater the diversity of codes and p rsonal standards. In isolated societies restrictions and taboos are more i] perative than in advanced societies. There is less opportunity for s^ ection, for balancing fine lines of personal discrimination, and thus for ii lividual variation. It is this lack of variation in arrested society that n kes it conservative and gives it the appearance of drabness to a highly c ilized traveler. The Babemba in northern Rhodesia has one approved y in which to hunt, to fish, to cook, to plant his crop, and indeed to 0 ler his life. There is a simple set of tribal laws applying to the mur- d rer, the thief, as well as to the inheritor of rank, catde, or wives. I have Si n Chitamakulu, a Babemba chief, when visiting one of his outlying V lages, adjudicate a score of disputes to the complete satisfaction of his SI )jects within a period of two hours. It was not an arbitrary perform- a :e but the application of recognized regulations. Had similar cases b m tried in one of our courts, the procedure, because of the many laws a i precedents, would have taken many days, A less extreme comparison is to be found if one compares a simple rural with a complex urban Si dety. The rural child is seldom forbidden to play on the road in front o his house. The urban child is restricted in such activities by city o linances. In cosmopolitan society, there are a larger number of ele- n nts from which to draw and the controls, while no less insistent, make al )wance for greater variation. When aroused to avenge its standards aj dost one of its members, the punishments its metes out to the recalci- tj nts are frequently harsher than those in primitive society. Conscience ndividual codes, standards of conduct and moral principles are unified k 3 a pattern which becomes the criterion of one’s behavior, commonly n erred to as conscience. Conscience is so compulsive and insistent that it las long been thought of as a God-given standard for the ordering of O: j’s personal relations— a trustworthy, innate, categorical and authorita- ti 5 guide or criterion of individual conduct. In the light of the newer a iception of the self, however, it turns out to be the voice of one’s g: up. It comes, not from the soul of man, but from the selected judg- ir tits of his society as voiced by the mirrored self. There is and can be j 40 Social Control [in] no more umfomity of conscience than of the self. As there are a vast variety of gradations of standards in the group from which to choie and the choices are conditioned by thousaLs ?f factors in consttotS _nd experience the identity of two or more consciences would be hiahly J organization of selected social tabool rationalized as appropriate for determining one’s conduct. The iudae to ht defensible or appropriate hard 7 experience, than is the conscience of the S of standards for years have been made stahT^d -rf thought and action have become bilized. They have flowed along divergent grooves. The law-abiding group from which the judge sought recognition and approval differed front the gang winch applauded the criminal’s behavior. When the judge breaks over his code, i.e. his expectation of himself mirroring Phe Jon^ he “sQueals” L t*'’ experiences wLn tnuji ” p on his accomplice or forsakes his confederate in a “tight which he b^lotg!^ " ‘0 kiiJd nf w°uV° ^ conscience which will justify any kind of conduct which better fits him to his group. Indeed, hi may have necessary to cover the standards, beliefs or^prac- Uces of the various groups to which he belongs or to which he desirL to belong When these standards conflict it creates JuZpuy ^^f This “ «n th?SnJS.cy his mental organization his consciences tend to coalesce or he mZ so ve his problem by deliberately adopting standards of the group which small as a family or as large as a nation. One family has a corscienre wm Smitic'Amer'’’" ”*■ x»le were anti Semitic, Americans were not. Each oTnnr^ .41 • fc the conscience tvhich de«„.ines its cSfncf cLSenrSn'mi the self, IS made, not inherited or God-given. It is the recnlr ^ ^ of social molding. Nothing is more highly significant in the exerciPnof up'^rsodalPPk'eP^’'^'' interaction and is intimately tied cis:- hS^-pf; hf ;,s^fnits oSr as tgnotant or aberrant and thus not quite beioSgtag. Ab„™ alUIsrhe [ii] Social Control and the Conditioning of Personality 41 ] ust belong. Nothing can be a greater affront to personality than to be ^ iticized, despised or ridiculed by those whom he respects. Non- I mformity is always painful. Sometimes the fear of a ridicule which < )es not exist, but which he imagines, is enough to modify his thinking. 0 forestall it, he exchanges his thought with others, always with an eye 1 its modification in . general accordance with the group’s standards, j uch conviviality and gregariousness are traceable to the fear of ridicule. ^ eneral but not specific conformity in thinking becomes a habit which i rries with it the amenability to control.^ Attitudes Attitude is one of the most distinctive and indispensable concepts in j cial psychology. An individual’s attitudes are so significant in deter- 1 ining the effects of controls brought to bear upon him and so modified 1 these controls that no treatment would be complete without a brief ( scussion of them. That they are tempered by the deep bodily sets as ^ fil as the hereditary temperamental make-up of the individual is gen- i ally conceded. But they are much more than this. Allport defines £ itude as a '^mental and neural state of readiness, organized through i perience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the indi- ^ lual’s response to all objects and situations to which it is related.” ^ It 11 be noticed that the state of readiness w^hich determines one’s response i shaped by experience. It may result from deliberate thought, partici- I tion, recollection, observation, something which has been heard or read, c an incident which seemed at the time of its occurrence to have been t vial and unimportant. Any one or all of these elements, and in any c gree or combination, may contribute to the mental or neural state A lich will determine the individual’s response to the new stimulus pre- s ited. For this reason it is difficult or impossible for one completely to c plain the origins of his attitude on law, race, government, a belief, a f rsonality, or any other situation or object by w^hich he is confronted. / titudes Factored. The most which can be said is that any one or c mbination of four factors may enter into the attitude forming process. I :st, there may be an accretion of experience from responses of a similar t 3e. The individual may meet with many people who have similar ideas a mt government, in which case the responses tend to become integrated. S :ond, the attitude may be set by the observation that it differs from the a itudes of others, or by overt opposition. This gives conciseness and ^ The use of ridicule and similar devices in social control is further discussed in C ipter XIX of this book. ^See G. W. Allport, “Attitudes,” in Handbook of Social Psychology, edited by C Murchison. 4)2 Social Control [juj distinction to it. It may, in his eyes, place an individual in a pro or anti class. Third, 