Formal and Informal social control

Social controls are the techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behavior in any society. 

There are two types of social control; Informal and Formal social control. Informal social control is what people use to casually enforce norms. For example, your parents may have used spanking as a form of discipline or 

informal social control. Formal social control is used by people with authority such as judges, police officers, 

military officers, and school administrators. Mechanisms of formal and informal social control that are evident at 

Kean University are the Kean Police Department, Kean security, and the school administration.

Here at Kean University there are many forms of Formal social control but three in particular are their 

police, security, and school administration. Kean Police Department and Kean security are formal social control 

because if a person does not follow or abide by their laws and regulations, the will arrest and or fine the person for 

their wrong doings. The police departments laws are based off of the morals and norms of the given society. The 

Kean security is a use of formal social control because they have restrictions to certain areas and ticket cars who 

aren't parked in the right place. They control how the campus works on a daily basis. Without the campus police 

and security, the campus would become a hectic place. Kean's school administration is also a use of formal social 

control because they have rules, regulations, and requirements that students have to listen to in order to stay in the 

University. Some rules would be that students cannot cheat or plagiarize.

Formal and Informal social control are both extremely effective in controlling what the societies norms are. 

Informal social control in a way seems to be the control of a petty social norm such as the way people should 

dress, their sexual orientation, and the way they think. Informal social control is around everyone and it effects 

whole cultures at a time. Formal social controls such as police officers, judges, and military officers are vital in our 

society. Without any of the formal social controls the world would be full of crimes that in today's society is seen 

as illegal. For example, in our society today it is illegal to commit murder and our formal social control for that is 

to sentence them to life in prison. In other parts of the world, human sacrifice is their gender norm. 

Judges play one of the most important roles in our society today. They are the biggest form of formal 

social control, i believe, because they base their decisions off of the morals they were taught through out life and 

the laws our society has for the given charge. The military also plays a huge role because they have to keep the 

world under control. Even though every country is different in their own way and they maybe have different social 

norms, they find a way to come to a medium with each other to make the world go round.