Chapter Five: Social Control
Discuss the effect of the consolidation of media outlets on ideological social control.
Feedback: In 1983 50 companies controlled the mainstream media; today only six companies control 90%. Concentration of
the media in so few hands have consequences: (1) It results in an ideological monopoly; that is, newspapers,
magazines, television, and radio offer little variety in perspective and editorial policy, ranging from centrist to
moderately conservative. (2) Because the media conglomerates are profit-seeking organizations, they emphasize
entertainment over news. Maximization of corporate profits takes precedence over all else.
Source ID: 3.0.2
Learning Objective: LO 5.1: Compare the various agents of ideological social control and their effectiveness in controlling behavior.
Topic/Concept: Agents of Direct Social Control
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q5.2.53
Discuss the Piven and Cloward theory that social welfare can be seen as an agent of direct social control.
Feedback: Piven and Cloward argue that (1) public assistance programs serve a social control function in times of mass
unemployment by defusing social unrest. During the Great Depression, for example, the government remained
aloof from the needs of the unemployed until there was a great surge of political disorder. The function of social
welfare, then, is to defuse social unrest through direct intervention of the government. Added proof for the Piven
and Cloward thesis is the contraction or even abolishment of public assistance programs when political stability
is restored. (2) Another function of welfare is more subtle (and fits more logically as an agent of ideological
social control). Even in good times some people live on welfare. By having a category of people on welfare who
live in poor conditions and are continually degraded, work is legitimized. Thus, the poor on welfare serve as an
object lesson, keeping even those who work for low wages relatively satisfied with their position.
Source ID: 3.0.3
Learning Objective: LO 5.2: Compare the various agents of direct social control and their effectiveness in controlling behavior.
Topic/Concept: Agents of Direct Social Control
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Apply What You Know
TB_Q5.2.54
Discuss the ways in which science and technology can be used as agents of social control for good or ill.
Feedback:(1) The labeling of mental illness works as a system of social control. For example, homosexuals were once
labeled mentally ill and thus unable to challenge social norms. Today, drugs, surgery, and psychotherapy are used
to try to change the “abnormal” to “normal.” Some sociologists say this application of the medical model to
individuals exhibiting certain behaviors personalizes the problem and deflects attention away from the social
sources for the behaviors. (2) The potential for eugenics will progress dramatically in the near future through
biotechnology. Gene therapy provides breakthroughs in medicine with positive consequences for those suffering
from genetic illnesses. But serious questions exists about when and how to interfere with genes. The logic of
genetic engineering, while positive in the sense of ridding future generations of hereditary diseases, is
frightening in its basic assumption that problems arise, not from the faults of society, but from the genes of
individuals in society.
Source ID: 3.0.4
Learning Objective: LO 5.2: Compare the various agents of direct social control and their effectiveness in controlling behavior.
Topic/Concept: Agents of Direct Social Control
Difficulty Level: Difficult
Skill Level: Analyze It
TB_Q5.2.55
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