NCJ Number
131660
Journal
Revija za Kriminialistiko in Kriminologijo Volume: 41 Issue: 2 Dated: (1990) Pages: 104-114
Date Published
1990
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This analysis of informal social control concludes that the failure of the government to control deviance makes informal means of control increasingly important in criminal policy and crime prevention.
Abstract
During the last decade, the issue of informal social control has raised many issues regarding the need to develop conformity which is linked with various forms of informalism, privatization, personalism, and panopticism. The crucial regulatory mechanisms involved in informal control are families; groups; neighborhoods; work; culture; ideology; religion; public opinion; mass media; morals; customs; tradition; and even the arts, sciences, medicine, and athletics. These mechanisms raise many ethical dilemmas relating to the many types of power and authority with which individuals are permanently confronted and the ways in which they can be simultaneously controlled, commanded, punished, and manipulated. These influences occur particularly through direct contacts or through participation in informal relationships whose emotional nature means that informal control is not always ethically neutral and just. 22 references (Author abstract modified)