Lawmaking is a complicated, complex and comprehensive process which involves the locating, focusing and directing of social control. There are strong theories about the essence of social control. Some sociologists have even concluded that social control as a concept should be discarded totally because its power as an analytical tool was weakened through an unhealthy combination of overuse and under-explanation. As Chunn and Gavigan point out, it is not sufficient to use social control as an analytic tool when one begins with the approach that (1) either the meaning of the concept is too obvious to need definition or (2) the concept is undefinable but can be used without being defined.
For the purposes of this study, an attempt will be made to examine the dialectical relationship between legal power and social control using the Hudson's Bay Company's monolithic jurisdiction over a large part of North America. The period under study is from the Company's chartering in 1670 until 1821, when a new regulatory act was passed. An examination of the legal system which was operative in the late 17th and entire 18th century in Rupert's Land offers insight into the roots of the Canadian legal process. In spite of the corporate nature of the Company-run Rupert's Land, I believe that a close study of legal questions, cases and decisions that arose during the Company's first one hundred and fifty years will indicate that all the social control mechanisms were not in the Company's hands. Rather a synergy between the Company and the frontierspeople determined the nature of the laws.
To cope with the above-mentioned difficulties in using social control as an analytical tool, I plan to use the conceptual theme of social controls suggested by Russell Smandych. Smandych's approach returns analytical usefulness to the social control concept. He examines the layers, levels, nuances, and threads of social control that both define and confine behavior. He takes social control analysis a necessary extra step by recognizing that it is not an entirety in and of itself but that it is a collection of controls, each operating at a different level. And rather than using the controls found in a society as explanations of that society, Smandych recommends using the possibility of these controls as analytical devices for restudying and rethinking a society.
The Hudson's Bay Company was entitled to handle all law making, enforcement, and execution from 1670 until 1870. Because the Hudson's Bay Company was working with a tabula rasa (especially as it did not give consideration to aboriginal laws), judicially speaking, it offers a prime example for viewing the development of law from step one.
This chapter examines the socialization process that occurs to members of different groups of society which leads to social control or manipulation of members for the good or bad of society. Eitzen, Zinny & Smith discuss the major themes of social control and how they shape and enforce the conformity of others. The authors discuss how the pressures of social control either by law or society norms can cause great influence on members of society. However, the authors advise the reader that although people tend to conform to society influences, they do so not out of fright, but rather, because it is a choice they are willing to make. In other words members of society seem to prefer to go along with the majority because they prefer the predictability
Laws are structured and implemented to benefit the masses. Unfortunately this objective is not always achieved. The constitution of the states is considered the best work of law yet it is unable to save the life of a child. Clearly the problem of violence is turning more into a socio-cultural and psychological problem than a legal one. However laws still need to be implemented justly in order to preserve the freedom and rights of me...
The four essential elements of the social bond that connect people to society are: attachment, commitment, involvement, and beliefs (Hirschi, 1969). The foundation of control theory assumes the members of society believe in a set of shared norms. Social control theory believes a person’s decision to commit criminal acts is rationally determined after determining the risks involved in committing the act (Hirschi, 1969). In control theory, society’s insurance people will be law abiding lies in the belief people will not engage in deviant behavior because it [deviant behavior] endangers a person’s acquired goods, reputation, and prospects that a person does not want to risk losing (Hirschi,
The usual perception of law to most individuals is a world in which many factors and external beings control a fixed system and its failure to inhabit equality and justice. The understanding and meanings of law have different definitions on social relations which explains why the common thought in mind when asked about the law is in regards to a speeding ticket or encounters with the law enforcement. However, people perceive the law differently based on their everyday life and how it effects their life in the long-run. The way people understand and experience legal authority is shown by how they engage, avoid or resist the law and legal meanings. This is catorterized as the study of legal consciousness.
Laws are implemented to enforce civil proceedings in society, thereby enabling individuals to operate and function within a morally stable population. But there is a delicate and uncertain balance between doing so and restricting personal freedoms--for though individuals should not be wholly free to conduct themselves as they please (for fear of anarchy), neither should they be confined to a level by which they are unable to direct their life’s course and pursue personal betterment. When citizens feel this to be the case, they have the right to peacefully display their grievances with enacted law for the advocation of positive change in the society. For if a society is truly free, the government
Wicken asserts his argument by analyzing the genesis of perceptions of the 1752 treaty from the late eighteenth century up until the 1928 appeal of the King v. Gabriel Sylliboy. In 1926/7 Sylliboy had been arrested, tried, and convicted for catching muskrats out of season, camping on private property, and cutting wood without a permit (64). The interpretation of the 1752 treaty by Sylliboy and five Mi’kmaq men played an integral part to Sylliboys defense.
Thompson, John Herd, and Mark Paul Richard. "Canadian History in North American Context." In Canadian studies in the new millennium. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008. 37-64.
Social or bond control theory assumes that people, especially teenagers, will have delinquent acts when they are not controlled. In other words, whenever individual’s bond to society is weak, a person is likely to commit crimes. In the social control theory, there are four elements of the bond to conventional society that influence people’s behaviors, including attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief.
laws made by others in our society, and decide whether or not the laws we make
..., 2014). The social control theory was classified as positivists, process, microtheoretical, and consensus. The social control theory relied on specialized methodology of discovering crime and criminality for evidence. Such as self report surveys, official crime reports statistics or victimization data. When those other methodologies were used to produced evidence, the social control theory suffers (Williams &McShane, 2014). Social control theory contained pieces from differential association, social disorganization, and anomie theory which made it more attractive to several other criminologists (Williams &McShane, 2014). In general the social control theories were somewhat methodology bound (Williams &McShane, 2014). The social control theory was probably one of the theories that mostly matched the public conception of why people became criminals and more relatable.
Social control: An explanation of criminal behavior that focuses on control mechanisms, techniques and strategies for regulating human behavior, leading to conformity or obedience to society's rules and which posits that device results when social controls are weakened or break down so that individuals are not motivated to conform to them.
The question “why do only a few engage in criminal behavior” (Abadinsky 138), when people was trying to find a link or theory on criminal behavior and a connection to society. Travis Hirschi created the social control theory in 1969 to make a link to broken or weaken connections to society and criminal behavior. The social control theory includes internal and external restraints and the four bonds or elements of society.
Social control is one of the social process theories that assumes that all people have the potential to violate the law. Social control is our behavior, thoughts and appearances based off how we control the rules and laws of social structure. Social control is necessary for social order because society could not exist without it because so much confusion and chaos will happen.
Weber’s contribution to the sociology of law is indispensable. His theories about rationalization of law and the function of law have provided relevance to the subject matter of sociology of law. He related the development of modern rationalized law to economic and political factors. He explained the complexities of the modern law system and related rationalized law to both the working of a state and also a free market economy. Thus, he maintains that in a modern society, law takes up a central role and influences both economy and
Social control theory is Developed by Travis Hirschi; Social control theory is an individual’s basic beliefs, values, morals, commitment and relationship fosters a lawful environment. It goes by four elements which are Attachment- The internalization of norms, conscience, and super ego is determined by an individual’s attachment to others. Hirschi says this is the sociological counterpart to the superego (Hirschi 1969). Commitment- People obey rules for fear the consequences of breaking them. This is the counterpart to the ego (Hirschi 1969). Involvement- a person’s personal involvement in conventional or orthodox activity. Hirschi states that an individual involved heavily in conventional activity simply does not have time to engage in deviant behavior (Hirschi 1969). And lastly belief- a common value system within a culture. Belief plays a role in deviance in 2 ways. The criminal either a) disregards the beliefs he/she has been taught entirely, or b) rationalizes their deviant behavior so that they can engage in criminal activity and still believe that it is wrong. This subset of the social control theory involves the strain theory in that it demonstrates an individual’s belief in common goals and morals of society, and it shows a lack of means for achieving those goals which in turn encourages deviant behavior as a means of achieving those goals (Hirschi 1969). This system is being used in all school and has decriminalized many