CONFORMITY AND OBEDIENCE

Techniques for social control operate on both the group level and the societal level. People we think of as peers or equals influence us to act in particular ways; the same is true of people who hold authority over us or occupy awe-inspiring positions. Stanley Milgram (1975) made a useful distinction between these two important levels of social control. Milgram defined conformity as going along with peersindividuals of our own status, who have no special right to direct our behavior. By contrast, obedience is defined as compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure. Thus, a recruit entering military service will typically conform to the habits and language of other recruits and will obey the orders of superior officers. Students will conform to the behavior of their peers and will obey the requests of campus security officers.

INFORMAL AND FORMAL SOCIAL CONTROL

The sanctions used to encourage conformity and obedienceand to discourage violation of social normsare carried out through both informal and formal social control. As the term implies, people use informal social control casually to enforce norms. Examples include smiles, laughter, a raised eyebrow, and ridicule.

In the United States and many other cultures, adults often view spanking, slapping, or kicking children as a proper and necessary means of informal social control. Child development specialists counter that such corporal punishment is inappropriate because it teaches children to solve problems through violence. They warn that slapping and spanking can escalate into more serious forms of abuse. Yet, despite a 1998 policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics that corporal punishment is not effective and can indeed be harmful, 59 percent of pediatricians support the use of corporal punishment, at least in certain situations. Our culture widely accepts this form of informal social control (Chung et al. 2009).

What social norms were you expected to conform to when you became a student at your college or university? Are they similar to or different from the norms you grew up with?