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Preferred term

informal social control  

Definition

  • Informal social control includes the attempts of individuals and groups to achieve compliance to norms through positive and negative responses ranging from praise, ostracism, and avoidance to physical assault and death. Formal social control, on the other hand, refers to efforts to control behaviors by persons who are acting as agents of the state, for example, the police. [Source: Encyclopedia of Social Deviance; Informal Social Control]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/informal_social_control

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