Q.The chapter describes both formal and informal ways in which society exercises social control. Explain the difference between the two, with an example of each.

Beyond the basic question of what social control is for, sociology also distinguishes between the different mechanisms through which control is actually exercised. Formal social control operates through codified, systematic mechanisms and dedicated institutions — chiefly law and the state — and modern societies rely heavily on this kind of formal machinery to regulate behaviour on a large scale, precisely because large, impersonal societies cannot rely solely on the face-to-face pressure that works in smaller settings.

Informal social control, by contrast, is personal, unofficial and largely uncodified. It works through the ordinary texture of daily interaction — a smile, a frown, ridicule, criticism, laughter — delivered by agencies such as the family, religious community or kinship network, rather than by any official body. Informal control can be strikingly effective in day-to-day life precisely because it is delivered by people whose opinion we care about, but it is not always sufficient on its own to secure conformity, which is one reason formal mechanisms exist alongside it rather than replacing it.

Both formal and informal control work through sanctions: rewards or punishments deliberately used to reinforce socially expected behaviour. Sanctions can be positive, rewarding conformity, or negative, punishing departures from expected conduct — and a single society typically uses both kinds side by side, across both its formal and informal channels. …