Page 123 - Class Portfolio 2019

UNIT II
SOCIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION

today. In Europe, the royal families traditionally were a separate caste from the peasant farmers,
tradesmen, and other classes. Only rarely were "commoners" allowed to become members of
the royalty. In North America, one's race or ethnicity is often a caste identity. Most black, white,
or other Americans do not have the option of waking up tomorrow and deciding that they will be
a different race. Society generally will not allow them to do it. While race is greatly a socially
and culturally constructed reality rather than a biological one, it is still a reality just the same in
North America and in much of the rest of the world as well.

Social order and Social control

Social order is a fundamental concept in sociology that refers to the way in which the various
components of society—social structures and institutions, social relations, social interactions
and behavior, and cultural features such as norms, beliefs, and values—work together to
maintain the status quo.
Outside the field of sociology, people often use the term "social order" to refer to a state of
stability and consensus that exists in the absence of chaos and upheaval. Sociologists, however,
have a more complex understanding of the term. Within the field, it refers to the organization of
many interrelated parts of a society. Social order is present when individuals agree to a
shared social contract that states that certain rules and laws must be abided and certain
standards, values, and norms maintained.
Social order can be observed within national societies, geographical regions, institutions and
organizations, communities, formal and informal groups, and even at the scale of global society.
Within all of these, social order is most often hierarchical in nature; some people hold more
power than others in order to enforce the laws, rules, and norms necessary for the preservation
of social order.
Practices, behaviors, values, and beliefs that are counter to those of the social order are typically
framed as deviant and/or dangerous and are curtailed through the enforcement of laws, rules,
norms, and taboos.

Social control, within sociology, refers to the many ways in which our behavior, thoughts, and
appearance are regulated by the norms, rules, laws, and social structures of society. Social
control is a necessary component of social order, for society could not exist without it.
Overview of the Concept
Social control is achieved through a variety of means, including through social norms, rules,
laws, and social, economic, and institutional structures. In fact, there would be no society without
social control, because society cannot function without an agreed upon and enforced social
order that makes daily life and a complex division of labor possible. Without it, chaos and
confusion would reign.

The primary way through which social order is produced is through the ongoing, lifelong process
of socialization that each person experiences. Through this process, we are taught from birth
the norms, rules, and behavioral and interactional expectations that are common to our family,
peer groups, community, and greater society. Socialization teaches us how to think and behave
in accepted ways, and in doing so, effectively controls us our participation in society.
The physical organization of society is also a part of social control. For example, paved streets
and traffic signals control, at least in theory, the behavior of people when they drive vehicles.
Sidewalks and crosswalks control foot traffic, for the most part, and aisles in grocery stores

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