The concept of social control in the structuralist, functionalist, phenomenological and interactionist perspectives

Abstract

The article discusses the problem of social control by some of current sociological thought: structuralism, functionalism, phenomenology and interactionism, relating this concept to the notion of “social deviance”. It deals the “need” of these mechanisms, respectively, from the absence of social cohesion; in the guarantee of social harmony, in the internalization of social patterns; and the behaviors and social manipulations in the social relations. The analytical category of social control will be examined from the approach offered by the work “A History of Sociological Analysis” by Bottomore and Nisbet in the structuralist, functionalist and phenomenological prospects, while Interacionism will be treated from the theoretical perspective of Bourdieu.