Informal social control

From Free net encyclopedia

Informal social control is exercised by a society without explicitly stating these rules. This implied social control usually has more control over individual minds because they become ingrained in their personality. See custom and formal social control.

Informal social control often works by getting people to form associations between actions in conformity with social norms, and people with desirable or undesirable character traits. For instance, a television commercial might portray an attractive, confident man paying with his credit card, while a less appealing character discovers he doesn't have enough cash to pay for the items he's trying to buy. The commercial's message is not perfectly explicit, but it leaves the viewer with the impression that using a credit card is better than not using one.Template:Socio-stub