Deviance and Social Control bculture at me?") erved to ; to him" able: observa- ered how ormula is or. There- borhood. interpret knife or a long with shooting vation of Jakland, ue. They ide. with kill- r were to n would wift, vio- k of a car bring the the more nce. Kill- er certain ght major ends, not a smart- in smart- ing? the com- available. o confor- ple to do w, and at comes up on. Sym- s. We are e our own ociation), ist group .ssociates ent direc- nterest in y become 207 Control Theory Do you ever feel the urge to do something that you know you shouldn't, something that would get you in trouble? Most of us fight temptations to break society's norms. We find that we have to stifle things inside us-urges, hostilities, raunchy desires of various sorts. And most of the time, we manage to keep ourselves out of trouble. The basic question that control theory tries to answer is, With the desire to deviate so com- mon, why don't we all just "bust loose"? THE THEORY Sociologist Walter Reckless (1973), who devel- oped control theory, stressed that we have two control systems that work against our motivations to deviate. Our inner controls include our internalized morality-conscience, religious princi- ples, ideas of right and wrong. Inner controls also include fears of punishment and the desire to be a "good" person (Hirschi 1969; Gottfredson 2011). Our outer controls consist of people-such as family, friends, and the police-who influence us not to deviate. As sociologist Travis Hirschi (1969) pointed out, the stronger our bonds are with society, the more effective our inner controls are. These bonds are based on attachments (our affection and respect for people who conform to mainstream norms), commitments (having a stake in society that you don't want to risk, such as your place in your family, being a college student, or having a job), involvements (participating in approved activi- ties), and beliefs (convictions that certain actions are wrong). This theory is really about self-control, said Hirschi. Where do we learn self-control? As you know, this happens during childhood, especially in the fam- ily when our parents supervise us and punish our deviant acts (Gottfredson 2011). Sometimes they use shame to keep us in line. You probably had that finger shaken at you. I certainly recall it aimed at me. Do you think that more use of shaming, discussed in the following Down-to-Earth Sociology, could help strengthen people's internal controls? The social control of deviance takes many forms. One of the most prominent is the actions of the police. control theory the idea that two control systems-inner controls and outer controls-work against our tendencies to deviate degradation ceremony a term coined by Harold Garfinkel to refer to a ritual whose goal is to remake someone's self by stripping away that individual's self-identity and stamping a new identity in its place Down-to-Earth Sociology Shaming: Making a Comeback? In The Scarlet Letter, a book