Social Order and Social Control

Crime Control and Social Policy

In this course, Dr Eveleigh Buck-Matthews (Birmingham City University) explores crime control and social policy. In the first lecture, we think about social order and social control, reviewing who holds power in society and some key theories which seek to explain the occurrence of criminal behaviour. In the second lecture, we think about crime control and the link between its methodologies and the issue of power. In the third lecture, we think about the origin of formal crime prevention in the form of the police force, as well as ten modern principles of crime prevention. Next, we think about the evolution of punishment through time and current criticisms of its use. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about social policy and crime, divided into left and right wing perspectives.

Social Order and Social Control

In this lecture, we think about social order and social control, focusing in particular on: (i) how the power held by institutions like the police force and smaller formations like family units can impact crime prevalence; (ii) John Locke’s social contract theory, which states that people give away some rights and responsibility to ‘state agents’ in return for the safety of operating in a community or group; (iii) the Arab Spring as an example of when a nation state has not upheld this social contract; (iv) the Black Lives Matter movement as an example of an eruption of social unrest in the face of a state being perceived to have broken a social contract with its citizens; (v) deviation from social norms, which should be considered in the context of the time, due to them being continually in flux; (vi) some key examples of changing social norms; (vii) Hirschi’s social bond theory, which states that young people develop bonds with their families, caregivers and peers that act to inhibit criminal behaviour; (viii) the four elements of social bond theory being attachment, belief, investment and involvement.