Social order and social control | AQA A-Level Sociology

For Specification 7192

AQA A-Level Sociology | Free Revision Notes

Estimated study time: 60 to 70 minutes

Understanding how societies maintain stability and regulate behaviour is central to Social order and social control A-Level Sociology revision. AQA requires students to study crime, deviance, social order and social control, while connecting these ideas to socialisation, culture, identity, power and stratification. This lesson builds directly on definitions of crime and deviance [Crime and deviance] and introduces contrasting explanations of whether people conform mainly because they share society's norms and values or because behaviour is regulated through relationships of power and control.

Learning Objectives 🎯

By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:

• Define social order and social control.

• Distinguish between formal and informal social control.

• Explain how socialisation, norms, values and sanctions can encourage conformity.

• Explain how the criminal justice system can operate as a form of formal social control.

• Compare consensus and conflict explanations of social order.

• Evaluate sociological explanations of how social control operates.

Revision Notes 📚

Social order and social control A-Level Sociology revision

AQA identifies crime, deviance, social order and social control as part of the compulsory Crime and Deviance content. Students are expected to examine sociological explanations and connect the topic to the core themes of socialisation, culture and identity and social differentiation, power and stratification.

The central sociological problem is straightforward:

How is relatively predictable social life possible when individuals could behave in many different ways?

Sociologists use the concepts of social order and social control to explore this question.

What is social order?

Social order refers to the relative stability, organisation and predictability of social life.

Societies contain expectations about behaviour. People generally know, for example, that some behaviour is approved of while other behaviour may attract disapproval or formal punishment.

Social order therefore involves patterns of behaviour in which individuals usually conform sufficiently to social expectations for society to continue functioning.

It does not mean that everyone always agrees or conforms.

Crime and deviance exist alongside social order. In fact, sociologists disagree over whether deviance threatens social order, contributes to it, or reveals inequalities in the way order is maintained.

This connection between order and deviance becomes important when examining different sociological explanations of crime and deviance [Crime and deviance].

What is social control?

Social control refers to processes through which behaviour is regulated and conformity to social expectations is encouraged.

Social control is therefore one way in which social order may be maintained.

It can operate through:

• socialisation into norms and values;

• expectations about appropriate roles and behaviour;

• informal pressures to conform;

• formal rules and laws;

• criminal justice processes;

• punishment.

AQA examination material explicitly distinguishes informal social control, which may restrict people through role expectations, from formal social control, which can include the criminal justice system deciding how those who break laws should be punished.

Social order and social control are not the same thing

These two concepts are closely related but should not be used interchangeably.

Concept	Meaning	Key question
Social order	Relative stability and predictability in society	How is society kept relatively organised?
Social control	Processes that regulate behaviour and encourage conformity	How is people's behaviour regulated?

An effective examination answer should show the relationship:

social control → conformity and regulation → social order

However, different sociological perspectives disagree about whose order is being maintained and whose interests social control may serve.

Informal social control

Informal social control operates through social relationships, expectations and pressures rather than through formal legal punishment.

AQA's 2024 Paper 3 described informal social control in terms of people being restricted to their role expectations.

People learn expectations about appropriate behaviour through socialisation. Where these expectations are accepted, individuals may regulate their own behaviour because they have learned what their society or social group regards as normal or appropriate.

Informal social control can therefore encourage conformity without the direct involvement of the criminal justice system.

Role expectations

A role involves expectations about how a person occupying a particular social position should behave.

Social control can operate when individuals experience pressure to meet these expectations.

This is important because behaviour may be regulated before any formal law or punishment becomes relevant.

AQA has directly assessed this idea through questions about gender differences in offending. Its 2024 mark scheme accepted the argument that role expectations can restrict opportunities to offend.

You will examine this application in much more detail in gender differences in offending [Gender and crime].

Formal social control

Formal social control operates through officially established rules, laws and institutions.

In Crime and Deviance, the most important example is the criminal justice system.

Formal control may involve processes connected to:

• defining behaviour as criminal;

• detecting crime;

• dealing with offenders;

• punishment;

• rehabilitation;

• deterrence;

• protecting the public.

AQA mark schemes have recognised several possible functions of the criminal justice system, including deterring offending, rehabilitation, reinforcing shared values and controlling particular social groups.

These functions are explored more fully in the criminal justice system [The criminal justice system and other agencies].

Formal and informal social control compared

Informal social control	Formal social control
Operates through social expectations and relationships	Operates through officially established rules and institutions
May involve role expectations	Includes legal rules
Often encourages conformity before laws become relevant	Responds directly to legally defined behaviour
Closely connected to socialisation	Closely connected to the criminal justice system
Does not necessarily involve legal punishment	May involve formal punishment

The distinction is very useful in examinations because a question may ask specifically about social control, rather than crime control in general.

Socialisation and social control

The AQA specification requires Crime and Deviance to be connected to the core theme of socialisation, culture and identity.

Socialisation can contribute to social control because people learn:

• norms;

• values;

• appropriate behaviour;

• expectations attached to social roles.

If individuals internalise these expectations, conformity does not always require constant formal enforcement.

This raises an important sociological question:

Do people conform because they genuinely share society's norms and values, or because powerful individuals and institutions are able to control their behaviour?

This produces the distinction between consensus and conflict explanations.

The functionalist explanation of social order

Functionalism provides a consensus explanation of society.

Functionalist approaches emphasise the importance of shared norms and values in creating social stability.

AQA mark schemes identify concepts including:

• collective conscience;

• value consensus;

• social cohesion;

• socialisation;

• social control;

• conformity;

• boundary maintenance.

Value consensus

Value consensus refers to general agreement over society's important norms and values.

From a functionalist perspective, social order can be maintained because individuals are socialised into shared standards of behaviour.

This encourages conformity.

Social control is therefore not necessarily something imposed entirely from outside the individual. People may follow expectations because society's values have become part of how they understand acceptable behaviour.

Collective conscience

Durkheim used the concept of the collective conscience to describe the shared beliefs and moral attitudes that help bind members of society together.

Where common values are strongly established, individuals possess a shared understanding of appropriate and inappropriate behaviour.

This contributes to:

shared values → conformity → social cohesion → social order

Durkheim is identified in AQA's official mark schemes as a relevant sociologist when discussing social order and the functions of crime and punishment.

Boundary maintenance

Functionalists argue that responses to deviance can help clarify the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.

This is known as boundary maintenance.

When behaviour is publicly identified as wrong and sanctions follow, society's norms may be reaffirmed.

This helps individuals understand the boundaries of acceptable conduct.

Punishment can therefore be interpreted not simply as something done to an offender, but as a process that communicates wider social values.

AQA's 2025 mark scheme recognised boundary maintenance as a way crime can ultimately benefit society because punishing offenders can show what behaviour is unacceptable and reaffirm shared values.

This is developed further in the purposes of punishment [Punishment].

Punishment and social solidarity

Punishment provides a useful illustration of the functionalist view of social control.

AQA directly examined the relationship between punishment and social order in 2023.

The official mark scheme recognised the argument that punishment can:

• deter offending;

• express disapproval of unacceptable behaviour;

• reinforce value consensus;

• contribute to social order.

From this perspective, punishment helps maintain order because it strengthens awareness of society's moral boundaries.

It can also contribute to social solidarity, meaning a sense of social unity.

People reacting together against behaviour they regard as unacceptable may reaffirm their shared values.

Evaluating the functionalist explanation

The functionalist approach is useful because it explains why social order does not have to depend entirely on force.

If individuals have been successfully socialised into shared norms and values, much behaviour can be regulated through informal control and internalised expectations.

However, conflict sociologists challenge the assumption that society is based primarily on value consensus.

They ask:

• Are values genuinely shared by everyone?

• Who creates laws?

• Whose behaviour is most likely to be criminalised?

• Does social control benefit all groups equally?

• Could apparent social order reflect unequal power?

AQA's 2022 crime and deviance material explicitly contrasted the functionalist view with the argument that powerful groups create laws and criminalise the actions of less powerful groups.

This leads to a very different explanation.

Conflict explanations of social order

Conflict theories emphasise divisions and inequalities between social groups.

Rather than assuming that social order rests mainly on shared values, a conflict perspective asks whether order is maintained partly because powerful groups can regulate less powerful groups.

AQA's 2023 Paper 3 presented this contrast directly. Its item suggested that:

• one view sees social order as maintained through social solidarity;

• another sees the ruling class as maintaining order by controlling the working class.

This provides a clear contrast between consensus and conflict explanations.

Social control and class power

From a Marxist perspective, social order can be understood in relation to class inequality.

The ruling class has greater economic and social power than the working class.

A conflict approach can therefore examine whether:

• law creation reflects unequal power;

• some behaviour is more likely to become criminalised than other behaviour;

• agencies of formal social control operate selectively;

• punishment helps regulate subordinate groups.

AQA's mark schemes have credited the idea that the criminal justice system may operate to control the working class and that selective law creation and enforcement can contribute to class differences in recorded crime.

The relationship between class power and offending is developed further in social class differences in crime [Social class and crime].

Punishment from a conflict perspective

The same institution can be interpreted very differently by different sociological perspectives.

Consider punishment.

Functionalist interpretation

Punishment can:

• reinforce shared values;

• mark the boundaries of acceptable behaviour;

• contribute to social solidarity;

• maintain order.

Conflict interpretation

Punishment may:

• regulate less powerful groups;

• reinforce existing inequalities;

• protect a social order that benefits more powerful groups.

The 2023 AQA mark scheme explicitly recognised the argument that the ruling class might use punishment, including incapacitation, to control the working class.

This is a valuable examination skill: do not merely describe a form of social control, consider how different perspectives interpret its purpose.

Consensus and conflict explanations compared

	Consensus explanation	Conflict explanation
Basis of social order	Shared norms and values	Unequal power and control
View of society	Emphasises agreement and integration	Emphasises divisions and inequality
Socialisation	Creates commitment to shared values	May reproduce existing social arrangements
Formal social control	Helps protect shared rules	May operate in the interests of powerful groups
Punishment	Reinforces values and solidarity	May regulate subordinate groups
Key question	How does society create agreement?	Whose interests does social control serve?

A strong evaluative answer should not simply write one paragraph on functionalism followed by one paragraph on Marxism.

Instead, make the disagreement explicit:

Functionalists interpret conformity as evidence of value consensus, whereas conflict approaches question whether apparent agreement may partly result from unequal power and the ability of dominant groups to enforce rules.

That is evaluation, rather than simple juxtaposition.

Social control and gender

Social control does not necessarily affect every social group in the same way.

This became the focus of AQA Paper 3 in 2024, when students were asked to analyse how social control might explain gender differences in patterns of crime. The item distinguished between informal control through role expectations and formal control through the criminal justice system.

The mark scheme recognised explanations including:

• role expectations restricting opportunities to offend;

• differences in treatment by the criminal justice system.

This demonstrates a broader point: sociologists can examine who experiences social control, how it operates and whether its effects differ between social groups.

These questions are developed in gender differences in crime [Gender and crime].

Social control and the criminal justice system

The criminal justice system is one of the most important forms of formal social control within Crime and Deviance.

AQA examination material recognises a number of possible functions.

Function	How it may contribute to social control
Deterrence	The possibility of punishment may discourage offending.
Rehabilitation	Attempts may be made to change offending behaviour.
Reinforcing shared values	Criminal justice responses identify behaviour society formally regards as unacceptable.
Protecting the public	Offenders may be prevented from committing further offences against the wider public.
Social regulation	Conflict approaches may interpret the system as controlling less powerful groups.

These are not necessarily mutually exclusive explanations.

Different sociological perspectives may interpret the same criminal justice process in different ways.

The details of institutional responses are covered later in the criminal justice system and other agencies [The criminal justice system and other agencies].

Social control does not always produce conformity

An important evaluative point is that the existence of social control does not prove that it is always effective.

People may still offend despite:

• socialisation;

• informal pressures;

• criminal laws;

• surveillance;

• the threat of punishment.

AQA has repeatedly assessed limitations of particular control strategies. For example, mark schemes recognise that punishment may fail to deter some offenders and that the effects of surveillance may be resisted or crime may be displaced.

This distinction becomes especially important when you study crime control strategies [Crime control], surveillance [Surveillance] and crime prevention later in the course.

For this lesson, remember:

Social control describes attempts and processes that regulate behaviour. It does not mean those processes always succeed.

Social order, power and stratification

AQA requires students to connect Crime and Deviance to social differentiation, power and stratification.

This means a full sociological understanding of social control should go beyond asking whether rules exist.

You should also consider:

• who creates rules;

• who is expected to conform to them;

• who enforces them;

• whether control is applied equally;

• whose interests may be served by the resulting social order.

This is why social order is a theoretical debate rather than simply a description of how the police or courts work.

Applying social order and social control in an examination

AQA can assess these concepts directly or embed them within questions about another aspect of Crime and Deviance.

If the question asks about social order

Keep linking your argument back to stability, conformity, solidarity or control.

Do not simply write everything you know about punishment or crime.

If the question asks about social control

Identify how behaviour is being regulated.

Ask whether the question requires:

• formal control;

• informal control;

• both;

• the effect on a particular social group.

If an item contrasts two views

AQA items may provide a consensus hook and a conflict hook.

For example:

shared values/social solidarity → functionalist explanation

power/ruling-class control → conflict explanation

Develop each hook rather than simply repeating the words from the item.

For evaluation

Compare explanations directly.

Useful questions include:

• Does this explanation assume too much consensus?

• Does it adequately consider power?

• Is social control equally applied?

• Does regulation actually produce conformity?

• Can another perspective explain the same process differently?

These are ways of keeping evaluation focused on the question rather than attaching a memorised criticism to the end of a paragraph.

Key Words 🔑

Key word	Student-friendly definition	How it may be used in an exam
Social order	The relative stability, organisation and predictability of social life.	Use when explaining how societies maintain sufficient conformity and stability.
Social control	Processes through which behaviour is regulated and conformity is encouraged.	Use when explaining how social behaviour is controlled formally or informally.
Formal social control	Regulation through officially established rules, laws and institutions.	Link to the criminal justice system, law and punishment.
Informal social control	Regulation through social expectations, relationships and pressures rather than formal law.	Use when explaining role expectations and conformity.
Value consensus	General agreement about important norms and values.	Central to functionalist explanations of social order.
Collective conscience	Durkheim's concept of the shared beliefs and moral attitudes that bind society together.	Use to explain functionalist ideas about cohesion and order.
Social solidarity	A sense of unity and connection between members of society.	Link to the functionalist view that responses to deviance can strengthen social cohesion.
Boundary maintenance	Reinforcing the distinction between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.	Use when explaining how reactions to crime may reaffirm shared norms.
Conformity	Behaviour that follows social norms, expectations or rules.	Use to explain the intended outcome of social control.
Criminal justice system	Institutions involved in detecting, responding to and dealing with legally defined crime.	Use as an example of formal social control.

Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡

AQA examiner reports contain particularly useful lesson-specific guidance because both social order and social control have appeared directly in recent Paper 3 questions.

Examiner hint: In a 10-mark analyse question, identify the separate "hooks" in the item and develop them. The 2023 report specifically noted that students needed to connect punishment to social order, rather than repeat phrases from the item without explaining the relationship.

Examiner hint: Keep your answer focused on every part of the question. In 2024, some students drifted into general explanations of gender and offending when the question specifically required them to explain gender differences through social control.

Examiner hint: Using the item successfully means more than copying it. Strong responses identify a hook, connect it to relevant sociological knowledge and explain how that knowledge answers the exact question. The 2023 report notes that simply recycling item wording limits development.

Examiner hint: Evaluation should weigh strengths and limitations and reach a reasoned judgement. AQA's 2023 report states that this gains more credit than simply presenting a memorised criticism or saying two perspectives are different.

Examiner hint: Do not overwrite short questions. Examiner reports repeatedly warn that excessively long 4-mark and 6-mark answers can damage timing elsewhere on the paper. Give the required number of distinct points and develop each sufficiently for the available marks.

Common Mistakes ⚠️

Mistake: Treating social order and social control as identical

Why this is incorrect: Social order describes relative stability and predictability. Social control refers to processes used to regulate behaviour and encourage conformity.

How to improve: Remember the relationship:

social control can contribute to social order

Do not use the terms as synonyms.

Mistake: Assuming all social control is carried out by the criminal justice system

Why this is incorrect: Formal social control includes criminal justice processes, but informal social control can operate through socialisation and role expectations without legal punishment.

How to improve: Always ask whether the control described is formal or informal.

Mistake: Describing punishment without linking it to social order

Why this is incorrect: AQA's 2023 examiner report identified this as an examination problem. Simply describing prison or punishment does not explain how it maintains order.

How to improve: Complete the chain of reasoning:

punishment → communicates disapproval or deters offending → encourages conformity → contributes to social order

Mistake: Assuming functionalists think crime simply destroys social order

Why this is incorrect: Functionalist material recognised by AQA includes boundary maintenance, social cohesion and the reinforcement of shared values. Responses to crime can therefore contribute to maintaining order.

How to improve: Distinguish between the existence of deviance and society's reaction to deviance.

Mistake: Assuming everyone benefits equally from social control

Why this is incorrect: Conflict explanations question whether rules and their enforcement may reflect inequalities of power.

How to improve: Ask whose interests are served and which groups are being controlled.

Mistake: Writing two separate theories without evaluating them

Why this is incorrect: Simply describing functionalism and then Marxism is juxtaposition, not developed evaluation.

How to improve: Make the disagreement explicit. For example, challenge the functionalist assumption of value consensus using the conflict argument that law and control may reflect unequal class power.

Mistake: Drifting from social control into general explanations of offending

Why this is incorrect: This was identified by examiners in the 2024 Paper 3 question on social control and gender.

How to improve: Include the phrase "This is a form of social control because..." in your planning. If you cannot finish that sentence, your point may not be answering the question.

Exam-Style Questions ✍️

Question 1

Define social control. [1 mark]

Question 2

Define social order. [1 mark]

Question 3

Explain one difference between formal and informal social control. [2 marks]

Question 4

Outline two ways in which informal social control may encourage conformity. [4 marks]

Question 5

Outline three ways in which formal social control may contribute to the maintenance of social order. [6 marks]

Question 6

Read Item A and answer the question that follows.

Item A

Some forms of social control operate through expectations about how individuals should behave. Other forms of control involve official institutions that enforce rules and respond to those who break them.

Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways in which social control may regulate behaviour. [10 marks]

Question 7

A sociologist argues that social order exists mainly because individuals learn and accept society's shared norms and values. Another sociologist argues that apparently stable societies may also contain major inequalities of power.

Explain two differences between these explanations of social order. [4 marks]

Question 8

Read Item B and answer the question that follows.

Item B

Some sociologists argue that social order depends upon shared values that encourage individuals to conform. Reactions to deviance may strengthen agreement about acceptable behaviour. Other sociologists argue that social control may protect the interests of powerful groups by regulating those with less power.

Applying material from Item B and your knowledge, evaluate the view that social order is maintained mainly through shared norms and values. [30 marks]

Answers and mark scheme

Question 1

1 mark for a clear definition referring to the regulation of behaviour or the encouragement of conformity.

Example answer: Social control refers to processes through which people's behaviour is regulated and conformity to social expectations is encouraged.

Question 2

1 mark for a clear definition referring to relative stability, organisation or predictability in society.

Example answer: Social order is the relative stability and predictability of social life.

Question 3

Award up to 2 marks.

Example answer: Formal social control operates through officially established laws and institutions such as the criminal justice system, whereas informal social control operates through social expectations and role expectations without requiring legal punishment.

One mark for identifying an accurate distinction and one further mark for development.

Question 4

Award 2 marks for each of two appropriate ways clearly outlined.

Possible answers include:

• Role expectations: individuals may modify their behaviour because they are expected to behave in particular ways.

• Socialisation: people learn society's norms and values, encouraging them to conform without formal punishment.

• Informal pressure to conform: social expectations may discourage behaviour regarded as inappropriate.

Do not credit the same basic process twice.

Question 5

Award 2 marks for each of three appropriate ways clearly outlined.

Possible answers include:

• Deterrence: the possibility of formal punishment may discourage offending, helping maintain conformity.

• Reinforcing shared values: formal responses to crime communicate what society regards as unacceptable.

• Rehabilitation: attempts may be made to change offending behaviour and support conformity.

• Protecting the public: offenders may be prevented from committing further offences.

• Punishment and boundary maintenance: sanctions may reinforce the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.

One mark should identify the way and the second should explain how it may contribute to social order.

Question 6

For the highest marks, students should develop two distinct item hooks.

Hook 1: expectations about behaviour

The item refers to expectations about how individuals should behave. This can be developed through informal social control, role expectations and socialisation. Individuals may conform because they have learned norms and values and experience pressure to meet social expectations.

Hook 2: official institutions

The item refers to institutions that enforce rules. This can be developed through formal social control and the criminal justice system. Laws and punishments formally regulate behaviour and may deter offending or reinforce accepted standards.

8 to 10 marks: Good knowledge and understanding of two ways, two developed applications of the item and appropriate analysis of how each regulates behaviour.

4 to 7 marks: Reasonable knowledge with some successful application and development, although one point may be stronger.

1 to 3 marks: Limited knowledge, little effective item application or undeveloped description.

0 marks: No relevant material.

Question 7

Award up to 4 marks.

A strong response should explain two contrasts such as:

1. Consensus versus conflict: the first explanation emphasises shared norms and values, whereas the second emphasises inequalities and competing interests.

2. Agreement versus power: the first sees conformity as resulting substantially from socialisation and value consensus, whereas the second questions whether social order may be maintained partly through the power of dominant groups to regulate others.

Credit one mark for identifying each distinction and one further mark for developing it.

Question 8

This is an extended-response question requiring knowledge and understanding, application, analysis and evaluation.

Indicative content may include:

Functionalist explanations

• value consensus;

• collective conscience;

• socialisation;

• conformity;

• social solidarity;

• boundary maintenance;

• punishment as reinforcement of shared values.

Functionalists can argue that individuals generally learn and internalise norms and values. Social order therefore does not require constant coercion. Responses to deviance can reinforce the moral boundaries of society.

Conflict evaluation

• unequal power;

• ruling-class control;

• law creation;

• formal social control;

• selective enforcement;

• punishment as a means of controlling less powerful groups.

Conflict perspectives question whether society genuinely shares one value consensus. What appears to be social order may partly reflect the ability of more powerful groups to define and enforce rules.

Further evaluation

A strong answer may consider that:

• informal and formal control can operate simultaneously;

• shared values and power do not have to be completely mutually exclusive;

• social control does not always successfully produce conformity;

• the existence of crime and deviance raises questions about the extent of social integration;

• different social groups may experience social control differently.

25 to 30 marks: Sound, conceptually detailed knowledge of relevant sociological explanations. Material from the item is applied accurately. Analysis and evaluation are explicit and sustained, with direct comparison of consensus and conflict explanations and a reasoned conclusion.

19 to 24 marks: Accurate and reasonably broad or detailed knowledge with good application. Some explicit evaluation is present, although parts may be less fully developed.

13 to 18 marks: Largely accurate but limited knowledge. Application may be narrow and evaluation may rely on juxtaposing perspectives rather than directly assessing them.

7 to 12 marks: Limited and undeveloped knowledge with weak application. Analysis and evaluation are minimal.

1 to 6 marks: Very limited relevant knowledge with little understanding of the debate.

0 marks: No relevant material.

A strong conclusion should directly answer the question rather than simply repeat previous paragraphs. For example, it could judge whether shared values provide a convincing explanation for informal conformity while recognising that conflict approaches expose important inequalities in the creation and enforcement of formal controls.