Modeling the Relationships Between Macro Forms of Social Control

Abstract

The last decade has witnessed a plethora of macro studies of various forms of social control ranging from lynching to hospitalization. Unfortunately, these specific areas of research tend to be isolated from each other and do not constitute a recognizable literature. This paper shifts the focus of study from substantive forms of social control to theoretical issues that cut across them. One such issue is the relationship between forms of social control. First, the paper explicates this issue. Second, the paper reviews and critiques three specific research literatures on the relationships between various forms of social control that are isolated from each other although they bear on the same theoretical questions. Third, the paper argues that bivariate relationships between forms of social control are not meaningful theoretically in that they are not clearly derived from general theories of social control. Fourth, the paper argues that we should focus on the causal processes and structures that underlie the relationships between forms of social control and explicate their implications for these relationships.