Since the beginning of civilization, man and society has tried to have some form of social control.

In the beginning social control was meant to keep peace and have an environment where people can search for food and water without being worried about violence. As the human society developed, means of social control have evolved to embrace the changes.

Now social control is for peace, stability, also to enforce the economic hierarchy and there are means of control for religious and cultural purposes.

The first means of social control that is so starkly evident is the gender based division of work, access to resources and also individual freedom. Man and woman are treated differently so that society can control who gets what and how much. That way there is a hierarchy of power and thus man can stay in control and ensure order in the society.

The other one is economy. Money does make the world go around. It is also a means of social control. Divide between rich and power and the very existence of poor people means that rich can control the access to the few resources we have. That way few people can actually enjoy resources thus they will be used in limited amount and have longer life span.

Violence, secrecy and intimidation is more brutal means of social control. They are meant to instill fear in people so that they accept the orders of the powerful and maintain the current order in the society.If everyone is empowered, then according to what the powerful believe, there will be chaos all around so they use fear and violence to keep things in order.

As you can see many forms of control are working in our society. They are there to keep things are they are. People who dissent those means of control often find themselves struggling against a huge power block. Women's rights movement, anti-poverty movement are examples of those who are trying to get through these means of social control.

Learn more about this author, Bhumika Ghimire.
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