Law Commons^™

Social Control: Analytical Tool Or Analytical Quagmire?, Shelley A. M. Gavigan, Dorothy E. Chunn

Articles & Book Chapters

There is probably no concept which is used more widely and with less precision than that of 'social control'. Given the lack of agreement about what 'social control' is, researchers usually employ the term in one of two ways. Either they assume that its meaning is obvious and requires no clarification, or, they begin with a perfunctory acknowledgment of the definitional problems associated with the concept and proceed to use it anyway. The eclecticism of the latter approach has stimulated attempts over the years to produce a universally applicable definition of 'social control' that could be empioyed both systematically and …