Power: Politics and Social Control
Shame, ridicule, and gossip act as a means of social control in close-knit societies. They work to see that people in a given environment act according to the social norms set by a particular community. They help in shaping lousy behavior and encourage good behavior among people. These often occur in groups that shape the behavior of their members (Horwitz, 1990). This allows acceptance to a group with certain accepted norms that dictate its operations. People do not want to disgrace those that they are close to, and, therefore, stick to acceptable social norms
These means of social control cannot work in larger societies like the United States of America. There is no reliance on one another when it comes to a large society, and the variations of modern life make dependency hard. This contributes to people not being bothered by what others who are far away say about them (Horwitz, 1990). This is because gossip, shame, and ridicule require daily interaction with people for it to be effective (Thompson & Gibbs, 2016). This cannot be possible in a liberal society. Informal methods of social control also require face to face interaction, which is hard to achieve with physical distance.
Changing social norms is possible today in such a large society like the United States of America. Since many people have access to phones, it is possible to make people with deviant behavior to change to acceptable norms in society. A person who has a reputation to protect may feel harmed if information about them is put on social media. They are likely to change for the better if they are exposed to many people who might be their supporters. Some information that might not be true is also likely to harm the affected individuals physically or mentally. This may affect those people who have a reputation to protect.
References
Horwitz, A. V. (1990). The logic of social control. Springer Science & Business Media
Thompson, W. E., & Gibbs, J. C. (2016). Deviance and deviants: A sociological approach. John Wiley & Sons.