Social control is the use of formal and informal mechanisms by society to enforce dominant beliefs, values, and behavior .

the means and processes by which a group secures its members' conformity to its expectations - to its values, its ideology, its norms, and to the appropriate roles that are attached to the various status positions in the group. Some maintain that social workers are social control agents in society. Structural social work analyzes the social control function of social work and recognizes that the profession of social work functions, in part, to control certain people and groups in society in order to maintain and legitimate social divisions and the social order.

a framework of rewards and sanctions that channel behavior.

Refers to the process of maintaining law and order and proper behaviour morally. The ruling and middle class perspective was that the behaviour of young working class people could be controlled by involving them in games and sports.