Question

Why do certain political and economic organizations (e.g. band, tribe, chiefdom, state) tend to use specific forms of social control (i.e., war, public opinion, witchcraft accusations, laws, etc.).

Answer 1

Political and economic organizations (e.g. band, tribe, chiefdom, state) tend to use specific forms of social control (i.e., war, public opinion, witchcraft accusations, laws, etc.) for their own benefits. Let us understand it with every practice of social control performed by these organisations.

War and social control-  The war is a perfect glue that sticks everyone together and the most chaotic period of all, is at the transition from war to peace – the aftermath of war. And these organisations use this fact about war for social control.Every time in our history when there has a major warfare going on, of course we will expect chaotic and in some extents, roaring criminal rates. However, surprisingly it is rarely the case. Although there were some examples that do show wartime crime increasing to be true, it usually happened in the occupied region or regions that are already surrendered while the war is still going on. The famous example will be China and France during the World War II. During war tgese organizations get lot of support from citizens which help them to increase their power in country.

Public opinion and social control- Public opinion is a collective behaviour if citizens of that country. Public opinion has the equivalent social function in societies which religion has in communities.Public opinion plays an important role in the political sphere. Cutting across all aspects of relationship between government and public opinion are studies of voting behavior. These have registered the distribution of opinions on a wide variety of issues, have explored the impact of special interest groups on election outcomes and have contributed to our knowledge about the effects of government propaganda and policy.

Social control and witchcraft accusations- Witchcraft is the practice of magical skills, spells and abilities. Anthropology has often explained Witchcraft
accusations and beliefs as a way of regulating social conflict, and of dealing
with individuals who threaten the social order by being somehow outside the
accepted norm. And it is true that, in 2015, as in the Middle Ages,
‘Witches’ are often women, perhaps elderly and/or newly widowed, likely to
become a burden on the village or community, or perhaps they are market traders
who have accumulated independent wealth. They may have fallen out with their
male relatives or their spouses, or perhaps they have offended someone senior
in the village, or rejected their sexual advances. It is also possible for a
man to accuse his current wife as a Witch, if he wishes to take a new wife. In similar ways like this these political and economical organizations use witchcraft accusations to supress womans and others.

Social control and law- Social control entails rules of behavior that should be followed by the members of a society. Some of the rules of conduct fall into the realm of good manners as the culture defines them. As such they describe behavior that is socially desirable but not necessarily compulsory.   Other rules of conduct are not optional and are enforced by laws. In complex, large-scale societies, laws are usually written down formally so that they can be known clearly to everyone. This is not the case with laws in small-scale societies such as those of foragers, pastoralists, and horticulturalists. Their laws commonly are much more informal, being rarely written down. Since they are part of the evolving oral tradition that is familiar to members of these societies, there is no need to explain them to anyone. However, people visiting from other societies are not likely to know what the laws are until there is a dispute. So these political and economical organizations use laws formally and informally to take control of society for their own benefits.