Bertram Raven: Control

Bertram Raven is American psychologist. Explore interesting quotes on control.

Bertram Raven: 18 quotes0 likes

“Social power [is the] potential influence, the ability of a person or group to induce or prevent change in another. Social control [is] the process by which members of a social entity are influenced to adhere to values and principles of proper behavior deemed appropriate for that social entity.”

Source: "Influence, Power, Religion, and the Mechanisms of Social Control," 1999, p. 161

“The concepts of social power and social control are closely interrelated, since the process of social control involves the exercise of the bases and resources of power. But both terms also have their negative and even threatening connotations. All of us, or at least most of us, like to think that we are independent agents, and being subjected to social power restricts that sense of independence. The thought of being "socially controlled" also brings forth strong negative feelings. Yet, when we consider it more carefully, power and influence are part of our everyday interaction and contribute to individual and collective benefit. Similarly for social control.”

Source: "Influence, Power, Religion, and the Mechanisms of Social Control," 1999, p. 161

“Parents control their children in the interests of the family, universities exercise control over professors and students, government exercises control over citizens, and religions control their adherents… Society's need for social control was stated most dramatically by Hobbes (1651/1958), who observed that in the "natural" state (without social control), as each person attempted to satisfy his/her individual needs and desires at the expense of others, humankind would be in a war of all against all, such that life would be "nasty, brutish, and short."”

Source: "Influence, Power, Religion, and the Mechanisms of Social Control," 1999, p. 161

“I will show how a model might be applied to social control, and then more specifically focus on religions as mechanisms of social control.”

Source: "Influence, Power, Religion, and the Mechanisms of Social Control," 1999, p. 161 Lead sentence