Social control is the social process of persuading or forcing individuals to conform to the values and norms. There are two types of social control; formal and informal. Formal social control is that in which the law is used to force people to follow the norms and understand the values of the society. Agencies of formal social control are; police, courts and prison. Informal social control in which people are ethically forced to fit into the norms and respect the values. Agencies of informal social control do not have social control as their main purpose of operation e.g; family. Family is the source of primary socialisation and teaches a child the difference between good and evil and teaches him/her the importance of the culture and norms. Hence, when a child obeys his/her family he/she also practices social control.
