Social Control Variables and Conformity - Article Example

Conformity and delinquency are both consequences of behaviour. Similarly, deviance from conformity is another consequence of behaviour. Conformity and delinquency are outcomes of deviance, and the seed of all these consequential behaviours is ultimately behaviour itself. As Rankin asserts conformity has a certain if not significant relation with society’s value system which includes different control variables. The one counterargument to this is that conformity is also very significantly related to an individual’s behaviour. A person conforms to societal norms only and only if his behaviour allows him to come to the standards and meet the conventions. There is a will involved in this action process of a person to come to conformity with society.                                                                                                                

Rankin describes delinquency concerning deviance, which is one factor that relates to behaviour itself. Delinquency is one characteristic of behaviour, a characteristic that results after an individual passes through different levels of behaviour, “deviance and nonconformity”. Adolescents who become delinquent are delinquent by nature, which means they have gone past persistent levels of deviance and nonconformity. According to Rankin, deviance is what makes an adolescent a delinquent, but according to a psychological perspective, delinquency is an attached nature of behaviour (Rankin, 1977, p.480).

Rankin argues that outer containment which includes laws, regulations and institutional controls is much more important to bringing conformity in society’s individuals. Similarly, he asserts that just like outer containment, inner containment is also very important for conformity or avoidance of delinquency (Rankin, 1977, p. 477). These may include individuals’ aspirations, motivations and hopes. In addressing these notions ambiguity is observed in the author’s view as he has not restricted the scope of both inner and outer containment. There are no such definite classifications, which the author has made of inner and outer containment. Further research and evidence are required to prove this relation between containment and delinquency or containment and conformity (Rankin, 1977, p.470).

Rankin comes up with the proposition of social bonds to assure conformity and discipline in an individual’s society. According to Rankin, the social bond is to be composed of four distinctive elements these may include ‘belief, attachment, commitment and involvement’ (Rankin, 1977, p. 476). Rankin asserts that a person should have a belief in society’s system of conventions to accept and confirm society’s values and regulations. In any case, a controversial argument is left there that even a delinquent believes in laws and values, but still does not obey them or break them in any instance. Again it is the behavior that controls a delinquent more than the laws, regulations or any code of the society for that matter. If a delinquent avoids the belief, he or she could avoid the other three elements of social bond, which according to Rankin are significantly important to bring conformity (Rankin, 1977, p.473).