Social Control Quotes

#1. You see there are people who believe the function of the police is to fight crime,
and that's not true, the function of the police is social control and protection of
property.

Michael Parenti

#2. Historically, much of the motivation for public schooling has been to stifle variety and institute social control.

Hugh Jackman

#3. From a historical viewpoint, religion is just a kind of superstition, and from a political viewpoint it is a tool of social control.

Mario Bunge

#4. People are leaving trails everywhere they go; automated web crawlers tell you an awful lot about their social activities. The flow of information in fundamentally unobtrusive ways into social control organisations has risen dramatically.

Whitfield Diffie

#5. Religion is (a) a pre-scientific system of explanation and technology; (b) a source of meaning, direction and emotional expression in life; (c) a means of social control; (d) a means of coping with uncertainty and death.

Max More

#6. Healthy" and "diseased," as Susan Sontag points out ... are often subjective judgments that society makes for its own purposes. Women have long been defined as sick as a means of subjecting them to social control.

Naomi Wolf

#7. Sociologists have frequently observed that governments use punishment primarily as a tool of social control, and thus the extent or severity of punishment is often unrelated to actual crime patterns.

Michelle Alexander

#8. Parsons argued that medicine was a social institution that regulated social deviance through the provision of medical diagnoses for nonconforming behavior. Medicine was, in this understanding, engaged in social control.

Sheila Jeffreys

#9. Every discipline develops standards of professional competence to which its workers are subject ... Every scientific community is a society in the small, so to speak, with its own agencies of social control.

Abraham Kaplan

#10. The body has been used as a form of social control through the ages and how a mature economy can only achieve growth by making us feel abject, hungry and isolated from ourselves and each other. Making us hate ourselves from the inside out ensures we will overspend, over-consume and over-indulge ...

Orna Ross

#11. while "freedom" from magic is certainly invoked as a constitutive element of modern modes of subjectivity, this freedom is purchased only at the price of potent new forms of social control and regimentation."

-- Making Magic, p. 13

Randall Styers

#12. Mind as a concrete thing is precisely the power to understand things in terms of the use made of them; a socialized mind is the power to understand them in terms of the use to which they are turned in joint or shared situations. And mind in this sense is the method of social control.

John Dewey

#13. The general fact is that the most effective way of utilizing human energy is through an organized rivalry, which by specialization and social control is, at the same time, organized co-operation.

Charles Horton Cooley

#14. Boredom is an instrument of social control. Power is the power to impose boredom, to command stasis, to combine this stasis with anguish. The real tedium, deep tedium, is seasoned with terror and with death.

Saul Bellow

#15. Communism and socialism, programs for intellectual control over society ... fascism, a program for the social control of intellect.

Robert M. Pirsig

#16. Satire is a form of social control, it's what you do. It's not personal. It's a job.

Garry Trudeau

#17. Shame...is a first rate form of social control. Shame is what keeps us in line, what prevents us from discovering not so much who we are, but what we might become.

Michael Bronski

#18. By pretending that convention is Nature, that disobeying a personal prohibition is a medical illness, they establish themselves as agents of social control and at the same time disguise their punitive interventions in the semantic and social trappings of medical practice.

Thomas Szasz

#19. Custodial education does not have as its objective the education of youth but rather social control over them. It suppresses rather than stimulates their intellectual and physical energies.

John Conyers

#20. When the locus of evaluation is seen as residing in the expert, it would appear that the long-range social implications are in the direction of the social control of the many by the few.

Carl R. Rogers

#21. Mistaken belief that racial animus is necessary for the creation and maintenance of racialized systems of social control is the most important reason that we, as a nation, have remained in deep denial.

Michelle Alexander

#22. Autonomous state actions will regularly take forms that attempt to reinforce the authority, political longevity, and social control of the state.

Theda Skocpol

#23. Social control is best managed through fear.

Michael Crichton

#24. No matter how old and glorious the models, sad indeed is the woman who sees fashion as a means of self-expression rather than an agent of social control.

Julie Burchill

#25. Eugenics is the study of the agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations either physically or mentally.

Francis Galton

#26. In ideal form of social control is an atomised collection of individuals focused on their own narrow concern, lacking the kinds of organisations in which they can gain information, develop and articulate their thoughts, and act constructively to achieve common ends.

Noam Chomsky

#27. What passes for political realism may make for lively academic debates. But it often functions, ironically, as a tool of social control, rendering us passive with an analysis that overwhelms and paralyzes us.

Parker Palmer

#28. Guilt? It's this mechanism we use to control people. It's an illusion. It's a kind of social control mechanism
and it's very unhealthy. It does terrible things to our bodies. And there are much better ways to control our behavior than that rather extraordinary use of guilt.

Ted Bundy

#29. If I had to guess and put a name on it, I'd say that at some point, the drug war was as much a function of class and social control as it was of racism.

David Simon

#30. These programs were never about terrorism: they're about economic spying, social control, and diplomatic manipulation. They're about power.

Edward Snowden

#31. In practice, American modernizers tended to be distrustful of populist politics and inclined to favor elite-led societies; often they turned to modernization as a means of counterinsurgency and social control.

Fredrik Logevall

#32. The key element of social control is the strategy of distraction that is to divert public attention from important issues and changes decided by political and economic elites, through the technique of flood or flooding continuous distractions and insignificant information.

Noam Chomsky

#33. I think this mass surveillance by the NSA was never about terrorism: It's all about economic spying & social control. It's all about POWER.

Ziad K. Abdelnour

#34. We have, in our day, witnessed the birth of the Therapeutic State. This is perhaps the major implication of psychiatry as an institution of social control.

Thomas Szasz

#35. The economic crisis, so conveniently operated and driven by the markets, by financial groups, by the needs of a globalized economy, faces the task of restoring social control, which the crisis of modernity lost sight of.

Zygmunt Bauman

#36. I often ask myself, 'Why is it that most of the lies come out of Islamic countries, and why is it that most of the social corruptions are in the Middle East and in these Islamic countries?' The answer is, when you control something, when you suppress something, people try to do it another way.

Bahman Ghobadi

#37. The internet, Facebook and Twitter have created mass communications and social spaces that regimes cannot control.

Shimon Peres

#38. Spiders are anti-social, keep pests under control, and mostly mind their own business, but they somehow summon fear in humans who are far more dangerous, deceitful and have hurt more people. Of the two I'm more suspicious about the latter.

Donna Lynn Hope

#39. Achieving control over change, in respect to lifestyle, demands an engagement with the outer social world rather than a retreat from it.

Anthony Giddens

#40. Mary Daly, author of Beyond God the Father, points out that the model of the universe in which a male God rules the cosmos from outside serves to legitimize male control of social institutions.

Starhawk

#41. It is only by the rational use of technology; to control and guide what technology is doing; that we can keep any hopes of a social life more desirable than our own: or in fact of a social life which is not appalling to imagine.

Carrie Snow

#42. It is an almost infallible rule that the more permissive a person is on social and moral issues the more in favour they are of strict gun control.

Michael Coren

#43. One of the biggest issues that we face is that we have people who have their own particular concerns, whether it's on abortion, birth control, divorce and remarriage, civil rights or social justice.

William P. Leahy

#44. Dedicated to the memory of MY FATHER. For if I had not believed that he would have wished me to give such help as I could toward making his life's work of service to mankind, I should never have been led to write this book.

Leonard Darwin

#45. When we embraced social media, we took more control of the Newark narrative. We increased responsiveness toward residents. We drew more of our constituents in to participate in government and improve our cities.

Cory Booker

#46. Mr. Speaker, Americans want, need, and rightfully expect Congress to protect them from the prying eyes of identity thieves and give them back control of their Social Security numbers and personal health information.

Luis Gutierrez

#47. I was also encountering CEOs who felt that their grip on social media was under control because they had an intern managing a Twitter feed. And I disagreed.

Jennifer Janson

#48. The terrifying breakdown of social cohesion in the American city, in spite of intense institutionalized police surveillance equipped with every sophisticated aid to public control, illustrates that social behaviour depends upon mutual responsibility rather than upon the policeman.

Colin Ward

#49. We have to get control of our borders. You can only do that if you make companies obey the law and not hire undocumented or illegals. They can only do that is if they have a Social Security Card that has biometrics so they know whether the person is legal or not.

Michael Bloomberg

#50. Apps, email, and social are the three things Google does not control.

Jason Calacanis

#51. If democracy is control by the people, as it is supposed to be, it is the right form of government. I believe in a complete democracy - individual, political, social, economic. If we really had that, which we don't now, it would be in harmony with divine purpose.

Peace Pilgrim

#52. Regulation of sexual behavior
is the preferred route to wider social
control.

Alexander Cockburn

#53. Since the founding of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other mainstays of what technology writers have come to call 'the social Web' or 'Web 2.0,' a sizable portion of humanity has learned to be together while apart, sacrificing intimacy for control and spontaneity for predictability.

Walter Kirn

#54. If you ask amateurs to act as front-line security personnel, you shouldn't be surprised when you get amateur security.

Bruce Schneier

#55. People do not consciously and rationally choose the form of their society. Societies develop through processes of social evolution that are not under rational human control.

Theodore Kaczynski

#56. There can be no equality or opportunity if men and women and children be not shielded in their lives from the consequences of great industrial and social processes which they cannot alter, control, or singly cope with.

Woodrow Wilson

#57. In these times - where social appearance is more important than spiritual substance - what has become our longing to change is really the unconscious desire to control not just the shape of our bodies (according to prevailing values) but to dominate our environment as well, regardless of the cost.

Guy Finley

#58. In Europe, it appears that in the name of democracy, elites are pursuing an autocratic, centralized power, seeking economic control and social regimentation.

Maggie Gallagher

#59. If we don't like rent control, we ought to oppose it on political and social grounds - and not just by arguing that, thanks to smartphones and social networks, we can create new, more efficient markets for matching short-term renters with tenants.

Evgeny Morozov

#60. I am angry about the mammoth, out-of-control social welfare entitlement programs from Washington, D.C., that were supposed to solve our problems. The obvious truth is these impractical, politically motivated programs have irreparably damaged the fabric of our black society and community.

Allen West

#61. Overnight the digital age had changed the course of history for our company. Everything that we thought was in our control no longer was. But within a year we had invested in social media and digital experts. Now Starbucks is the number one brand on Facebook.

Howard Schultz

#62. For heaven's sake, Darling, keep your crusading instinct [for social justice] under control ... It's uncomfortable to live with especially for those of us who haven't got one.

P.D. James

#63. The mechanical mind has a passion for control - of everything except itself. Beyond the control it has won over the forces of nature it would now win control over the forces of society of stating the problem and producing the solution, with social machinery to correspond.

L. P. Jacks

#64. I've always been progressive on social issues: pro-choice, pro-gun control, and pro-gay rights - even when I was a Republican. The big difference is that I once believed the private sector would address America's social problems. But then I saw firsthand that this wasn't going to happen.

Arianna Huffington

#65. Life is not a dress rehearsal. Finding love is all about taking a risk, taking control of your social life, and knowing that you won't waste today because tomorrow is a gift.

Fran Greene

#66. Schools serve the same social functions as prisons and mental institutions- to define, classify, control, and regulate people.

Michel Foucault

#67. As the feminist saying goes, 'Women deliver.' In other words, when women control resources, the social gain is greater than when men control resources.

Linda Gordon

#68. When people see opportunity, when they have a sense of control of their own destiny, then they're less vulnerable to the propaganda and twisted ideologies that have been attracting young people - particularly being turbocharged through social media.

Barack Obama

#69. Literature in the written sense represents the triumph of language over writing: the subversion of writing for purposes that have little or nothing to do with social and economic control.

Robert Bringhurst

#70. Doesn't it seem more reasonable to take action to heal the social pathology that generates crime than to use gun control to blow another political toe off American liberalism during each election cycle?

Joe Bageant

#71. Taming the financial markets and winning back democratic control over them is the central condition for creating a new social balance in Germany and Europe.

Sigmar Gabriel

#72. Individual human experience is not the overriding control factor in human behavior. The cellular social pattern dominates.

Frank Herbert

#73. To me the desire to create and to have control over your own life, irrespective of the politics of the time or social structures, has always been a part of the human spirit. What I did not fully realize was that work could open the doors to my heart.

Anita Roddick

#74. The greatness of America has grown out of a political and social system and a method of control of economic forces distinctly its own - our American system.

Herbert Hoover

#75. That which distinguishes the Soviet system both from other national systems and from the progressive schools of other countries is the conscious control of every educational procedure by reference to a single and comprehensive social purpose.

John Dewey

#76. Social values, friends, communities and families control our thoughts.

Balroop Singh

#77. But it is Tolstoy's understanding of life that the fate of each man and woman is determined by forces beyond their control; these forces include the dictatorship of social demands.

Leo Tolstoy

#78. No one in al-Nahda believes that jihad is a way to impose Islam on the world. But we believe that jihad is self-control, is social and political struggle, and even military jihad is only a way to defend oneself in the case of aggression.

Rashid Al-Ghannushi

#79. Neoliberalism is the defining political economic paradigm of our time - it refers to the policies and processes whereby a relative handful of private interests are permitted to control as much as possible of social life in order to maximize their personal profit.

Noam Chomsky

#80. But the truth is that the world has changed. And not participating in the conversation is a loud statement of its own to your customer base. You can't control your branding message in any case because your customers are already talking about you online. The best you can do is to participate.

Vanessa Fox

#81. People have to take control of their own lives. Education is key because it also raises other social indicators like healthcare.

Azim Premji

#82. The real violence is committed in the writing of history, the records of the legal system, the reporting of news, through the manipulation of social contracts, and the control of information.

Bryant H. McGill

#83. Obesity is the result of a loss of self-control. Indeed, loss of self-control might be said to be the defining social (or anti-social) characteristic of our age: public drunkenness, excessive gambling, promiscuity and common-or-garden rudeness are all examples of our collective loss of self-control.

Theodore Dalrymple

#84. A hallmark of domestic violence is a man feeling threatened by a woman's friends and attempting to control or limit a woman's social contacts, or to isolate her socially.

John M. Gottman

#85. I can't control who follows me, but I can control who I follow.[Social Media]

Germany Kent

#86. C-68 has little to do with gun control or crime control, but it is the first step necessary to begin the social re-engineering of Canada.

Sharon Carstairs

#87. Of all the problems which will have to be faced in the future, in my opinion, the most difficult will be those concerning the treatment of the inferior races of mankind.

Leonard Darwin

#88. A society with too few independent thinkers is vulnerable to control by disturbed and opportunistic leaders. A society which wants to create and maintain a free and democratic social system must create responsible independence of thought among its young.

John Dewey

#89. The attempt to regulate, control, and prescribe all manner of conduct and social relations is very old. It was always the practice of primitive peoples.

Calvin Coolidge

#90. Physical nature lies at our feet shackled with a hundred chains. What of the control of human nature? Do not point to the triumphs of psychiatry, social services or the war against crime. Domination of human nature can only mean the domination of every man by himself.

Johan Huizinga

#91. The Ego, however, is not who you really are. The ego is your self-image; it is your social mask; it is the role you are playing. Your social mask thrives on approval. It wants control, and it is sustained by power, because it lives in fear.

Deepak Chopra

#92. People in my industry [PR] would like people to believe we have ways to control social media. But that's one of the great swindles.

Eric Dezenhall

#93. Conservatives understand Halloween, liberals only understand Christmas. If you want to control a population, don't give it social services, give it a scary adversary.

Tom Robbins

#94. We cannot afford to be discouraged from challenging the corporate control of our food system, our genetic commons, our shared resources, or our democracy. The history of social change in our nation shows that the political system can be reformed, even if the road is long and zigzag.

Wenonah Hauter

#95. There is only so much manpower and tax revenue that can be devoted to riot control, to social surveillance, to chasing fast youths down dark alleyways, to fire-hosing and pepper-spraying suspicious-looking gatherings.

Margaret Atwood

#96. Control thy lingo and mind thy demeanor in synonymy with the social etiquette,

Mukesh Kwatra

#97. Privacy is not a static construct. It is not an inherent property of any particular information or setting. It is a process by which people seek to have control over a social situation by managing impressions, information flows, and context.

Danah Boyd

#98. Whatever the future of social reputation online, I'm excited to dig in and help forge the path forward. Not only will embracing and enabling the growth of these reputation elements benefit my business, the consumer in me can barely control her excitement.

Leah Busque

#99. I am for socialism, disarmament, and, ultimately, for abolishing the state itself ... I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and the sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal.

Roger Nash Baldwin

#100. You cannot control faeries. Can. Not. They aren't logical or rational. They don't obey the same laws (physical, social, emotional, traffic - you name it) that we do.

Kiersten White