Talk:Control theory (sociology)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 14 January 2019 and 8 May 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Alexisarnett.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 18:25, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Criminological Control Theory
The statement made on this page in relation to control theory as used by criminologists is not only too small but completely inaccurate. McLaghlin & Muncie note "From this perspective [control theory] human nature is assumed to be anti-social- a view borrowed directly from Thomas Hobbe's (1985 [1651], p.188) description of life in a world without externally imposed control as 'a war of every man against every man'" I propose creating a specific "Control Theory (Criminology)" page where this hugely influencial paradigm can be elaborated upon fully. Please post here if you wish to contribute. Martinq22 (talk) 14:53, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Walter Reckless's theory is called "Containment Theory." Travis Hirschi wrote in "Causes of Delinquency" published in 1969 of the four social bonds mentioned in the article. His theory is more properly referred to as "Social Bond Theory." I would define Control Theory as the umbrella under which these other theories fall. The reference to "choice theory" should be deleted. That's a whole different animal.Monsterita (talk) 02:30, 22 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I agree -- this article has nothing to do with "Choice Theory". I removed the unsourced references to it, and the advertisement for the author's website. Please don't use Wikipedia to sell your garbage self-help books. Jrtayloriv (talk)

Social control theory
What distinguishes this article from social control theory? BoH (talk) 15:00, 24 June 2011 (UTC)

What is this?
This article needs an intro. Currently, the very first sentence is: Control Theory in sociology can either be classified as... Before we start classifying, can we give some hints as to what it is? Give a few commonplace examples? Broad, general ideas and observations, before we dive into details? linas (talk) 16:09, 8 March 2012 (UTC)

Merge discussion
It looks to me that most of the content of this article is also discussed in Social control theory. I propose to add/extend last mentioned article with details only found in this article and to replace Control theory (sociology) with a redirect to Social control theory. SchreyP (messages) 23:14, 21 January 2013 (UTC)
 * It may have changed since this proposal was made, but the "social control theory" article is specifically on criminology, not the broader sociology, and seems to comprise a list of people who have contributed to that aspect of the subject. So No, I don't see there are any grounds for a merge. Swanny18 (talk) 16:54, 23 August 2015 (UTC)
 * I can see why the merge was proposed, but note that the articles discuss quite different aspects of control, on in the context of criminology, and the other from sociology more broadly. It is intersting that the former is better developed, and is appropriately referenced and notable; so, no merge. I'll remove the merge templates. Klbrain (talk) 16:06, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

Critique
The following was in the Critique section, added on 21 November 2012 14:40 by 12.133.224.98:


 * (Is any of this information verifiable? Or is it opinionated critique?;
 * Such as the statement "without looking at bigger concepts like autonomy and implusiveness" an impluse is a want, driven by an unown psychological source; As such, control theory explains it in the statement from above "behavior is caused not by outside stimuli, but by what a person wants most at any given time.") [Should say that control theory explains "behaviour as caused solely by outside stimuli, ignoring what a person wants at a given time, i.e. impulsiveness.] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 147.171.190.37 (talk) 16:03, 8 February 2013 (UTC)