sanctions
Summary
Sanctions are social reactions that enforce norms: rewards (positive sanctions) for conforming and punishments (negative sanctions) for deviating. They can be formal (laws, fines) or informal (praise, gossip, ostracism), and they are a key mechanism of social control.
Detail
Meaning: A sanction is a response by others, or by an institution, to behavior that conforms to or violates a norm. Sanctions are how a society encourages conformity and maintains social control. Two dimensions classify them:
Positive vs. negative: positive sanctions reward conformity (a promotion, a compliment, a medal); negative sanctions punish deviance (a fine, a suspension, a disapproving look).
Formal vs. informal: formal sanctions are applied by official institutions under written rules (courts, schools, employers). Informal sanctions arise in everyday interaction (a smile, ridicule, gossip, being shunned).
On the MCAT: Passages describe a behavior and a reaction, and you must label the reaction, for example as an informal negative sanction when peers ridicule someone who breaks a group norm. Questions may link sanctions to deviance, to functionalist ideas about social order, to labeling theory, or to operant conditioning, where reinforcement and punishment shape behavior. Expect to identify which kind of sanction fits a scenario or to predict how sanctions affect conformity.
Common confusion: In everyday speech, a sanction is usually a penalty, and in international politics it means economic penalties against a country. In sociology the word covers both rewards and punishments. A reward for following a norm is still a sanction, a positive one. Also, formal means official and rule-based, not severe: a written warning is formal, while a harsh shunning by friends is informal.
Sources
- Introduction to Sociology
- Sociology: A Brief Introduction
- Essentials of Sociology
Written for the MCAT and checked before it was published. For study reference only. Spotted an error? Let us know.