Social control refers to the social processes, techniques, and strategies by which the behaviours of individuals or groups are regulated. It involves both the use of force to regulate behaviour and the enforcing of values and patterns for maintaining order in society. Essentially, it refers to the various means used by a society to bring its unruly members back into line.

Yes, the modes of social control differ across different spheres of society. Social control can be formal or informal. Formal social control uses codified, systematic mechanisms such as law and the state, which are emphasized in modern societies. Informal social control is personal, unofficial, and uncodified, including smiles, frowns, criticism, ridicule, and body language, which are quite effective in day-to-day life.

In primary groups where people are personally known and tied by feelings of personal loyalty, very potent yet subtle mechanisms of control operate. In contrast, in modern democracies, the ultimate means of social control is physical violence through police forces, though used economically and as a last resort.

Different perspectives also shape our understanding. Functionalist sociologists see social control as necessary for stability, restraining deviant behaviour and maintaining social cohesion. Conflict theorists view it as a mechanism imposed by dominant social classes on the rest of society, with law representing the formal writ of the powerful.