208 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 2 



SOCIAL CONTROL 



The behavior of the individual ordinarily is 

 under rather rigid and effective control. Pre- 

 scribed conduct is clearly defined and rather gen- 

 erally accepted. At the same time, certain 

 proscriptions upon a person's behavior are con- 

 tinually felt. The comparative absence, in this 

 rural and relatively homogeneous society, of 

 Alternatives of behavior with reference to which 

 the developing child is forced to make a decision, 

 makes the unfolding of his personality a relatively 

 simple process. 



Although control is rigid, it is seldom, if ever, 

 felt to be onerous, since it is exercised subtly, by 

 way of attitudes which are taken over in a spon- 

 taneous and largely unwitting fashion, early in 

 the life of the child. His behavior comes, rather 

 naturally and with a minimum of self-conscious- 

 ness, to be channelized by the etiquette, ritual, and 

 ceremony in which he participates; and by the 

 dogma, myth, and legend which, in the course of 

 time, come to form the major portion of his men- 

 tal world almost as if they had been absorbed 

 with the air he had breathed. The more con- 

 scious influence of public opinion, in the forma- 

 tion of which certain issues are debated, and of 

 law with its formalized mechanisms of control, 

 play a reduced role in both child and adult ex- 

 perience. 



The mechanisms of social control thus are, with 

 few exceptions, elementary in character. Rapport 

 with parent, sibling, or other relative, play com- 

 panion, spouse, or other friend, in which sugges- 

 tion operates spontaneously and automatically, 

 especially when reenforced by prestige, is perhaps 

 the most powerful and effective of these mecha- 

 nisms. "I never go out of the house alone with 

 my 7ioivo" ^^^ said a girl, whose relation with her 

 mother is of intensely intimate character, and to 

 whom her mother is a person of considerable 

 prestige, "because my mother doesn't want me to." 



Gossip is also an effective means of control in 

 the community, although, because it is less spon- 

 taneous and unwitting, its action is less immediate 

 than tliose of rapport, suggestion, and prestige. 

 It obviously involves a heightening of self-con- 

 sciousness and hence may lead to resentment and 

 perhaps resistance, either passive or active, before 



the individual, as usually occurs in the community,' 

 ultimately conforms. "What destroys one's peace 

 of mind here," complained a villager, "is the 'they 

 say that he says' {diz-que-diz). Someone starts 

 to talk and soon everyone is talking. When you 

 do something you shouldn't, you get it from all 

 sides." "As soon as the slightest thing happens," 

 remarked a young woman, "a chain forms. 

 People begin to gossip here and there. By the 

 time you know what's up, everyone is talking 

 about you." 



The effectiveness of these means of control is 

 considerably increased by the circumstance that 

 everyone knows personally everyone else. There 

 is no anonymity in the village. No one can hide 

 either himself or his acts. Virtually everything 

 lie does is soon known to all. The effectiveness of 

 these means of control is also increased by the cir- 

 cumstance that the group is relatively small and 

 consequently the normal curiosity of one person 

 about another is not as easily surfeited as in an 

 urban situation. 



A woman, returning from another woman's 

 house in the village, spoke to a neighbor's 5-year- 

 old child who was playing in the street and then 

 added a question regarding his play. The child 

 ignored both greeting and question and inquired, 

 "Why did you go see Nha Chica (naming the per- 

 son the woman had visited) today?" A school 

 teacher who had recently been assigned to the 

 village arrived at school, one day, a few minutes 

 late. When, some days later, she refused the re- 

 quest of a village mother to let her children go 

 home early, saying, "It's still schooltime," the 

 mother inquired, "Was it not already schooltime 

 the other day when you got here late ?" The same 

 teacher was also heard to remark that in other 

 places where she had been stationed, she "could 

 do more as she pleased." "I could even be absent 

 and no one would say anything about it. But in 

 this little village they know everything you do. 

 If I'm a minute late, there will be several persons 

 de olho comprido ^-^ watching me." 



As might be expected, the significant role of 

 gossip in this society and the normal curiosity 

 of one human being about the life of another give 

 rise to what might be referred to as "specialists 

 in gossip" whose function may be as significant, if 

 not even more significant than that of other local 



^^ The man to whom slie is engaged. 



32= Literally, "with a long eye." 



