social control

American  

noun

1. Sociology. the enforcement of conformity by society upon its members, either by law or by social pressure.

2. the influence of any element in social life working to maintain the pattern of such life.

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Example Sentences

“Power dynamics, social control; the actual themes the films are exploring seem very simple and universal to me,” he says, “but the ways in which he’s exploring them are always askew.”

From Los Angeles Times

Government planners see AI as both an economic tool and an instrument of social control.

From MarketWatch

The discovery of such social control of queen specialization may reshape our understanding of the functioning of insect societies and their division of labor.

From Science Daily

Hedrick and Jerome, as homosexuals determined to flourish in a narrowly heteronormative culture, knew the myriad social controls and cruelties, casual and otherwise, that strangle daily life.

From Los Angeles Times

He imagines this ideal church lovingly caring for people's needs — and incidentally exercising considerable financial and social control over people's lives.

From Salon