Ardelyanova Ya.A., Bryuno V.V. Social Control of Deviance in Russia: Theory, Historical Dynamics, and Modern Transformations. In: Modern Russian Deviantology. Sociology of Deviant Behavior and Social Control. Collective Monograph ...

Abstract

The concept of social control is one of the central categories in the sociology of deviant behavior and social order. It encompasses a set of formal and informal mechanisms through which society maintains normative expectations, encourages individuals to follow accepted rules, and responds to deviations from them. In its most general form, social control is based on three pillars: voluntary adherence to norms, coercive measures, and internal commitment to shared values. In the classical functionalist tradition, it is viewed as a condition for the integration of society and the maintenance of social stability. As T. Parsons noted, the most important function of social control is related to countering deviation and maintaining the stability of the social system through a system of sanctions and normative expectations. At the same time, social control cannot be understood solely as a mechanism for protecting society from violations. The sociology of deviance has long demonstrated its ambivalent nature. Control practices and punitive measures can restrain deviant behavior, but under certain conditions, they can also produce the opposite effect. Based on stable social ties, the perceived inevitability of a response, and the legitimacy of the rules, control limits destructive forms of behavior, maintains the predictability of social interactions, and reduces the likelihood of some dangerous deviations. However, excessive, selective, or illegitimate control can intensify stigmatization, reinforce a deviant identity, shift some violations into less visible, latent, or displaced forms, and provoke practices aimed at circumventing established restrictions. Therefore, the issue of social control is simultaneously an issue of power, norms, trust, measures of responsibility, and the boundaries of permissible interference in an individual’s life. For modern Russia, this issue is of particular importance. Russian society over the past few decades has been undergoing a profound transformation of key social institutions. It has gone through the dismantling of the Soviet system of control, post‑Soviet institutional uncertainty, the subsequent centralization of management mechanisms, and the rapid digitalization of surveillance practices. These processes have changed the forms in which deviance manifests itself, the ways in which it is recorded, and its social perception. Alongside traditional issues of crime, punishment, and prevention, digital surveillance, the algorithmization of liability measures, the expansion of control over the online environment, the growth of practices aimed at circumventing restrictions, and the transformation of informal public condemnation in online communications are becoming significant.In this chapter, the Russian model of social control is examined as a contradictory system that combines a strong state role, a focus on coercive measures, moral and ideological regulation, uneven trust in institutions, and the habit of society to adapt to formal rules, including the search for workarounds. The central question of the chapter is how the forms of social control over deviance have changed in Russian society: from historically established mechanisms of state, communal, moral, and collective regulation, through post‑Soviet anomie and the re‑centralization of the 2000s, to modern digital surveillance practices. Special attention is paid to the conditions under which control reduces destructive forms of deviance, and under which it pushes them into latent zones, intensifies stigmatization, and gives rise to new ways of circumventing restrictions.

Content (in russ)