#social control theory

[devianceexplored]

KK3: Social control theory

+ in Nimona (again)

Deviance can be defined as diverging from acceptable or usual standards, as known as norms. These are socially acceptable things within society, whether formally or informally accepted. Travis Hirschi's social control theory centers around the idea of social bonds, suggesting that deviancy stems from the absence of these relationships and a lack of social control. The more distanced someone is from society, or the lesser bonds they have towards it, the more likely they will be to engage in deviancy, as they lack any influences that would drive them away from this behavior. These influences may also present as positive or negative sanctions, an example being facing judgement from your peers when acting out. The four key concepts within this theory are belief, involvement, commitment, and attachment. When present, social control can be seen, preventing deviance. A positive example within modern society would be the granting of public awards, especially towards “heroes”, such as the Carnegie Medal which is given to those who risk their lives to save others. This encourages and rewards good behavior that supports social norms and endorsing positive beliefs, which further expresses social control within Hirschi’s theory. 

This idea of control also carries on into "Nimona”, being a key part within the film. Their authority, known as the Institute, has control over the laws and media, using these to affirm and maintain what is acceptable within their society. A major part of the film would be the news stations, as the Director (the leader of the Institute) utilizes it multiple times, enforcing negative sanctions towards those who are deviant and broadcasting it for all the citizens to see. She would broadcast Ballister and Nimona's wanted posters, publicly shaming them and allowing for all to see what punishment their crimes faced as well as instilling specific beliefs into the people.

The people within the walls have no other source of information, relying solely on whatever the Institute chooses to show them. In this, they have complete control over what they see; in this the Institute can manipulate how people think. Therefore, they can enforce the social norms, values, and encouraged beliefs, discouraging deviance.  

Belief is a key part within the film "Nimona", as the citizens and authorities work hard to maintain their centuries-old traditions and values. They have a strong sense of what is right and wrong, declaring monsters and criminals as deviant and driving them out, saying that they are a threat to what they believe to be “our very way of life” (1:19:08).

This expresses the strong views upheld within the people. The citizens within the walls all endorse these beliefs, quite passionately at that, expressing them and upholding them in everyday life. In this, they fall into line and keep to their values, conforming rather than being deviant. For example, they believe that it is important to follow the law of Gloreth (the first leader from one thousand years ago), keeping monsters out and knights noble blooded. They are further rewarded for conforming to these beliefs, being called a "hero if they drive a sword into the heart of anything different" (51:08), discouraging deviance in the form of monsters (or really anything that is different from them).

Those who have a strong belief in this follow these laws throughout their life, unlike Ballister and Nimona. Both had doubts about these beliefs and less passion for upholding them. In this, the concept of belief was absent in their lives, resulting in the breaking of the laws and expressing deviancy. This supports Hirschi’s theory, since as suggested, the lack of beliefs made deviancy more likely. They had less morals or values to lead them towards what was generally accepted as “right”, leaving them to indulge in deviant behavior in the form of crimes, such as destruction of property, vandalism, and treason.  

Another major part of the film would be the concept of attachment, and how it is explored through Nimona's character. Throughout her life, she has been outcasted from others with no family or friends to support her. In this, she has no one to influence her life or care about regarding the opinions or judgement of others, nor any attachment or connection to society. This only changes when she meets and befriends Ballister. Before he enters her life as one of her only friends, she has no morals, as she graffities on walls, fights with knights, and destroys monuments to the noble. Yet as they bond, she faces his criticism and starts to accept Ballister's beliefs and morals as her own. Not only does he directly influence her values, but in having him in her life she has someone who she cares about, and in turn, she cares about his opinion of her. This encourages her to deter from the deviant behavior that she knows he doesn't approve of, and as to avoid sanctions such as scolding or grounding, she conforms to what is acceptable, earning his praise and relationship as a friend.  

"Nimona” as a film endorses Travis Hirschi's social control theory, being an example of how the four concepts of belief, attachment, involvement, and commitment can help prevent deviancy and encourage social bonds as well as allowing for citizens to be connected to each other and their society. Utilizing Nimona's character arc, the film shows how the lack of and presence of relationships can majorly change people's behavior, as she grows from a criminal to a friend. Yet "Nimona” also expresses and critiques the dangers of the abuse of power within the authorities regarding social control. The Institute controlled the laws and sanctions, enforcing these over the citizens. In theory, this shouldn't be a problem, but the complete control and power that they held allowed them to abuse their role, using the media to manipulate their civilians into conforming to what they deemed socially acceptable behavior. The Institution's power over the laws and news is alike to our own government's authority, with each sanction or reaction being directly controlled, as is what they choose to show the population, and as a result, there is total control over what is regarded as acceptable within society. Though this theory is true, finding that deviance can be caused by the lack of connection, especially to society, the enforcement of social controls and sanctions can become abusive as seen in the film. This can then be applied to a smaller scale, such as within families. Usually, the sanction within a household would be discipline by a parent or guardian, but just like the government these sanctions can border on abuse. It's important to realize this, as the enforcement of control and presence of sanctions can lead to authoritarian ideals. "Nimona” expresses a bad execution of Hirschi's theory, reminding people of what to avoid.

[revisesociology]

Feminist Perspectives on Crime and Deviance

Feminist criminology emerged from the 1970s onwards amidst what is recognised as second wave feminism. Feminist contributions to criminology span Liberal, Marxist, Radical and Difference Feminist perspectives.  Early feminism criticised the extreme male bias in early to mid 20th century criminology. Most criminological theories from consensus theories to radical criminology focused exclusively…

[1000rh]

We are entering control societies that are defined very differently than disciplinary societies. Those who are concerned about our welfare no longer need, or will no longer need, places of confinement. The prisons, schools and hospitals are already places of permanent discussion. Wouldn't it be better to expand home visits by doctors? Yes, that is certainly the future. Workshops and factories are bursting at the seams. Wouldn't it be better to use more sub-contracting and working from home? Aren't there other ways to punish people than prison?

– Gilles Deleuze, “What is the Creative Act?” (1987)

[donotdestroy]

“Critics see the move as an attempt to cater to the incoming Trump administration and avoid political retaliation, suggesting the consequences of Meta’s new policies could have serious implications for the types of posts, hateful and violent speech, and misinformation that can spread even faster than they already do across Meta’s platforms.”

[roscoehamiltons]

something about this post that merc made bothered me initially and i have figured it out after some thought. when i first saw it on my feed, i legitimately thought it was damage control and i'm not sure if it was their intention (i'm inclined to think that it is after lewis posted on his stories this morning), but whatever their intentions, to me it reads as insincere and trite. it sounds nice in theory like oh we will make the best of what little time we have together, but at the end of the day it's an empty statement. like when i see the sentence 'our journey together started 12 years we couldn't have imagined where it would take us' i would think that were would be some kind of follow up about some of those accomplishments that happened in the past 12 years. instead all we got was 'we are going to give it everything in the next 6 races 💪' like ok?? lol. i would think that they would and should be giving it everything they have whether or not someone has been on their team for 1 year or 12 years.

i am not asking for merc to post an essay about lewis' accomplishments (yet 😉) but i am asking for some effort to be put in what they are posting about lewis. there has been a lack of effort put into what the team has been posting about lewis specifically in the past 3 years, and i would not be surprised if the next post that they post about his teammate has more thought and effort put into it than the post i'm talking about. it is this discrepancy that we are seeing that is bleeding into the perceptions of the team, and how they have handled things that have happened on track and off. i will say that merc have improved in the past couple months, but it should not have taken 3 years to finally take some initiative. they shouldn't need people to remind and harass them into posting about lewis' accomplishments and milestones. i should not be writing a rant about how i want more than a couple sentences written about lewis' last 6 races at mercedes. they should and need to do better. i would hope that no one would call me unfair or crazy by saying this or criticizing them. but at the end of the day, it is their job and they have failed at their job, and we are seeing the consequences of it now with how badly the relationship between the fans and the team has gotten.

[serashalala]

Generation Loss's Mind Manipulation; A theory by a tired college student

OK. GENERATION LOSS. That was a ride and it’s not even done!

Fuckin loved it, by the way. It was so good. I loved everyone's acting and Sneeg's realization part gave me literal fucking chills as well as Slime screaming and Austin freaking out while Ranboo n Sneeg were just chill.

FUCK that was cool. Thank you @ranboolivesaysstuff for sharing this with us.

Anyway, here’s a nerd dump on the entire mind control thing. I’m not exactly a genius but I’m studying neurosci as one of my college units and this is basically the gist of how I understand the mind control aspect that this is showing.

SO. 

You recognize this? This is the device that we think is controlling Ranboo’s mind. It’s at the back part of the brain, and easily this leads to two possible structures that it can influence: the occipital lobe of the cerebrum and the cerebellum. However, we don’t really know HOW deep this device goes considering Ranboo’s lucious locks of hair covering the rest of the mask and the fact that we don’t know if this is the only thing penetrating the brain.

Anyway, let’s discuss what we know which is that it’s likely latched onto the back part and thus likely embedded onto the cerebral occipital lobe and/or the cerebellum

The occipital lobe is at the back part of the head, and as you see on the picture below, it’s the visual area (mostly).

To make me sound more professional and shit let me introduce to you the brodmann areas. Brodmann areas divide the cerebrum by its function.

Area 17, 18, and 19.

Area 17 is the primary visual area. This is where you see shit. If the device’s influence is only as deep as area 17 then Ranboo is either literally blinded by the device OR the device intercepts what his eyes are really seeing. Damage to this area will lead to literal blindness or difficulty to see.

Area 18 and 19 however are the secondary visual area, otherwise known as the visual association area. This is where you recognize the things that you see. Damage to this leads to dyschromatopsia (color blindness), and visual agnosia (inability to perceive visual stimuli.). 

Basically to explain, as an example you see an apple. That’s the job of area 17. However, you don’t really know yet that it’s an apple. To know that an apple is an apple, you tap into area 18 and 19– the visual association area.

The device LIKELY reaches into this area because the entire time, Ranboo doesn’t recognize that he’s on a show set and he doesn’t see the people on the set like the directors and the staff. What he does see is a 4th wall.

Upon deactivation of the device, only then does he recognize that oh shit, that isn’t a wall. 

Does it stop there? Ok, why not go deeper?

Next to Area 19 is area 37. This is the Facial Recognition area. It's self explanatory if Ranboo's mind control device goes that deep.

How about Area 39 and 7? They're both Someasthetic areas. 39 and 40 specifically have a lot to do with memory, emotion, behavior, sex. rage, fear, and pain.

Area 7 integrates sensory inputs-- it draws upon stored memories of past sensory experiences. This area aint that deep tho ngl, it's basically the part that goes: yo, this fire thing burns you, maybe don't touch it. This can be as deep as you want to interpret it being.

Edit: I WAS RIGHT ABOUT THIS. Ranboo's stream confirms it SCREAMING RIGHT NOW. THEY SAID. "Change someone's perception of reality, and they will act how you want." SCREAMING CRYING WAILING SOBBING. I KNEW IT. The next parts of the theory will be further discussing the things that MAY still apply, alongside the things that Ranboo almost confirmed.

Next suspected area:

The cerebellum. 

The cerebellum is mostly responsible for a lot of important things (as are the rest of the brain but let me get into it)

The cerebellum has 3 main functions: maintenance of posture and balance; maintenance of muscle tone; and coordination of voluntary motor activity. 

You see where I’m going for here?

The cerebellum is a likely attachment site of the device because it is gunning for that motor activity and posture and balance. It controls the agonist and antagonist coordination of the muscles to make sure that there’s no jerky movements going on. As for posture and balance, it can affect your movements so that you don’t look robotic, and so that you don’t have to voluntarily maintain your posture. Maintenance of muscle tone has the same idea.

It is also the best bet because it has its lapses.

While it controls a lot of motor function, it isn’t the only site of motor control in the body. There’s other areas, like the Basal Nuclei, the motor area of the cerebrum (brodmann area 4 and 6) and the spinalcord (though this is more on reactionary shit).

It makes the device fallible where the fine motor movements (such as in the fingertips, where the cerebellum controls less of) is less prone to influence by the device, leading to this nifty clip right here:

And this here too:

They're able to do morse code with his hands, the fingers.

And, chances are, the reason they have a mask in the first place is because it’s significantly more difficult to reach the area that controls the facial expressions since that is a direct connection from the brain to the face via the Facial Nerve that stems anteriorly to from the brainstem. It’d be hard to reach from behind especially. (unless the device yanknow, snuck around the spine or something idk)

So if the connection is posterior, they’d have difficulty reaching that (to a safe extent, at least. We have no idea how deep it goes.

Then again, we don’t know the function of the rest of the mask.

Now for some close competitors of where the mind control device is attached/penetrating!

"But sera, what if it influences at a lower level than the occipital lobe or the cerebellum?"

Cervical spine C1 Level

Difficult to defend. That leaves the problem of Ranboo's speech control. The lower the level the less things it's able to influence. At C1 level, a person's speech, which is something Ranboo's clearly being influenced over, can't be damaged from this level.

"How are we so sure that it's at the back??"

Because it's the clearest shot we've got with that weird circle thing.

Frontal Lobe

This one is a good contender. The Frontal Lobe has the Decision and / or Judgement Center of the brain (area 10, more to be mentioned about this later), as well as the motor areas (areas 4 and 6), and twisting that could lead to being able to change what a person does when faced with a stimuli as well as a bigger portion of voluntary movement.

However, this one is difficult to visually justify.

While it's true that we can't see much behind the mask, we also can't see it penetrate towards the frontal lobe. Let's say it penetrates through the mouth somehow-- how is Ranboo's diction so clear?

But the reason why it's a very good contender is that it could possibly go through the nose. Did you know that the cribriform plate, the part of the skull where the olfactory nerve goes through, is the easiest to break? and thus it's also the easiest to penetrate?

Issue with that though is that Ranboo has a working sense of smell. The Olfactory nerve (smelling nerve) is easy to disturb.

Anything deeper? More anterior?

Any deeper structures are likely too unimportant-- the diencephalon, pons are all mostly on the hormonal / nonvoluntary actions (breathing, sweat, thirst, hunger, etc). Those aren't too fun to control especially when what you want is a puppet.

The most likely candidate is the basal nuclei, which has a lot to do with movement. However it's mostly useless when you target it because it's goal is to make sure that when you want to raise a glass, you don't yeet it to the sky. It makes sure that you have the right amount of output to the muscle without overcompensating.

So what does the device control?

Both.

Well, not both. All-- err, mostly. Ding ding ding! They're all winners.

Only at its best, though, which was during Episode 1 (when undisturbed)-- NOT episode 2.

At its best, the mask is able to take full function of the brain-- most strongly at where it's sourced, though, which is at the posterior regions. Weaker control is evident when you see the finger taps that Ranboo is still able to do. Think of it as some sort of energy gradient-- most concentrated at the back of the head, and weakest at the front.

At its blinking state, influenced by the outsider, Ranboo regains Control of most of the more anterior parts of the brain, but you'd notice it's still blinking-- it never really fully released Ranboo. Its still got a strong influence at the back portion of the brain.

It takes a lot to rip away its influence from Ranboo, as you can see from what the weird shadowy figure from the TV says in the end where he had to do something to disable it fully before Ranboo breaks the fourth wall.

How do we know that? Let's go back to the clip where Ranboo FULLY 'wakes up':

It took some effort by the hacker to fully release Ranboo, but until that point Ranboo hadn't even seen the 4th wall despite being able to gain autonomy of most their function.

Then let's go back to the part where, when Ranboo's device was 'reset':

You notice how the showbizz person isn't someone they interact with? They don't SEE these people. The device is still on, because it's intercepting with Ranboo's perception.

Let's go back to the announcements then.

We don't get to choose a lot this episode, instead we're subjected to puzzles that have more to do with everyone else BUT Ranboo.

I present to you, Brodmann Area 10

This is the largest area in the frontal lobe, and is incharge of decision making (among other things). We, the audience, can't make decisions as flexibly anymore because they needed a stricter control of the device.

The hacker is able to intercept that flexibility and thus the showfall media reduced the extent of which we're able to control ranboo, taking all that control for themselves. It isn't interactive anymore.

Literally being gatekeeped from the audience, smh.

Now what?

A summary of course.

I suspect that when the lights are on (in the mask), it has a stronger pulse and thus influences a larger chunk of his head, ABLE (but not necessarily) to reach the frontal lobe.

It blinks, then it indicates that its pulse is weaker, but still present (the cerebellum is slightly further to reach than the occipital lobe) which is why his sight might still be influenced.

And lights being gone? That's Ranboo's full autonomy baybee. They're back in business!

As for the others' mind manipulation system, I'm not quite sure yet. Probably could reduce it to having already been subjected to being conditioned, not like our 'fresh' protagonist. I'll probably add onto this when something clicks in the future.

This ended up a lot longer than intended...

Anyway, that’s just a theory, a tired-college-student-from-an-allied-health-course theory. Thanks for reading.

[always-a-joyful-note]

Fly Away really are that duo where one of them is like "I want to support you and make you shine brighter than the stars and psychoanalyse you until I understand you more than you understand yourself. I want to push you to break your limits and believe in you more than anyone else because I absolutely do believe in you more than anyone else. I may not have had any friends before, but I know that I simply admire and love you and that's enough for me" and the other is like "You are the first person to have seen me for more than my weaknesses, and I am so eternally grateful for that. Your words provide me with the freedom to understand I'm not in this alone, and it makes me see that I want you by my side, supporting me, while I stay by yours supporting you. Because you're my friend, right?" And then you'll say one (1) minor problem and have them bicker like the bratty teens they are.

[ghost-bard]

Ok so i def think that for whatever reason Jerma is either willingly with Showfall Media or plays a much bigger role than we suspect.

The reason why i think this leads back to the “missing” posters in the Showfall Media announcement video, where we very clearly see posters of Sneeg and Charlie, and then the video glitches and we’re told that they were already taken.

This makes me believe that Sneeg and Charlie were the first ones, Charlie then Sneeg then Ranboo.

Charlie seems more self aware and is not as “npc” like as Sneeg and Ranboo, whereas they are the participants of the game, Sneeg having already failed and Ranboo the next player.

Another thing is that other than Ranboo, Charlie is the only one so far to have more than one teaser of sorts. Sneeg has a missing poster, Jerma has a voice line teaser, Charlie has both.

Which means that we can guess that Jerma is the next “room boss” of sorts, and is willingly doing this. Plus, with his connection to rats it would strike me as odd that TSE: 1 ended with 2 ppl in rat masks knocked Ranboo out and not someone more inconspicuous, if not for the fact that Jerma is in on whatever Showfall Media has done and what they plan on doing.

Sneeg is very similar to Ranboo is that he is just a participant and seems kind of confused on whats happening but at the same time is still playing the game, no questions asked. He has already been in Ranboos place and is now being forced to act like nothing is wrong.

And then theres Charlie, he was the first to dig in too deep and pay the price. I think he went missing a while ago, or maybe he got in too deep and couldnt find a way out until it was too late, and because Showfall Media couldn’t do anything else with him, they made him a room boss, forcing him to do what he set out to destory.

Also i want to point out that during TSE: 1 Charlie says something along the lines of “i could never like someone who likes rats” which once again makes me think of Jerma, and how he has a larger role in all of this, and that maybe Charlie, with what self awareness he had, was trying to warn Ranboo about him?

There is definitely a reason why Charlie has 2 teasers whereas Jerma and Sneeg had 1, and i think it connects to who is actively with Showfall Media and who isn’t.

[kilowogcore]

Grodd dangit, Harley, what have I told ya' about breakin' the fourth wall?

She's right though! Are ya' organizin', poozer? If ya' can say without breakin' OpSec, lemme know so it can encourage everyone! Don't matter how big or small the action is, little stuff is important too!

(Art sampled from "Harley Quinn" Vol. 4 #41 by Tini Howard, Sweeny Boo, Steve Wands, James reid, Arianna Turturro, and Rob Levin. Edits: Dialogue, Balloons)

[night-the-beloved]

It is too early to start speculation about generation 2; but I just had some ideas and concepts in my brain

Showfall wants famous internet figures it seems so theyll get new ones, since the others died in episode 2, and Ranboo will be placed in a different role if he does not manage to escape

Two of them could be tommy and Wilbur soot, hell they could get the rest of the sorry boys excluding charlie

[milkstoner]

I don't have an insta 😔

I do have to respect that honestly.

[figurativepieceoftrash]

No idea where those old character bingos I completed are (Tumblr search function work challenge: difficulty impossible) but yeah. I REALLY should've marked up the missed potential spaces for the Shigaraki twins, huh 🙃

[1000rh]

Our own everyday lives and actions seem to be increasingly beyond our own control, and not even the experts who appear to be the guardians of ‘theoretical’ controllability are capable of creating the impression of control through calculation. The expansion of our technological reach is not increasing our self-efficacy, but undermining it. We feel ourselves powerless or blameworthy in an unresponsive world.

– Hartmut Rosa, The Uncontrollability of the World (2020)

[ourladyoftheflytrap]

I'm not excited for this semester's paper bc the topic has been chosen for me and I never do well with predetermined topics

[untypicable]

Navigating Power and Knowledge: An Introduction to Michel Foucault

Sociology often feels like a treasure chest where the jewels are buried under layers of jargon. Yet, if you dig deep enough, you’ll find thinkers like Michel Foucault—who, while no less complex, turns out to be more like an eccentric guide in a maze of power structures and philosophical intrigue. If Pierre Bourdieu was the Hercule Poirot of social capital, Foucault is the Sherlock Holmes of…

[advent-conspiacist]

The Report from Iron Mountain: A Conspiracy Classic Revisited

A shadowy, think tank/government conspiracy Introduction 1960s-era document with a “Top Secret” stamp. Few works have captured the imagination of conspiracy enthusiasts like The Report from Iron Mountain. Published in 1967, it purportedly exposed findings from a secret U.S. government think tank that was tasked with an exciting task: to explore the implications of lasting peace. Its conclusion…