ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns inequality in formal social control implemented through legal processes and agencies. It reveals little theoretical reason ever to expect equality in formal social control. The point of conflict theory is that power determines everything, and since power is distributed unequally, formal social control will be applied differentially. There are micro-level conflict theories that apply to formal social control. Micro conflict theory implies that the probability of a social entity's being subject to social control varies inversely with the ability to resist. A more adequate theory for understanding social control will have to incorporate some of the principles of the consensus and conflict theories, and in addition it will have to include bureaucratic and social-psychological principles. The social-psychological and organizational theories to be presented are far less comprehensive than the conflict and consensus theories. The actions of dominants and proximate control agents, as they bear on formal social control, may be influenced by numerous social-psychological factors.
