ABSTRACT
Social order is defined here as that state of affairs in which it is possible to predict with reasonable accuracy what other people will do in routine situations. Social order arises, in a sense, from a permanent running compromise between constraint and freedom, between the interest of the individual and the goals of society Informal regulation alone cannot maintain order in societies complicated enough for groups to have conflicting goals and for individuals to become alienated from all or part of the social order, and hence unable or unwilling to abide by its norms. Any act of social regulation, formal or informal, can be classified as relatively supportive or relatively controlling. From the point of view of any particular regulative agent, the client is under adequate social control when he is meeting the agent's standards of acceptable behavior while he is under care, or can be expected to meet general social standards when he is released.
