Social processes (social control and social change).

The idea

Social processes explain how behaviour is regulated and how participation patterns shift. Social control works through formal agents such as schools, governing bodies and the law, and informal agents such as family, peers and media, which reward conformity and sanction deviation. In sport, eligibility rules and anti-doping testing are formal controls; team norms and peer approval are informal. Social change describes shifts in attitudes, provision and opportunity over time, driven by campaigns, role models, legislation and media coverage. For example, increased female participation followed equal-opportunity legislation, targeted funding and visible role models. The two processes interact: control can accelerate or resist change, and change can reshape what is controlled.

What earns the marks

• Defines social control as the formal and informal mechanisms that encourage conformity and discourage deviance in sport.
• Identifies formal agents of social control, such as schools, national governing bodies, officials and the law, and gives a sporting example.
• Identifies informal agents of social control, such as family, peers, coaches and media, and gives a sporting example.
• Defines social change as a shift over time in attitudes, provision or participation opportunities in sport.
• Explains at least one driver of social change, such as legislation, campaigns, funding, role models or media coverage.
• Explains how social control and social change interact, for example how rules can either speed up or slow down equal-opportunity change.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Treating social control as only formal rules and punishments.

  Put it right: Informal approval and disapproval from peers, family and coaches also regulate behaviour.

• Confusing social change with individual behaviour change.

  Put it right: Social change is a shift in shared attitudes, provision or participation patterns across a group or society.

• Assuming social control always blocks equality.

  Put it right: Formal controls such as anti-discrimination legislation can drive equal-opportunity change.

• Giving a general example without naming the agent or mechanism.

  Put it right: State who or what applies the control and how it operates.

Exam tips

• Read the question stem carefully to identify whether it asks about control, change or the interaction between them.
• Eliminate options that describe individual choices rather than shared social processes.
• Check that each remaining option names a plausible agent or driver of control or change in a sporting context.