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| This is an extract from a Sociology textbook [Berger, P. (1962) Invitation to Sociology. London: Penguin]. All the following are paragraph initial sentences, of selected paragraphs in one chapter (in the original sequence): |
1. Social control is one of the most generally used concepts in sociology.....
2. The ultimate and, no doubt, the oldest means of social
control is physical violence.....
3. Since the constant use of violence would be impractical
and also ineffective, the official organs of social control
rely mostly on the restraining influence of the generally
known availability of the means of violence......
4. Where human beings live or work in compact groups,
very potent and simultaneously very subtle mechanisms
of control are constantly brought to bear
upon the actual or potential deviant.....
5. Ridicule and gossip are potent instruments of social
control in primary groups of all sorts.....
6. Finally, one of the most devastating means of punishment
at the disposal of a human community is to subject one
of its members to systematic opprobrium and ostracism.....
7. It is possible, then, to perceive oneself as standing at the Centre (that is, at the point of maximum pressure) of a set of concentric circles, each representing a system of social control.....
Commentary: The sequence here is from the most obvious and overt forms of social control – physical violence, through to the least obvious and overt forms, the threat of physical violence and then the more subtle psychological forms, social pressure etc. Notice the signal in the final paragraph that this sequence is ending" :It is possible, then, to….": the writer is suddenly addressing the reader, and using the marker "..,then,…" to indicate a move to sum up what he has been writing about.