Social control

Health Management Glossary

Health Sociology

Definition. In health sociology, social control refers to the ways medicine defines, monitors and manages behaviour considered deviant or undesirable.

Explanation

Zola described medicine as an increasingly powerful institution of social control (Zola, 1976), and Conrad linked this function to medicalization (Conrad, 1992).

Related concepts

Medicalization Sick role Stigma

Read on The Health Topics

• Medicine as an Institution of Social Control
• Medicalization and Social Control

References

Conrad, P. (1992). Medicalization and social control. Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 209–232. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.18.080192.001233

Zola, I. K. (1976). Medicine as an institution of social control. Ekistics, 41(245), 210–214. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43618673

Cite this entry: Kurutkan, M. N. (2026). Social control. In The Health Topics glossary. https://healthtopic.org/glossary/social-control/

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