Research On Pound's Social Control Theory From The Perspective Of Functionalism

Pound’s social control theory is influenced by sociological functionalism.Functionalism is a sociological theory born at the same time as sociology.It is a theory that emphasizes the relationship between the whole and the part and studies the contribution of the movement of the part to the whole.The theory holds that systems have the ability to self-regulate,and that in order to survive,a system must have some indispensable functions.The influence of functionalism on pound’s social control theory is reflected in the analysis of the concept of law,the analysis of social control system and the analysis of legal function.Pound analyzed law from the perspective of society and regarded law as a tool of social control.This social control system is composed of subject,object,means,ways and purpose.Under the guidance of the purpose of control,the controlling subject realizes the function of social control by acknowledging,protecting and adjusting interests through the means of social control such as law and other social control means.Pound believed that law is a special system of social norms,which has the power to adjust,integrate and control the whole social system,and will achieve the effect of improving and perfecting the social mechanism.Social control theory has been criticized by scholars since its birth,specifically including but not limited to: criticizing the legal concept under the consideration of functionalism,believing that the legal concept suspends moral issues and leads to legal instrumentalism;it criticizes the legal values and thinks that it is not scientific to take social effect as the standard to measure and evaluate the law,and the value measurement method of "social interest" is not operational,and will lead to the infringement of personal interests;and that pound’s explanation of social cybernetics is too narrow to explain the social type of "class control".After Parsons,the traditional structuralism went through Merton’s empirical functionalism,Luhmann’s functional structuralism and Alexander’s neo-functionalism,grand abstract theories were transformed into concrete social theories that could solve social problems.Through the redefinition of functions,it optimizes the explanation of conflicts and contradictions in the social structure,and gradually presents a trend of integration with other sociological theories such as conflict theory.The sociological jurisprudence after Pound changed from "pure sociology of law" to normative sociology of law,and then to Luhmann’s systematic sociology of law,which is closely related to and reflects the development of sociological functionalism.To study pound’s social control theory from the perspective of functionalism not only makes the research context clearer,but also makes a rational evaluation of the doubts and the trend of sociological law.Moreover,from the perspective of functionalism,the study of pound’s social control theory can be used for reference for the construction of the rule of law in China.