 Dear students, in this module, we are going to talk about the external mechanisms of social control. External means of social control refer to the use of outside forces to regulate the behavior. In our previous module, we discussed about the internal mechanisms of social control that is your own conscience, yabka zameer hai inside yourself. However, external mechanisms of social control become more effective when it comes to the public places or different social spaces. So, this can include law, formal institutions and social norms. In Pakistan, for example, the legal system and government institutions such as police and other law enforcement agencies serve as external means of social control. Social norms around gender roles and family expectations can also act as external means of control. So, we see that all our external mechanisms of social control are changing along with your age. When you are a kid and you are confined to your household boundaries, then your external mechanisms of social control can be your family members, you get scolded by your parents for doing the wrong thing, or you can get hurt, and similarly, through the reward and punishment mechanism, you strengthen your behavior. If you do a good thing, you get a reward, if you do a bad thing, you get a punishment. Similarly, when you go to school, teachers behave in the same way as you do. The strongest motivation for you is your reward, if you work hard, your school will reward you in the form of a prize, or your achievement will be acknowledged. And if you don't work hard and fail, then you have to face negative consequences. After this, as you become a part of an external society, then law enforcement agencies are a stronger check and balance for you. Any crime you commit, any deviant behavior you commit, whose criminal repercussions are definitely you have to face punishment from them. External means of control can be effective in promoting conformity to social norms and deviance. However, they can also be restrictive and oppressive, particularly for the marginalized groups. It is not necessary that all external mechanisms of social control act as per the rules. The other thing is that the law enforcement agencies do not have equal rights for you. They may feel that the law is not equal to all of them. The law is more for the rich and the law is more for the poor. In such situations, external mechanisms of social control are functioning. But in itself, these dysfunctions are created. But in a natural, external mechanism of social control have very productive and very positive consequences for controlling the deviant behaviors in the societies.