but law is more than the policeman on the corner more than the courthouse where our laws are enforced more than the jail where lawbreakers are punished law is one of three forms of social control which regulate our daily lives custom what we usually do moral code what we should do and the law what we must do now just how do these social controls affect us well in the teen canteen in our town we'll find a part of the answer to that question you see the canteen is always busy early in the evening but on weeknights the crowd thins out gradually so when the clock approaches closing time things quiet down in a hurry the club has its own laws about closing and the members of a them after closing time you won't find anyone there except for the three members whose turn it is to clean up but did i say three bad enough with three great now but only two and he's supposed to be the as manager of the campaign and you know betty i'm going to bring this up at the business meeting tomorrow i'll show vamp jack mcgregor i meant to tell you and betty and as jane my dad insisted that i be in the house by eleven o'clock cantor explained to him he wouldn't want you to run out on your responsibility would he take it easy we're not getting anywhere this way staying to clean up the problem with a lot of us even though i'm the chairman of the canteen i've had to skip clean up to leave to keep from being out too late they may be weeknights we're out of course the canteen around here you'll never get anyone to agree to with us from the start i believe i can speak for the association and as your adviser in recommending that it would be very wise for you to close the canteen on weeknights at ten thirty instead of eleven after all that's customary in our talon the drugstore and ice cream store and most of the places of business are closed by that time and for there seems to me that you might close to the theater stays open later than eleven if we're not a theater some people may question our behavior when we keep the canteen open till eleven i don't think it's right for us to stay out so late always to say what's right we know what's good for us nobody else to stay eleven just because the canteen is still open there's no law that says you have to stay here you have to go you're a lawyer mr parks there's no law is there no jack i don't think there is no but i have heard people talking about your late hours here you'd better realize of the town could pass a law which would compel you to close at ten thirty or ten or even nine t see whatever the community decides is best for itself usually becomes law or community center and we part of the community of course you are jack but thinking of the community as a whole well i wouldn't like to see our town pass a curfew law that some other towns have but you think it would be better for the community and for you if the canteen were to pass its own law because weeknights at ten thirty and so jack is learning about social control it's customary said mrs brock it's right said jay it's the law said mr parks yes they can all see how these social controls custom moral code and law have always played a part in the activities of the teen canteen here as in our general society there are a great many customs and we accept them customs of dressing we are neat and clear customs of courtesy we're thoughtful of others what happens if we violate a custom it isn't serious perhaps we simply lose a little prestige nevertheless customs do controllers we make a habit of following them and then there are moral codes sometimes called the more a these are society's standards about what we should and should not do they are more deeply ingrained in us we simply don't cheat in games we in the society in which we live think that's the proper way in the canteen there's no drinking or get that's in line with the moral code of this group and what happens if we break the moral codes well anyone who breaks these loses social status he no longer belong he's an outcast and then there's law let's return to that business meeting where a new law or rule has been under consideration the things we have for good reasons for setting the closing time of the canteen at weeknights for the convenience of the clean up committee we need in earlier closing hours then there's the custom in the town and some feel that it's not right for us to stay out late finally we want to be sure that we stay within the laws of the town so that we can continue to govern ourselves without outside interference with obvious reasons i'm sure the majority of plan team members will vote for ten thirty close on what you say i think the only thing to do for our conduct made by representatives of the people and enforced by established me we all know that there are many don'ts in the laws we make law prohibits what the majority decide is wrong law directs what is agreed to be right laws require you to go to school so that you and society will benefit and laws provide the schools for you to attend those every day you come in contact act with social controls with custom with moral codes and with law so follows this where you what social controls affect you well in your family and your schools and your church and your whole community there are customs and moral codes which guide your actions many of these customs and more days are enacted into formal laws the town or city in which you live has laws which control you are state laws passed and enforced by state governments and the federal government in your name makes laws which affect you and we are hopefully working toward a still higher level of law the law of nations united for world peace you are guided by all these laws and control new law for closing at ten thirty was agreed upon by a majority of the members of the team can be the good law because it agrees with the custom the moral code the laws of this group and of this community in a democracy such laws and social controls belong to the people who live under that these laws are yours to make wise for them to change intelligently to understand and live by