Negative Social Control: why the Danish Government is determined to tackle the issue

With a 137 million DKK investment over three years announced on January 19, the Danish government is signalling its commitment to stamp out negative social control. The funding comes alongside the report Et frit liv i Danmark (A free life in Denmark) from the Danish Ministry of Immigration and Integration (Udlændinge- og Integrationsministeriet), which points to a complicated issue of individual rights (specifically those of women and girls) being repressed to adhere to community norms, often through negative social control.

In both its positive and negative forms, social control aims to limit behavior that is considered deviant, in violation of the law, or wrong within a community. Mechanisms for controlling behavior are adopted in a formal manner (as with laws or societal customs) and in more informal ways (like community norms, etiquette, and customs that may be specific to families, friend groups, religious organizations, etc.). 

Negative social control (negativ social kontrol in Danish) is understood to be repression or restriction on a person’s actions or choices at a high level. This might be a family member, friend, or someone else (like a religious authority) preventing someone from making decisions about their own lives. As examples:

• a parent may restrict what their child does in their free time or how they are educated;
• a spouse may limit who their partner is friends with or whether they hold a job;
• a schoolmate may influence their friend’s hobbies or interests; 
• a religious leader may prevent people from marrying or deny an individual’s sexual identity. 

Some type of this control is present in most (if not all) families, friend groups, and communities. Not wanting to disappoint someone else or feeling (hopefully gently) pressured prompts piano students to practice scales, encourages runners to lace up their shoes, prevents people from tossing cigarette butts out of car windows, and encourages children to listen to parents, teachers, and authority figures. Social control, which may include feeling shame and the threat of being excluded or marginalized from a community, shapes a society’s shared understanding of acceptable behavior and actions. 

The concept of negative social control can carry political nuances that risk stigmatizing people considered ‘non-Western’ or implying that the social norms of people with Danish-ethnic backgrounds are morally superior. Note that in 2021, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) criticized Denmark’s approach to combating discrimination specifically for using the terms ‘Western’ and ‘non-Western’ in legislation and state policies. CERD noted this distinction could result in dividing residents and citizens who are ‘real Danes’ and those viewed as ‘other’. Similarly, some researchers prefer the term ‘conformity pressure’ to describe the social influence that leads individuals to change their beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors in order to fit into a group, rather than negative social control as it removes a binary distinction between bad and good. 

The idea of honor-based conflict also comes into play, with Nordic governments in particular concerned about violent acts intended to protect or defend the ‘honor’ of a family or community. The Nordic Council Welfare Committee has encouraged governments to work closely to combat systematic attempts to enforce norms within minority communities, envisioning the Nordic region as “a place where people are able to pursue their dreams, free from honor-based violence and oppression”. An example of honor-based violence is the high-profile Danish case in 2006 that resulted in six people of Pakistani origin being found guilty of killing a woman and attempting to kill her new husband after they wed against the bride’s family’s wishes. 

Since the mid-2010s, the Danish Ministry of Immigration and Integration (Udlændinge- og Integrationsministeriet) has prioritized “counteracting negative social control, which affects especially girls and women with an immigrant background”. The most concerning instances of which are arranged marriages and female genital mutilation, with Danish rules focused on hindering religious marriages of minors and avoiding forced retention in marriage taking effect in 2021. 

Primary elements of the bill passed by the Danish Parliament in March 2021 are: 

1. amending the Criminal Code to make exercising negative social control through marriage or divorce a punishable, criminal offense as an act of psychological violence and increasing the punishment for keeping someone in a marriage or similar relationship by unlawful coercion.
2. introducing a Criminal Code provision rendering non-legally binding religious marriages of minors illegal and stipulating that religious workers, parents, and people above the age of 18 who willingly enter into such marriages may be punished.
3. extending the Criminal Code regarding approval of certain criminal acts (e.g. murder, rape, or pedophilia) within religious education to include psychological violence and religious marriages of minors.
4. permitting travel restrictions if the marriage of a minor abroad is suspected.

In addition to preventing residents from being sent abroad against their will to be married (either officially or in non-civilly binding religious ceremonies), the Danish government also wants to stop young people being sent on re-education trips (typically involuntary travel to the family’s country of origin with the intent to undo behaviors or beliefs adopted from living in Denmark). If there is suspicion someone may be sent abroad to enter into a forced marriage or on a re-education trip, the Danish Immigration Service can refuse to issue a passport or revoke a current passport.

Beyond implementing legislative changes and limiting travel in some cases, the Danish government is attempting to to prevent negative social control and honor-related conflicts by: 

1. helping local municipalities establish necessary infrastructure to handle concrete cares, including: creating action and contingency plans, clarifying responsibilities/roles across all municipal levels, and providing municipal staff with training to identify negative social control. 
2. establishing a national security team of consultants offering concrete guidance to provide municipal staff and citizens, such as creating ‘risk calculations’ for  individuals who may be subject to negative social control and assisting moving individuals to safe houses.
3. forming the National Centre against Negative Social Control and Honour based Violence (known as MÆRK) in 2023 to facilitate coordination across authorities and centralize a collection of relevant knowledge and field experience.
4. aiming to foster civil society through a cross-Denmark network of 20+ organizations along with co-funding organizations like Søstre mod vold og kontrol (Sisters Against Violence and Control, which is run by women to help women impacted by conformity pressure), Danner (a guidance service and safe house for women and children), and the RED Center against honour-related conflicts (providing counselling for ethnic minority youths and their families, promoting knowledge, and operating two safe houses). Additionally, Denmark has established a safe house for LGBTQI+ people from ethnic minority groups. 
5. upskilling frontline municipal employees (e.g. midwives, the police, staff at the Agen­cy of Fa­mily Law/Familieretshuset) to recognize signs of negative social control and understand what action to take. 
6. empowering a team of experienced voices who have personally experienced honor-based conflicts to share their stories, often alongside theoretical training for municipal staff. 

These initiatives are echoed in the four action areas presented in Et frit liv i Danmark, which will be a focus for the Ministry of Immigration and Integration and affiliated organizations from 2025-2028:

1. strengthened efforts against parallel legal practices etc., 
2. support and safety for victims of negative social control, 
3. putting children and youth on equal footing, 
4. tackling re-educational travel and involuntary stays abroad. 

One of the policy initiatives in action is the Dialogkorpset (Dialogue Corps), started by SIRI (part of the Ministry of Immigration and Integration) in 2009 mostly to deliver workshops for youth and parents who are immigrants or descendant from immigrants and to frontline staff. The program aims to encourage discussion about negative social control, while also challenging norms that run counter to Danish social codes. 

In a research paper examining these workshops, Anika Liversage points out that youth participants identified aspects of their lives where parental interference or pressure could be positive, although potentially in opposition to Danish social norms. For instance, one Dialogkorpset participant emphasized the life experience her mother would bring to decisions around education and marriage and indicated that she welcomed her mother’s rational input as her own might be emotionally clouded. This ‘parent knows best’ attitude can also be seen across Danish society, with people who do not come from immigrant backgrounds indicating their parents are likely to express concern if they wish to marry in their early 20s or settle down with a teenage sweetheart. 

Liversage concludes that while some Danish youth from minority ethnic backgrounds agree that strictures from their parents, communities, and religious leaders prevent them from living more self-directed, satisfying lives (which the government would likely argue is ‘more Danish’), others do not feel oppressed within these relationships. Guidance from parents and older family or community members may be of particular importance within diasporic communities where members struggle to feel as though they belong. 

Across the Nordics, negative social control is closely associated with people from immigrant backgrounds and their integration into the society they’ve relocated into. While seemingly less of a concern for the Danish government, instances of negative social control also stem from extreme Christian groups, which generally do not comprise people from immigrant backgrounds. For instance, the 2019 TV series Guds bedste børn highlighted preachers abusing their power psychologically and sexually, including subjecting children and adults in their congregations to exorcisms and dubious healing practices.

Within any society, human behavior is guided by the approval or disapproval of people we associate with and consider important. Families teach their members what is normal thought and acceptable behavior. Friends may exert peer pressure or teachers exercise their authority. Religion often provides a moral framework that guides interactions with others. In some instances, however, there can be a fine line between normal, acceptable social control and pressure that veers into coercion. A concrete definition is challenging, echoing US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously explaining in 1964 how he knew something was obscene: “I know it when I see it”. 

Paula Lehtomäki, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers, highlights that negative social control “restrict[s] the ability of individuals to live a free and independent life”. A statement young people across all societies could potentially argue is true if they rebel against attending classes, taking exams, listening to their parents’ opinions, attending religious services, or other societally sanctioned activities. But not all young people are subject to conformity pressures that restrict their individual freedom and rights under the law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. There can be a delicate balance between fitting in and expressing independence and, through curbing negative social control (hopefully with the best intentions), the Danish government wants to ensure young people are able to develop as independent individuals. 

If you suspect you or someone you know is being subjected to negative social control and have concerns about how it may impact residency or have other negative implications, the Danish Immigration service hotline (+45 70 26 28 18) is available Monday to Friday from 9.00-15.00. 

Resources: 

• reach out to Søstre mod vold og kontrol by Messenger, Instagram, or email. 
• anonymously call Lev Uden Volds’ on 1888 (national hotline for victims of rape, victims or perpetrators of violence in intimate relationships and their relatives, available 24/7 in Danish and English). 
• phone the RED Center hotline at +45 70 27 76 66 for guidance on honour-related conflicts (open 24 hours a day/7 days a week in Danish and English).