Deviation from Social Norms

• Social Norms are a set of unwritten rules about the behaviour that is expected of us within social situations. They are not necessarily laws that will be enforced by authority, and yet these set of rules are important for guiding behaviour.
• Examples of Social Norms include:


  • Not sitting directly next to someone on an empty bus
  • Being quiet while in a library
  • Not laughing at a funeral
• Evaluation of 'Deviation from Social Norms'

  • Social Norms are culturally relative
  • What is appropriate and acceptable may vary from culture to culture, e.g lip plates in Africa are considered a symbol of status
  • This is important because it shows this definition is subjective to the culture people were raised in, meaning the 'Deviation from Social Norms' definition is flawed.
• Evaluation of 'Deviation from Social Norms'

  • Social Norms change over time.
  • What is acceptable and appropriate varies with social change, e.g homosexuality, until the 1970s, was considered a mental disorder
  • This is important because it shows that Social Norms are constantly changing, meaning that this definition is an unreliable way to describe abnormality. This is because abnormality is a fixed concept which is separate to changes in society.
• Evaluation of 'Deviation from Social Norms'

  • Classifying any behaviour that violates Social Norms as 'abnormal' could be seen as a means of social control. Who decides what the acceptable norm is?
  • This means that people who are seen as dressing alternatively/different to the average person would be labelled as abnormal by this definition.
  • This is important because these people may prefer to be labelled as eccentric rather than abnormal.