Deviation from social norms

• Behaviours that deviate from society‘s norms must be abnormal.
• People who go against social norms are labelled as ’deviants’.
• Society can therefore intervene to make their behaviour desirable.
• Intervention may be incomprehensible to others or make them feel threatened.
• Example: Antisocial Personality Disorder
• Antisocial Personality Disorder: Characteristics

  Impulsive, aggressive, irresponsible
• Strengths of DSN

  Protects society against the effects of an individual‘s abnormal behaviour has on others.

  Helps people- society giving itself the right to intervene in abnormal people‘s lives is beneficial as they may not be able to help themselves.
• Limitations of DSN

  Subjective: social norms are not ‘real‘ but based on the idea of the elite.

  Can be used as a way of controlling/bringing minority groups into order.

  Cultural Relativism: the way the function or meaning of a behaviour or value or attitude are relative to specific cultural settings. Interpretations could vary across cultures.