Deviation from social norms

Question 1

What is deviation from social norms?

Answer 1

In society, there are standards of acceptable behaviour set by the social group and adhered to by those socialised into that group. Anyone who behaves differently from these social norms is classed as abnormal.

Some rules about unacceptable behaviour are implicit whereas others are policed by laws. Social norms are dependent upon time and culture, e.g. homosexuality was deemed abnormal in the UK in the past

Question 2

Evaluation?

Answer 2

• this definition can distinguish between desirable and undesirable behaviour, which was absent from the statistical infrequency model
• offers practical method of identifying undesirable and potentially damaging behaviour, which may alert others to the need to secure help for the person concerned
• useful in real-life situations

Question 3

Evaluation?

Answer 3

• cultural relativism
• classification systems, e.g. the DSM, are mostly based on the social norms of the dominant culture in the West but the same criteria are applied to people from different subcultures living in the West
• most recent division of DSM makes reference to cultural contexts in areas of diagnosis
• possible to address this issue by including cultural differences in diagnostic systems

Question 4

(Evaluation?)

Answer 4

• judgements on deviance are related to context of a behaviour
• e.g. a person in a swimsuit on a beach would be regarded as normal whereas the same attire in a classroom would be deemed as abnormal and potentially an indication of a mental disorder
• means that social deviance alone cannot offer a complete definition of abnormality because it’s inevitably related to context and degree