Deviation from Social Norms

Social norms are the expected rules of behaviour in society. They differ between cultures and between the same culture at different periods in time.

Some typical examples of social norms include:

• Wearing clothes in public

• Saying “thank you“ when someone does something for you

• Respecting peoples personal space

We can difine abnormality as behaviour that deviates from these social norms.

The degree to which a behaviour is abnormal depends on how extreme the deviation is and how important the norm is. For example, not saying thank you might be somewhat abnormal - but its not dangerous just rude. However going up to and touching random strangers is a more extreme deviation of a more important rule and so may justify intervention from other people to stop this behaviour.