Abnormality
Zenas Lee
Professor Carr
Sociology 240
5 February 2013
Abnormal Phenomenon Is being normal a good or bad thing? Some people want to fit in to be normal while others want to stand out. Normal is defined as conforming to a standard or usual idea. But each culture might have different opinions on what is normal and abnormal. In certain countries, eating domestic animals is considered a normal thing to do while other countries find it repulsive or immoral to do so. When someone violates a social norm or breaks a social rule, he or she seen as abnormal. Most of normal human behavior is formed by social norms carried out by society such as eating, walking, and talking. Allan Horwitz states that, “Conceptions of “the normal” are used to sort people into jobs, screen out allegedly abnormal people from valued social roles, define what deviance is, and set norms by which people judge valued behaviors (2008).” This is true as certain occupations such as police officers use psychological tests to determine an applicant’s state of mind. Police chiefs would not hire someone who is insane or kleptomaniac as they are not fit to do the job. What I determine is abnormal is something completely unusual I don’t see on an everyday basis. When you see someone jogging outside in the winter, you usually see someone wearing sweats, hoodie, or underarmour material. But a few days on College Avenue, I saw an elderly man with long blonde hair wearing a zebra-colored shirt and very short shorts. The clothes and the hair is what made me think the phenomenon was abnormal. It was a cold winter day so it was strange to see a person running in shorts. Also, it was uncommon for a man at this age to have such long hair. All of these violate social norm and my feelings were based on cultural norms. This may be biological as he might have been raised to dress like that. He also might be homosexual as society perceives men wearing short shorts as flamboyant. During this year’s Super Bowl,
Professor Carr
Sociology 240
5 February 2013
Abnormal Phenomenon Is being normal a good or bad thing? Some people want to fit in to be normal while others want to stand out. Normal is defined as conforming to a standard or usual idea. But each culture might have different opinions on what is normal and abnormal. In certain countries, eating domestic animals is considered a normal thing to do while other countries find it repulsive or immoral to do so. When someone violates a social norm or breaks a social rule, he or she seen as abnormal. Most of normal human behavior is formed by social norms carried out by society such as eating, walking, and talking. Allan Horwitz states that, “Conceptions of “the normal” are used to sort people into jobs, screen out allegedly abnormal people from valued social roles, define what deviance is, and set norms by which people judge valued behaviors (2008).” This is true as certain occupations such as police officers use psychological tests to determine an applicant’s state of mind. Police chiefs would not hire someone who is insane or kleptomaniac as they are not fit to do the job. What I determine is abnormal is something completely unusual I don’t see on an everyday basis. When you see someone jogging outside in the winter, you usually see someone wearing sweats, hoodie, or underarmour material. But a few days on College Avenue, I saw an elderly man with long blonde hair wearing a zebra-colored shirt and very short shorts. The clothes and the hair is what made me think the phenomenon was abnormal. It was a cold winter day so it was strange to see a person running in shorts. Also, it was uncommon for a man at this age to have such long hair. All of these violate social norm and my feelings were based on cultural norms. This may be biological as he might have been raised to dress like that. He also might be homosexual as society perceives men wearing short shorts as flamboyant. During this year’s Super Bowl,
Cited: 2013. Waitress fired after posting receipts showing pastor’s complaint about tip. FoxNews.com. Retrieved February 4, 2012 (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/01/waitress-fired-after- posting-receipt-showing-pastor-complaint-about-tip/). Savoy, Christian. 2013. “Go Daddy nerd ‘sex symbol’: Actor claims commercial made him a sex Symbol.” Examiner.com. Retrieved February 5, 2013 ( http://www.examiner.com/article/go- daddy-nerd-sex-symbol-actor-claims-commercial-made-him-a-sex-symbol-now). Horwitz, Allan V.2008. “Normality.” American Socological Association 7(1): 70-71