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Rethinking the Concept of Normality: The Criticism of Comte's Theory of Normal Existence
Abstract
The new popularity of the concept of normality demands a rethinking of the usefulness of the idea. The notion of normal was introduced to sociology by August Comte who borrowed the word "normal" from pathology and identified it with order and progress. Comte's evaluative idea of the normal social form and his coupling of "normal" with pathological, have built tensions into this notion. Despite these tensions, Comte's notion of normal, conceptualized as an average or factual state, on the one hand, and a desirable state, on the other, still underlies our contemporary understating of this idea. A critical overview of Comte's employment of the concept of normal suggests that this notion, in order to be useful basis of sociological thinking, requires a consideration from a conceptual perspective, which should lead to methodological pluralism and a multidimensional approach, and an empirical perspective, which should grasp contrasting tendencies in the construction of normality in contemporary culture
... The arithmetic average has been used to represent normality (vis-a-vis abnormality, in the informal/colloquial/non-statistical sense), and is often used both productively and unproductively as a blunt way to characterize samples and outliers. Prior commentary has highlighted the pitfalls associated with the use of the mean as a summary statistic [33]; the limitations in relation to its applicability and usefulness of parametric representations (such as the Gaussian) when dealing with real-world phenomena [24,26]; and the societal context [25,4], surrounding the potentially harmful perception of normality as a "figure of perfection to which we may progress" [13]. Whilst these commentaries are valuable and important in developing an awareness for what it means to use averages to characterize humankind, they do not provide us with an alternative. ...
... The average is used as a way to parameterize, aggregate, and compare distributions, as well as to establish bounds for purposes of defining outliers and pathology vis-à-vis 'normality' in individuals. Quetelet's perspective was also shared by Comte, who considered normality to be synonymous with harmony and perfection [25]. Even though it is important to recognize the societal and ethical implications of such views, this paper is concerned with the characteristics of multivariate distributions; in particular, those characteristics which help us understand why averages might provide a poor representation of 'normality', and what we might consider as an alternative. ...
Normality, in the colloquial sense, has historically been considered an aspirational trait, synonymous with ideality. The arithmetic average and, by extension, statistics including linear regression coefficients, have often been used to characterize normality, and are often used as a way to summarize samples and identify outliers. We provide intuition behind the behavior of such statistics in high dimensions, and demonstrate that even for datasets with a relatively low number of dimensions, data start to exhibit a number of peculiarities which become severe as the number of dimensions increases. Whilst our main goal is to familiarize researchers with these peculiarities, we also show that normality can be better characterized with ‘typicality’, an information theoretic concept relating to entropy. An application of typicality to both synthetic and real-world data concerning political values reveals that in multi-dimensional space, to be ‘normal’ is actually to be atypical. We briefly explore the ramifications for outlier detection, demonstrating how typicality, in contrast with the popular Mahalanobis distance, represents a viable method for outlier detection.
... Cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead famously documented how the sorting of behavior into "normal" and "not normal" is distorted by cultural assumptions, prejudices and ignorance (Mead, 1928). The complexity of human behavior opens myriad opportunities for personal judgments and biases to shape the classification process (Jansen, 2015;Link, 2004;Misztal, 2002). Imposing labels such as "normal" or "deviant" on human behavior amounts to a sorting process that evokes powerful control on the part of those applying the labels. ...
Purpose
The purpose is to offer a critique of the process of decision-making by top university administrators and to analyze how their decisions imposed their preferences and expanded administrative control.
Design/methodology/approach
In the fall of 2021, the top administrators at Boston-based Northeastern University required that all members of the university community return to fully on-campus face-to-face work. That decision involved a return to what was labeled “normal operations” and followed a year-and-a-half of adjustments to the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on that case example, the analysis then ranges backward and forward in time. Other decisions – by Northeastern University leaders as well as leaders at other schools – are considered as well.
Findings
Leaders impose labels on complex contingencies as a way of constructing meaning. No label is objectively true or indisputable. In the hands of individuals who possess hierarchical power and authority, the application of a label such as “new normal” represents an exercise of power. Through an exploration and analysis of the underlying, unspoken, assumptions behind the application of the “new normal” label, the article suggests how the interests of university leaders were being advanced.
Research limitations/implications
Because of its reliance on labeling, the paper focuses mainly on the words of administrators – at Northeastern University and elsewhere – that are called upon to explain/justify decisions. The multiplicity of interests forwarded by the “new normal” label are explored. No attempt is made – nor would it be possible – to understand what was in the hearts and minds of these administrators.
Practical implications
The article makes a case that any and all pronouncements of leaders should be understood as assertions of power and statements of interests. The practical impact is to suggest a critical analysis to be applied to all such pronouncements.
Social implications
The approach taken in this article is situated within post-modernist analysis that critiques dominant narratives, disputes epistemological certainty and ontological objectivity and takes cognizance of coded messages contained in language.
Originality/value
Everyone has been through a traumatic period of time with the pandemic. The author has focused on a specific community – university administrators and tenure/tenure track faculty – as a window to help explain how decision-makers shaped their response. The author wants to emphasize the labels imposed by leaders and the assumptions behind the application of those labels.
... Se reconoce en Canguilhem un académico que ha realizado contribuciones alrededor de las actuales discusiones sobre el estatus ontológico de la vida (Wolfe, 2010;Schwartz, 2011;Morange & Falc, 2012). Por otra parte, las querellas frente al holismo y el reduccionismo en la práctica médica actual y la importancia de resaltar la "visión del paciente" han sido cuestiones intensamente trabajadas y pensadas por nuestro autor, asunto que ya ha sido destacado con suficiencia (Lefève, 2013;Misztal, 2002;Greco, 2004;Mol, 1998). ...
A pesar de esfuerzos recientes, son pocas las investigaciones que han explorado el tema de la ética médica en la obra del filósofo médico francés Georges Canguilhem. Esto obedece, fundamentalmente, a la posición crítica que este autor asumió frente a las modas humanistas propias de la medicina que comenzaron a proliferar después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Con todo, sostenemos que las reflexiones del filósofo médico francés realizan aportes al tema de la ética médica en tanto que rescatan la particularidad de los enfermos (cuestión hoy altamente valorada por la Medicina Centrada en la Persona) frente a la racionalidad “objetivadora” de la medicina moderna. También planteamos que Canguilhem pondera una comprensión de la vida humana “interactiva” que sobrepasa una visión reduccionista de la vida y que permite el desarrollo de un sujeto ético capaz de producir nuevas normas. En el transcurso de este artículo sostenemos que dichos planteamientos son fundamentales para el desarrollo de una ética médica que busca fortalecerse más allá de sus apuestas deontológicas.
this paper moves from the multifaceted frame of ‘normality' to inquiry how the processes of change work in case of perturbations. The aim is not simply to investigate the opaque region of the world of life that belongs to metamorphosis but to reflect on the possibility to move further obsolete paradigms about what is normal/abnormal/pathological. Through several forms of normalities that result from processes that follow shocking events (social emergencies, severe diagnoses and chronic diseases) the author will highlight the dynamic texture of normality and the transformative power of non-normality. Normality in case of perturbation results not from the limit of the norm, but from the constant effort to re-modulate it. Furthermore, it will be argued that new normalities originate from a process of renormalization, a dynamic which refers to a relation of scale. Deeply intertwined with change, the dy- namic texture of normality cannot be detected by the observer. For a valuable understanding of the opaque region of transformation, it ought to investigate through the lenses of systemic thinking. This approach brings into light two main phases, which are the breaking of a previous balance and the emer- gence of novel, unpredictable conditions. A special concern is addressed to post-traumatic creativity: it will be possible to assume that creativity can be recognized as the capacity to grasp and institute new relations. Finally, it will be questioned whether the term normality in the discourse about health can be substituted by another one, which can better fit the trans- formative power of non-normality and can put into brackets any moral as- sessment of the pathological/abnormal condition of the person. It will be con- cluded that it is not only possible, but also highly recommended in a frame where disease and health can be understood in relation to the harmonic inte- gration among parts and levels.
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