What is abnormal?

What is abnormal?

Abnormal is deviating from the usual pattern of behaviour or social structure, especially where this is viewed as maladjustment or dysfunction.

Any social logical use of the term faces the problem determining normality. For example, Durkheim made the assumption that the average social form of a particular level of social development was also the functional form. However, whilst conceptions of functional normality and abnormality may be relatively clear in relation to the biological organisms, the utility of these concepts in sociology has been widely questioned. With the exception of Durkheim and function as sociology, sociologists have usually conceptualised individual and social variability and deviation from established patterns of behaviour in other terms and normality and abnormality.