Psychology

Deviation from social norms -

*Standards of acceptable behaviour are set by a social group ( ie, social norms)

*Anything that deviates or is different from acceptable behaviour is considered 'abnormal'

*What is acceptable may change over time.

Limitations

*Suseptable to abuse

* Deviance is hard to identify - is related to context and degree, there is not a clear line between what is an abnormal deviation and what is harmless eccentricity (e.g what a person might wear.)

*Cultural relativism - what is considered normal in some cultures isn't in others.