Introduction: Normality as a Sociological Concept

Abstract

One of the most interesting promises of sociology, according to C. Wright Mills (1959), lies in its ability to connect private troubles and public issues. An improved sociological grasp of the concept of normality could, I believe, illustrate the value of, and challenges faced by, such an undertaking. Informed by Goffman’s position, which conceptualizes frames as mental structures that allow us to understand reality, and by a broad constructionist approach, which suggests that such frames are delimited by the cultural repertoires to which people have access and the structural context in which they live, I view the notion of normality as the frame through which people see and interpret their particular historical circumstances. By drawing on these theoretical strands and seeing normality as a collective representation perpetuated in interactional rituals, such investigations can illustrate the interplay between private visions and public problems. By studying normality, seen in the context of broader socio-political processes, in this book I propose to investigate changes in the ways in which people make sense of their worlds. Researching how the normalizing power of social interactions upholds the operations of all the other institutions in society can also contribute to the development of our understanding of how social order is constructed and sustained.