Normal Now: Individualism as Conformity

by Mark G.E. Kelly

This is a book about what we consider normal. It details how the very concept of normality emerged in the modern era, and how it has changed over the centuries.

By the mid-twentieth century, the expansion of norms across various areas of human endeavour generated a governing normative order in Western societies. Normality was defined as conformity with a narrow model of conventional human behaviour. However, this model has since been displaced by an anti-conformism, in which normality is defined as absolute self-fulfilment, defying older restrictions on our behaviour. Paradoxically, absolute individualism and rebellion against conformity have become compulsory.

This book explores in detail how this new normative order plays out today in the arenas of politics, health, and sex and sexuality. In all these areas, the uncompromising perfectionism of our norms of self-expression leads to increasingly deep-seated and ubiquitous anger, anxiety, and dissatisfaction.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

184 pages, Paperback

Published May 31, 2022

Reviews

[Nyika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of this book has great worth, but the assertion that to not be white is the current intangible norm we are striving towards is incorrect. An interesting thesis let down by shaky assertions which play into right-wing anxieties.