That’s the Word for It: Normative

Normative is not the same as normal. According to sociologists,  unlike norm or normal, normative has a morally endorsed component to it and refers to.

This word is usually found in highly charged pieces. Check these out:

“Deviant’ is the weapon of the normative to discredit and demonize the Other.”
― Jamie Arpin-Ricci

“Beloved, to be white is to know that you have at your own hand, or by extension, through institutionalized means, the power to take black life with impunity. It’s the power of life and death that gives whiteness its force, its imperative. White life is worth more than black life. This is why the cry “Black Lives Matter” angers you so greatly, why it is utterly offensive and effortlessly revolutionary. It takes aim at white innocence and insists on uncovering the lie of its neutrality, its naturalness, its normalcy, its normativity. The most radical action a white person can take is to acknowledge this denied privilege, to say, “Yes, you’re right. In our institutional structures, and in deep psychological structures, our underlying assumption is that our lives are worth more than yours.” But that is a tough thing for most of you to do.”
― Michael Eric Dyson, Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America

 

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