The human sciences are more obviously normative in nature than the natural sciences, where formal norms related to objective inquiry suffice.
Normative, in philosophical terms, means questions that concern what we "ought" to do.
Yet, as Terry Eagleton says: "Dropping your aitches in Knightsbridge probably counts as a deviation, whereas it is normative in parts of Lancashire".
Self-centered individuals, as Christopher Lasch cogently pointed out in "The Culture of Narcissism," are normative in American society.
Development is less about deprivation and more about transformation – structural, institutional and normative – in ways that add to a country's wealth-creating potential, ensuring the gains are widely shared and extending the possibilities of future generations.
Rabbi Paul J. Menitoff, the conference's executive vice president, said the guidelines were "not the rabbinate saying to colleagues, This is what you better do, as much as we're saying, This is what we think is normative in the movement".
Nor is the ending normative in terms of romantic comedy: the lovers, Troilus and Cressida, are separated from one another and embittered by the failure of their relationship.
Nevertheless, the settlements at which the councils of the 5th century arrived may be and are regarded as normative in the church long after their political setting has disappeared.
Often, traditionalist scholars were quite normative in their desire to describe how political institutions ought to function, as opposed to the empirical study of how things actually worked in practice.
Other research has argued that some deviance might actually be normative, in the sense that group members will accept deviant views if those views are believed to be espoused in the interests or defense of the group.
This literature is mostly normative in nature.
