Situation Normal

THE latest batch of data released from the 2000 census describes America’s household arrangements. There are a tad more than 105 million households in the U.S., of which 72 million are families (“two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption and living together”). The statistic that jumped out at everyone was the number of female-headed families with children under 18: nearly 11 percent of all families, up from 9 percent in 1990 and 3 percent in 1950. Of families with children, one in nine is now headed by a single mom, up from one in 30 a half-century ago. (In 1950, it should be remembered, there were many more widows with small children; the death rate was higher, and thousands had been widowed in World War II.)

It will not be a surprise to the reader that our society has changed in a great many ways these past few decades, and that what was once unusual and unfortunate is now commonplace. The fine details, for those who don’t feel like trawling through census data, are well presented in Francis Fukuyama’s book The Great Disruption. My only aim here is to ask, and then try to answer, the following questions: Have these changes left us with any useful concept of what is normal? Does the word “normal” have any acceptable usage in discussions about our society and culture? With one in nine of our families headed by a single mom, is single motherhood now normal? What else is normal? With gay-themed movies, plays, TV sitcoms, and high-school student societies, is homosexuality now normal? Is it normal to be a Wiccan? A practicing sadomasochist? A libertarian? Is everything now normal? Is the word “normal” itself now de trop, except as a joke word, one of those mock-irregular verbs (“I am normal, you are conformist, he is a slave to convention”) ? If the concept of normality has passed from the world, is that to be regretted or not?

About the Author

John Derbyshire

Mr. Derbyshire is a former contributing editor of National Review.

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THE latest batch of data released from the 2000 census describes America’s household arrangements. There are a tad more than 105 million households in the U.S., of which 72 million are families (“two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption and living together”). The statistic that jumped out at everyone was the number of female-headed families with children under 18: nearly 11 percent of all families, up from 9 percent in 1990 and 3 percent in 1950. Of families with children, one in nine is now headed by a single mom, up from one in 30 a half-century ago. (In 1950, it should be remembered, there were many more widows with small children; the death rate was higher, and thousands had been widowed in World War II.)

It will not be a surprise to the reader that our society has changed in a great many ways these past few decades, and that what was once unusual and unfortunate is now commonplace. The fine details, for those who don’t feel like trawling through census data, are well presented in Francis Fukuyama’s book The Great Disruption. My only aim here is to ask, and then try to answer, the following questions: Have these changes left us with any useful concept of what is normal? Does the word “normal” have any acceptable usage in discussions about our society and culture? With one in nine of our families headed by a single mom, is single motherhood now normal? What else is normal? With gay-themed movies, plays, TV sitcoms, and high-school student societies, is homosexuality now normal? Is it normal to be a Wiccan? A practicing sadomasochist? A libertarian? Is everything now normal? Is the word “normal” itself now de trop, except as a joke word, one of those mock-irregular verbs (“I am normal, you are conformist, he is a slave to convention”) ? If the concept of normality has passed from the world, is that to be regretted or not?