Module Directory

Who among us hasn’t ever looked in the mirror and asked: Am I normal? This is an intensely personal question, but also one that plays out in world around us. From birth, children encounter assumptions about how boys and girls ‘should’ act – and often suffer if they don’t fit this pattern. The media tells us that we are in the middle of a mental health crisis, while politicians debate whether neurodiversity really exists. But people have been trying to set out the boundaries of ‘normality’ and ‘abnormality’ for much longer than that. Ideas about what it means to be normal, and who does and doesn’t fit that definition, have shaped individual lives, societies, and political systems for hundreds of years – and continue to do so today.

This module explores uses and abuses of ideas of ‘normality’ in Britain since the 1800s, thinking particularly about experiences of gender, sexuality, ‘race’, and mental health. It brings in comparative examples to demonstrate broader trends across the western world. Students will learn to interrogate concepts of ‘normality’ and assumptions about what is necessary for the self to flourish. The module employs neurodiversity-friendly teaching and learning methods.

The aims of this module are:

• To introduce students to key transitions in approaches to understanding ideas of the ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ in Britain from 1800 to today.


• To equip students with the tools to critically understand scholarly debates on the social construction of ‘normality’ and ‘abnormality’.


• To enable students to critically engage with different source materials relating to case studies of gender, sexuality, ‘race’, and mental health.


• To support students to understand how concepts of ‘normality’ and ‘abnormality’ have structured social and political life across the western world since 1800, and continue to do so today.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Demonstrate a broad and systematic knowledge of ideas about ‘normality’ and ‘abnormality’ in Britain from 1800 to today.


2. Express their ideas on and assessments of the social and political importance of concepts of ‘normality’ and ‘abnormality’ in Britain and the western world since 1800.


3. Evaluate historical and contemporary representations of ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ behaviours and ways of being.


4. Identify and explain the social and political impact of judgments about ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ behaviours in the past and the present.

Syllabus information

This is an indicative list of topics and may vary from year to year.

• Classification, diagnosis, and contested selfhood


• From the Victorian asylum to ADHD


• Measuring the mind – ‘race’ and eugenics


• Making and contesting gender – beyond the binary


• LGBTQ+ lives – from diagnosis to activism


• Psychiatry, anti-psychiatry, and resistance


• The contemporary ‘mental health crisis’

The module will be delivered via:

• Nine 1-hour lectures and nine 1-hour seminars (one lecture + one seminar per week).

Lectures will provide an overview of key topics. Seminars will provide an opportunity to discuss key themes, approaches, and debates in more depth, based on set readings. Students are expected to undertake the reading before classes and be prepared to engage in discussion.

The module will employ neurodiversity-friendly teaching and learning methods. These include heightened emphasis on clear information about what to expect during each session, clear communication about expectations and relevance of material, and the use of mixed media and different tasks to engage attention. In addition, the module employs unusual creative approaches that enable students to work to their strengths, including student-devised assessments, and a collectively developed ‘code of practice’ for tackling sensitive topics in ways that respect the autonomy of everyone on the module.