{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T05:28:15Z","timestamp":1787635695571,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2012,7,4]],"date-time":"2012-07-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1341360000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Health (London)"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2013,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Research that has explored the lives of men and women recovering from heroin addiction has reported that users often claim that they \u2018just want to be normal\u2019. Working within a Foucauldian tradition, we argue in this article that the notions of \u2018governmentality\u2019 and the \u2018norm\u2019 are especially apposite to understanding the ubiquity of this aspiration. Here we focus not on the formal institutions of governance that encourage individuals to adhere to social, cultural and political norms, but rather seek to explore recovering users\u2019 accounts of normality as they are envisaged and expressed. The reported empirical data were generated from interviews with 40 men and women in England at various stages of recovery from heroin use. The analytic focus is upon the accounts of normality articulated during the interviews in order to identify the ways in which being normal is presented by the participants. In keeping with the methodological tradition of discourse analysis we identify six discursive repertoires of \u2018normality talk\u2019 that transcend the accounts. It is concluded that the negotiation of normality is a precarious route for this social group. Articulations of a desire to be normal are replete with tensions; there are expressions of both resistance and resignation. Despite claims by some contemporary social theorists that diversity is the \u2018new normality\u2019, the accepted bounds of \u2018difference\u2019 are limited for those who have been addicted to heroin.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1363459312451182","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2012,7,5]],"date-time":"2012-07-05T02:56:52Z","timestamp":1341457012000},"page":"174-190","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":52,"title":["\u2018I just want to be normal\u2019: An analysis of discourses of normality among recovering heroin users"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Sarah","family":"Nettleton","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of York, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joanne","family":"Neale","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Oxford Brookes University, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lucy","family":"Pickering","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Glasgow, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2012,7,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-1363459312451182","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-4446.2007.00171.x"},{"key":"bibr2-1363459312451182","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1364847042000204915"},{"key":"bibr3-1363459312451182","volume-title":"Pathways from Heroin Addiction Recovery without Treatment","author":"Biernacki P","year":"1986"},{"key":"bibr4-1363459312451182","volume-title":"In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio","author":"Bourgois 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