Immornormalcy: a Conceptual Paper on the Normalization of Immorality Among Student Populations and Its Theoretical Foundations

Abstract

Moral decay within educational institutions is no longer a prophecy, it is an observable, measurable, and alarmingly normalized reality. Yet mainstream psychological and educational scholarship continues to treat this decay as an extension of existing constructs such as moral disengagement, normalization of deviance, or amorality, failing to recognize that a categorically distinct psychosocial phenomenon has emerged: one in which immorality is not merely practiced but actively normalized, socially rewarded, and institutionally tolerated. This paper introduces Immornormalcy as a novel psychosocial construct defined as the collective normalization, social acceptance, and perceived ordinariness of behaviors and attitudes. This kind of attitudes traditionally regarded as immoral, unethical, or deviant within a given social context, particularly among student populations. Drawing on Social Norms Theory, Moral Disengagement Theory, Normalization of Deviance, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and Social Learning Theory, this paper establishes the theoretical architecture of Immornormalcy, delineates its three core dimensions; Normalization, Social Acceptance, and Perceived Ordinariness, and advances six theoretical propositions linking Immornormalcy to student behavioral and institutional outcomes. This work contributes a new lens for understanding the moral crisis facing contemporary educational settings and provides a rigorous conceptual foundation for future scale development and empirical validation.