In our society, appearance is very much linked to norms. Our country
             has very solid views on what is "normal" and "fashionable" for people to
             wear. What they wear also has the ability to show what social class they
             belong to or how they are trying to portray themselves. Robert Merton, in
             "The Normative Structure of Science" sets forth four sets of "institutional
             imperatives" that together "comprise the ethos of modern science":
             universalism, communism, disinterestedness, and organized skepticism.
             Merton says "The acceptance or rejection of a scientific claim should
             not depend upon the personal or social background of the person offering
             that claim." If the claim is that people who wear clothing to present
             themselves as either Gothic, or high class, this theory applies because it
             is only "different" or "deviant" in the eye of the person who does not
             dress the same way. Merton also states that "Claims should not be put
             forth solely to further one's interests or advance one's own agenda". This
             theory is also relevant to the wearing of different styles of clothing for
             basically the same reason as the first. The majority of people who find
             the wearing of Gothic style clothing to be "deviant" have an interest in
             labeling it that way so that they seem "normal".
             In an article from the New York times, the author speaking about the
             subject of the piece wearing Gothic clothing says "'Tabitha has a neo-
             romantic, Gothic sensibility about her,'' he said. ''The look is sincere to
             who she is (Blumenthal, 2011). Society dictates what is normal by what the
             majority of us do, but this is not what is right for everyone. As our
             lecture stated, deviance is social and rarely accomplished independently
             from others. It is not just one person bucking the "norm" by wearing
             Gothic or high end clothing, there are groups of them and they want to have
             their own individuality by making their own choices...