How do those working in the intersection between law and psychiatry make decisions to confine or treat patients against their will? Do they simply apply the legal provisions that are supposed to regulate such actions, or do they refer to other forms of normativity? More globally, how do such stakeholders adopt norms and how is the choice of norms related to individuals’ roles in the social fabric? These are, very briefly, the issues explored in this thesis.This thesis has two distinct, but complementary, objectives. The first is theoretical, and concerns the sociological understanding of the phenomenon of normative pluralism as it operates in the social fabric and more specifically of individuals’ roles in normative dynamics. The second objective is to place normative pluralism and human rights into perspective in the special context of psychiatry. For this, we have chosen to study legal, clinical and social approaches to confining patients and to psychiatric care. This brings to light various latent normative tensions, which proves useful when drawing up theories about normative relations.
