Evaluation

• Real-world application

  One strength of deviation from social norms is its usefulness:

  • It is used in clinical practice - e.g. diagnosing APD, schizotypal personality disorder
  • Therefore, deviation from social norms has value in psychiatry
• Cultural and situational relativism


  One limitation of deviation from social norms is the variability between social norms in different cultures and situations:

  • Social norms are arbitrary and subjective; they change over time and between cultures e.g. homosexuality
  • E.g. hearing voices may be an important part of a culture, whereas other cultures may diagnose it as schizophrenia
  • Therefore it is difficult to judge deviation from social norms across different situations and cultures