Cards (2)

  • 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