Normality is a concern invoked in everyday life by the insecure. Reality inevitably confronts us with the unexpected; Machiavelli went so far as to ascribe half of political life to the mysterious workings of what he called Fortune. To the extent to which we are necessarily in the grip offerees over which we can have little control, there are a variety of ways of trying to manage our relative helplessness. Machiavelli in his History of Florence sounds blatantly superstitious. In the 20th century, however, old-fashioned forms of magical thinking seem unattractively primitive, and different means of asserting ourselves are now in fashion. As traditional religion has become a relatively unpopular alternative, psychology has acquired, especially in North America, a special status of its own. Psychological concepts may in fact be used for ethical purposes, as they serve to praise as well as blame, yet they can appear neutral and dispassionate, capable of being independently confirmed.

It is in this climate of opinion that the concept of normality now functions so pervasively. To take only one kind of example, young parents, unable to rely on secure traditions about child-rearing, turn to manuals for reassurance and guidance. Dr. Spock may be the best known, yet hardly alone in the extent to which psychoanalytic thinking pervades his texts. Anxieties about a normal fetus precede those about infancy, and extend to all phases of human development; there is apparently no end to the uncertainties of an individualistic era. The absence of collectively agreed-upon standards feeds this lack of directedness. Such conformist pressures have direct political implications; John F. Kennedy, for example, remarked — within earshot of his wife — that he had had to get married lest the public think he was "queer."