Social constructionism
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Social constructionism is a term used in sociology, social ontology, and communication theory. The term can serve somewhat different functions in each field; however, the foundation of this theoretical framework suggests various facets of social reality—such as concepts, beliefs, norms, and values—are formed through continuous interactions and negotiations among society's members, rather than empirical observation of physical reality.[1] The theory of social constructionism posits that much of what individuals perceive as 'reality' is actually the outcome of a dynamic process of construction influenced by social conventions and structures.[2]
Unlike phenomena that are innately determined or biologically predetermined, these social constructs are collectively formulated, sustained, and shaped by the social contexts in which they exist. These constructs significantly impact both the behavior and perceptions of individuals, often being internalized based on cultural narratives, whether or not these are empirically verifiable. In this two-way process of reality construction, individuals not only interpret and assimilate information through their social relations but also contribute to shaping existing societal narratives.
Examples of
Overview
A social construct or construction is the meaning, notion, or connotation placed on an object or event by a society, and adopted by that society with respect to how they view or deal with the object or event.[8]
The social construction of target populations refers to the cultural characterizations or popular images of the persons or groups whose behavior and well-being are affected by public policy.[9]
Social constructionism posits that the meanings of phenomena do not have an independent foundation outside the mental and linguistic representation that people develop about them throughout their history, and which becomes their shared reality.[10] From a linguistic viewpoint, social constructionism centres meaning as an internal reference within language (words refer to words, definitions to other definitions) rather than to an external reality.[11][12]
Origins
In the 16th century, Michel de Montaigne wrote that, "We need to interpret interpretations more than to interpret things."[13] In 1886 or 1887, Friedrich Nietzsche put it similarly: "Facts do not exist, only interpretations." In his 1922 book Public Opinion, Walter Lippmann said, "The real environment is altogether too big, too complex, and too fleeting for direct acquaintance" between people and their environment. Each person constructs a pseudo-environment that is a subjective, biased, and necessarily abridged mental image of the world, and to a degree, everyone's pseudo-environment is a fiction. People "live in the same world, but they think and feel in different ones."[14] Lippman's "environment" might be called "reality", and his "pseudo-environment" seems equivalent to what today is called "constructed reality".
Social constructionism has more recently been rooted in "
In social constructionist terms, "taken-for-granted realities" are cultivated from "interactions between and among social agents"; furthermore, reality is not some objective truth "waiting to be uncovered through positivist scientific inquiry."[16] Rather, there can be "multiple realities that compete for truth and legitimacy."[16] Social constructionism understands the "fundamental role of language and communication" and this understanding has "contributed to the linguistic turn" and more recently the "turn to discourse theory".[16][17] The majority of social constructionists abide by the belief that "language does not mirror reality; rather, it constitutes [creates] it."[16]
A broad definition of social constructionism has its supporters and critics in the organizational sciences.[16] A constructionist approach to various organizational and managerial phenomena appear to be more commonplace and on the rise.[16]
Andy Lock and Tom Strong trace some of the fundamental tenets of social constructionism back to the work of the 18th-century Italian political philosopher, rhetorician, historian, and jurist Giambattista Vico.[18]
Berger and Luckmann give credit to Max Scheler as a large influence as he created the idea of sociology of knowledge which influenced social construction theory.
According to Lock and Strong, other influential thinkers whose work has affected the development of social constructionism are:
Applications
Personal construct psychology
Since its appearance in the 1950s,
A usual way of thinking about the relationship between PCP and SC is treating them as two separate entities that are similar in some aspects, but also very different in others. This way of conceptualizing this relationship is a logical result of the circumstantial differences of their emergence. In subsequent analyses these differences between PCP and SC were framed around several points of tension, formulated as binary oppositions: personal/social; individualist/relational; agency/structure; constructivist/constructionist.[30][31][32][33][34][35][excessive citations] Although some of the most important issues in contemporary psychology are elaborated in these contributions, the polarized positioning also sustained the idea of a separation between PCP and SC, paving the way for only limited opportunities for dialogue between them.[36]
Reframing the relationship between PCP and SC may be of use in both the PCP and the SC communities. On one hand, it extends and enriches SC theory and points to benefits of applying the PCP "toolkit" in constructionist therapy and research. On the other hand, the reframing contributes to PCP theory and points to new ways of addressing social construction in therapeutic conversations.[36]
Educational psychology
Like social constructionism,
Social constructivism has been studied by many educational psychologists, who are concerned with its implications for teaching and learning. For more on the psychological dimensions of social constructivism, see the work of Lev Vygotsky,[37] Ernst von Glasersfeld and A. Sullivan Palincsar.[38]
Systemic therapy
Some of the systemic models that use social constructionism include Narrative Therapy and Solution Focused Therapy[39]
Poverty
Max Rose and Frank R. Baumgartner (2013), in Framing the Poor: Media Coverage and U.S. Poverty Policy, 1960-2008, examine how media has framed the poor in the U.S. and how negative framing has caused a shift in government spending. Since 1960, the government has decreasingly spent money on social services such as welfare. Evidence shows the media framing the poor more negatively since 1960, with more usage of words such as "lazy" and "fraud".[40]
Crime
Potter and Kappeler (1996), in their introduction to Constructing Crime: Perspective on Making News And Social Problems wrote, "Public opinion and crime facts demonstrate no congruence. The reality of crime in the United States has been subverted to a constructed reality as ephemeral as swamp gas."[41]
Criminology has long focussed on why and how society defines criminal behavior and crime in general. While looking at crime through a social constructionism lens, there is evidence to support that criminal acts are a social construct where abnormal or deviant acts become a crime based on the views of society.[42] Another explanation of crime as it relates to social constructionism are individual identity constructs that result in deviant behavior.[42] If someone has constructed the identity of a "madman" or "criminal" for themselves based on a society's definition, it may force them to follow that label, resulting in criminal behavior.[42]
History and development
Berger and Luckmann
This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2021) |
Constructionism became prominent in the U.S. with
Narrative turn
During the 1970s and 1980s, social constructionist theory underwent a transformation as constructionist sociologists engaged with the work of
Postmodernism
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2023) |
Within the social constructionist strand of
In the book The Reality of Social Construction, the British sociologist Dave Elder-Vass places the development of social constructionism as one outcome of the legacy of postmodernism. He writes "Perhaps the most widespread and influential product of this process [coming to terms with the legacy of postmodernism] is social constructionism, which has been booming [within the domain of social theory] since the 1980s."[48]
Criticisms
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Critics argue that social constructionism rejects the influences of biology on behaviour and culture, or suggests that they are unimportant to achieve an understanding of human behaviour.[11][49][50] Scientific estimates of nature versus nurture and gene–environment interactions have shown almost always substantial influences of both genetics and social, often in an inseparable manner.[51] Claims that genetics does not affect humans are seen as outdated by most contemporary scholars of human development.[52]
Social constructionism has also been criticized for having an overly narrow focus on society and culture as a causal factor in human behavior, excluding the influence of innate biological tendencies. This criticism has been explored by psychologists such as Steven Pinker in The Blank Slate[53] as well as by Asian Studies scholar Edward Slingerland in What Science Offers the Humanities.[54] John Tooby and Leda Cosmides used the term "standard social science model" to refer to social theories that they believe fail to take into account the evolved properties of the brain.[55]
In 1996, to illustrate what he believed to be the intellectual weaknesses of social constructionism and postmodernism, physics professor Alan Sokal submitted an article to the academic journal Social Text deliberately written to be incomprehensible but including phrases and jargon typical of the articles published by the journal. The submission, which was published, was an experiment to see if the journal would "publish an article liberally salted with nonsense if (a) it sounded good and (b) it flattered the editors' ideological preconceptions."[56][50] In 1999, Sokal, with coauthor Jean Bricmont published the book Fashionable Nonsense, which criticized postmodernism and social constructionism.
Philosopher Paul Boghossian has also written against social constructionism. He follows Ian Hacking's argument that many adopt social constructionism because of its potentially liberating stance: if things are the way that they are only because of human social conventions, as opposed to being so naturally, then it should be possible to change them into how people would rather have them be. He then states that social constructionists argue that people should refrain from making absolute judgements about what is true and instead state that something is true in the light of this or that theory. Countering this, he states:
But it is hard to see how we might coherently follow this advice. Given that the propositions which make up epistemic systems are just very general propositions about what absolutely justifies what, it makes no sense to insist that we abandon making absolute particular judgements about what justifies what while allowing us to accept absolute general judgements about what justifies what. But in effect this is what the epistemic relativist is recommending.[57]
Woolgar and Pawluch argue that constructionists tend to "ontologically gerrymander" social conditions in and out of their analysis.[58]
Alan Sokal also criticize social constructionism for contradicting itself on the knowability of the existence of societies. The argument is that if there was no knowable objective reality, there would be no way of knowing whether or not societies exist and if so, what their rules and other characteristics are. One example of the contradiction is that the claim that "phenomena must be measured by what is considered average in their respective cultures, not by an objective standard."
See also
- Anekantavada a fundamental doctrine of Jainism setting forth a pluralistic metaphysics and epistemology, traceable to Mahavira (599–527 BCE)
- Consensus reality
- Construct (philosophy)
- Constructivism (international relations)
- Constructivist epistemology
- Critical theory
- Empiricism
- Epochalism
- Nominalism
- Parametric determinism
- Phenomenology (psychology)
- Standard social science model – Alleged model of social science thought
- Social construction of technology
- Social epistemology
- Ubuntu philosophy
References
- ISBN 978-1-4532-1546-3.
- ^ Boghossian, Paul. "What Is Social Construction?" Philpapers, NYU Arts & Science, 2001.
- ^ Brown, Sydney (17 September 2013), "Social constructionism | Society and Culture | MCAT", Khan Academy, YouTube, retrieved 12 May 2018
- ISBN 0761971114. Archived from the original(PDF) on 23 May 2020.
- ^ Onwuachi-Willig, Angela (6 September 2016). "Race and Racial Identity Are Social Constructs". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
- ^ Gergen, K. Social Construction and the Transformation of Identity Politics, Swarthmore College.
- ^ "Social constructionism". Study Journal. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
- ^ "Social Constructionism | Encyclopedia.com". encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
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- ISBN 978-1-4532-1546-3.
- ^ a b Mallon, Ron (2019), "Naturalistic Approaches to Social Construction", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2019 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2 October 2021
- ISSN 0388-0001.
- ^ Derrida, "Structure, Sign, and Play" (1966), as printed/translated by Macksey & Donato (1970). pp. 278. Derrida quotes Montagne
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- ^ Neimeyer, Robert A.; Levitt, Heidi (January 2000). "What's narrative got to do with it? Construction and coherence in accounts of loss". Journal of Loss and Trauma. Philadelphia: Brunner Routledge: 401–412.
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- ^ Burr, V. (1995), An introduction to social constructionism. London: Routledge
- ^ Botella, L. (1995). Personal construct psychology, constructivism and postmodern thought. In R.A. Neimeyer & G.J. Neimeyer (Eds.), Advances in personal construct psychology (Vol. 3, pp. 3–35). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
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- ^ Burr, V. (1992). Construing relationships: Some thoughts on PCP and discourse. In A. Thompson & P. Cummins (Eds.), European perspectives in personal construct psychology: Selected papers from the inaugural conference of the EPCA (pp. 22–35). Lincoln, UK: EPCA.
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- ^ Raskin, J.D. (2002). "Constructivism in psychology: Personal construct psychology, radical constructivism, and social constructionism". American Communication Journal. 5 (3): 1–25.
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- ^ Vera Idaresit Akpan, Udodirim Angela Igwe, Ikechukwu Blessing, Ijeoma Mpamah, Charity Onyinyechi Okoro, "Social constructivism: Implications on Teaching and Learning", in: British Journal of Education Vol.8, Issue 8, pp. 49-56, September 2020 (https://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/Social-Constructivism.pdf); Saul McLeod, "Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development", in: Simply Psychology, Updated August 18, 2022 (https://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html)
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Although the phrase "social construction" had been used by Ward as early as 1905, we will try to show here that the concept only took off after the publication of Berger and Luckmann's book, particularly after the publication of an inexpensive paperback edition in 1967
- ^ Knoblauch 2016 : "Berger and Luckmann stressed the role of typification and other constitutional processes like meaning and knowledge only, as they state explicitly – a difference which has hardly been addressed in the literature – because it is "knowledge that guides conduct in everyday life" (1966: 33). The social construction, Berger and Luckmann stress, is accomplished not by meaning, typification, or consciousness; social reality is, rather, constructed by processes which are specifically social, such as social actions, social interactions, and institutions."
- OCLC 1018167337.
- ISBN 978-3-7186-5792-6.
- S2CID 152555823.
- ^ Dave Elder-Vass. 2012.The Reality of Social Construction. Cambridge University Press, 4
- S2CID 23558016.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-312-20407-5.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ISBN 0-00-200663-4.
- ^ Esposito, E. A., E. L. Grigorenko, and Robert J. Sternberg. 2011. "The Nature–Nurture Issue (an Illustration Using Behaviour-Genetic Research on Cognitive Development)." In An Introduction to Developmental Psychology (2nd ed.), edited by A. Slater and G. Bremner. British Psychological Society Blackwell. p. 85.
- ISBN 978-1101200322.
- ISBN 978-1139470360.[page needed]
- ^ Barkow, J., Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J. 1992. The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.[page needed][ISBN missing]
- ^ Sokal, Alan D. (May 1996). "A Physicist Experiments With Cultural Studies". Lingua Franca. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
- ISBN 0-19-928718-X.[page needed]
- .
- ^ Sokal, Alan D. (March 2008) "Beyond the Hoax: Science, Philosophy, and Culture"
Further reading
Books
- Boghossian, P. Fear of Knowledge: Against Relativism and Constructivism. Oxford University Press, 2006. Online review: Fear of Knowledge: Against Relativism and Constructivism
- ISBN 0-385-05898-5).
- Best, J. Images of Issues: Typifying Contemporary Social Problems, New York: Gruyter, 1989
- Burr, V. Social Constructionism, 2nd ed. Routledge 2003.
- Ellul, J. Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes. Trans. Konrad Kellen & Jean Lerner. New York: Knopf, 1965. New York: Random House/ Vintage 1973
- Ernst, P., (1998), Social Constructivism as a Philosophy of Mathematics; Albany, New York: State University of New York Press
- Gergen, K., An Invitation to Social Construction. Los Angeles: Sage, 2015 (3d edition, first 1999).
- Glasersfeld, E. von, Radical Constructivism: A Way of Knowing and Learning. London: RoutledgeFalmer, 1995.
- ISBN 0-674-81200-X
- Hibberd, F. J., Unfolding Social Constructionism. New York: Springer, 2005. ISBN 0-387-22974-4
- Kukla, A., Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Science, London: Routledge, 2000. ISBN 978-0-415-23419-1
- Lawrence, T. B. and Phillips, N. Constructing Organizational Life: How Social-Symbolic Work Shapes Selves, Organizations, and Institutions. Oxford University Press, 2019. ISBN 978-0-19-884002-2
- Lowenthal, P., & Muth, R. Constructivism. In E. F. Provenzo, Jr. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the social and cultural foundations of education (pp. 177–179). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2008.
- ISBN 0-8039-8303-4.
- ISBN 0-7619-1094-8.
- Penman, R. Reconstructing communicating. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000.
- Poerksen, B. The Certainty of Uncertainty: Dialogues Introducing Constructivism. Exeter: Imprint-Academic, 2004.
- ISBN 978-1-59385-305-1
- Schmidt, S. J., Histories and Discourses: Rewriting Constructivism. Exeter: Imprint-Academic, 2007.
- ISBN 0-02-928045-1.
- Shotter, J. Conversational realities: Constructing life through language. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1993.
- Stewart, J., Zediker, K. E., & Witteborn, S. Together: Communicating interpersonally – A social construction approach (6th ed). Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury, 2005.
- Weinberg, D. Contemporary Social Constructionism: Key Themes. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2014.
- ISBN 0-226-89845-8.
- ISBN 0-8101-2286-3. Full text
Articles
- Drost, Alexander. "Borders. A Narrative Turn – Reflections on Concepts, Practices and their Communication", in: Olivier Mentz and Tracey McKay (eds.), Unity in Diversity. European Perspectives on Borders and Memories, Berlin 2017, pp. 14–33.
- Kitsuse, John I.; Spector, Malcolm (April 1973). "Toward a Sociology of Social Problems: Social Conditions, Value-Judgments, and Social Problems". Social Problems. 20 (4): 407–419. JSTOR 799704.
- Mallon, R, "Naturalistic Approaches to Social Construction", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.).
- Metzner-Szigeth, Andreas (2015). "Constructions of Environmental Issues in Scientific and Public Discourse". Figshare. )
- Shotter, J., & Gergen, K. J., Social construction: Knowledge, self, others, and continuing the conversation. In S. A. Deetz (Ed.), Communication Yearbook, 17 (pp. 3–33). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994.
External links
- The dictionary definition of social constructionism at Wiktionary
- Quotations related to Social constructionism at Wikiquote