Social constructionism emphasizes theories about reality constructed through social conventions and supposes facts generated through shared discourse about those conventions. As a research method, social constructionism is
concerned with the nature and construction of knowledge
.
Social constructionism and qualitative research is
a natural marriage
, wedded by a mutual respect for the complexities of the human experience and the idea that any one facet of someone’s life (and the researcher’s role in exploring this life) intertwines with (contributes to) some other facet.
Briefly, social construction (SC) assumes that people construct
(i.e., create, make, invent) their understandings of the world and the meanings they give to encounters with others
, or various products they or others create; SC also assumes that they do this jointly, in coordination with others, rather than individually …
- Government.
- Race. “Race is not biological…
- Gender.
- Femininity/Masculinity.
- Illness.
- Marriage.
- Family.
- Organized Religions.
Social constructionism emphasizes theories about reality constructed through social conventions and supposes facts generated through shared discourse about those conventions. As a research method, social constructionism is
concerned with the nature and construction of knowledge
.
An example of a social construct is
money or the concept of currency
, as people in society have agreed to give it importance/value. … Strong social constructs rely on the human perspective and knowledge that does not just exist, but is rather constructed by society.
For example,
your school exists as a school
and not just as a building because you and others agree that it is a school. If your school is older than you are, it was created by the agreement of others before you. In a sense, it exists by consensus, both prior and current.
Social constructionism is a general term sometimes applied
to theories that emphasize the socially created nature of social life
. … For Berger and Luckmann, the basic features of social order are captured in the principle that ‘Society is a human product. Society is an objective reality.
standpoint and partly as an epistemological standpoint within the philosophy of social science.
constructionism requires the use of qualitative methods
.
Where can quantitative research be applied?
Quantitative research is widely used in
the natural and social sciences
: biology, chemistry, psychology, economics, sociology, marketing, etc.
3 stages of construction.
Externalization, Objectification, & Internalization
. Through interaction, people create a meaning.
| gender role cultural norm | femininity gender norm | masculinity tradition |
|---|
Social construct theory says that
humans create constructs in order to make sense of the objective world
. One way humans create social constructs is by structuring what they see and experience into categories.
What are human constructs?
Construct, also called hypothetical construct or psychological construct, in psychology,
a tool used to facilitate understanding of human behaviour
. … Likewise, the behavioral sciences use constructs such as conscientiousness, intelligence, political power, self-esteem, and group culture.
The main criticisms levelled against social constructionism can be summarised by its perceived conceptualisation of realism and relativism. It is accused of
being anti-realist
, in denying that knowledge is a direct perception of reality (Craib 1997).
Social construction theory is about how we make sense of things. It assumes that we ‘construct’ mental representations, using collective notions as building blocks. In this view,
happiness is regarded as a social construction
, comparable to notions like ‘beauty’ and ‘fairness’.
