Examples include money, marriage, ownership, government, and language. The opposite of a social construct would be
something that is real or true no matter what anyone thinks
. Logic, mathematics, and raw facts about the world would be examples of what are not social constructs.
There is at least one thing that cannot be socially constructed:
namely causation
. The reason for this is that without causation, nothing could be socially constructed. To be constructed means that something has been produced or made, which is a causal claim.
The opposite of socially constructed is, for reason of nature or God or anything else,
nonarbitrary
.
- Government.
- Race. “Race is not biological…
- Gender.
- Femininity/Masculinity.
- Illness.
- Marriage.
- Family.
- Organized Religions.
Everything is
a social construct
Basically every part of our society is a social construct. Let’s take money for example. Money and value only works because we all agree that it is a thing. … Traffic laws are a social construct.
A social construct is
something that exists not in objective reality, but as a result of human interaction
. It exists because humans agree that it exists.
As a social construct,
gender varies from society to society and can change over time
. Gender is hierarchical and produces inequalities that intersect with other social and economic inequalities.
This article rejects the idea that the sociology of mental illness classification and organizational embeddedness shows that
mental illness is a pure social construct
. The three styles of social construction include pure constructionism, interactive social construction, and harmful dysfunction (HD) conception.
Time is one of the most basic examples of something that is socially constructed.
We collectively create the meaning of time
—it has no predetermined meaning until we give it meaning. … Cultures often mark time based on important events relative to their belief system or major political events.
While cultural definitions of family may be based on blood, marriage, or legal ties, “
families” are socially constructed
and can include cohabitation and other culturally recognized social bonds such as fostering, nurturing, or economic ties. … Sociology also studies how family relationships affect members and society.
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.
Social constructionists believe that
things that are generally viewed as natural or normal in society
, such as understandings of gender, race, class, and disability, are socially constructed, and consequently aren’t an accurate reflection of reality.
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’.
Virginity is conceptual, it is a social construction. When
we have sex
for the first time we do not actually lose anything. It does not change our identity, it is not life-altering and it does not affect our worth. … It praises those who remain “pure,” and shames those who choose to have sex before marriage.
Love is
a socially constructed entity
that has changed and developed its role in society over time (Coontz 2005; Beall and Sternberg 1995). … As love influenced marriage, changes and factors surrounding marriage may also influence love itself.
Intelligence is not a social construction
, and it’s not distributed equitably, and that isn’t fair. It’s the single greatest psychological signifier for material success. … Success is by definition a measure of societal “fit” and so the whole program is by definition socially constructed. Doesn’t mean it’s not “real”.
