formal. :
an idea that has been created and accepted by the people in a society Class distinctions
are a social construct.
Definition. A social construct or construction is the meaning,
notion, or connotation placed on an object or event by a society
, and adopted by the inhabitants of that society with respect to how they view or deal with the object or event.
Sociologists generally accept that reality is different for each individual. The term social construction of reality refers to the
theory that the way we present ourselves to other people is shaped partly by our interactions with others, as well as by our life experiences
.
Examples. Some examples of social constructs are
countries and money
. It is easier to see how countries could be social constructs than it is to see how money is a social construct. Countries would not exist were it not for human interaction.
- Government.
- Race. “Race is not biological…
- Gender.
- Femininity/Masculinity.
- Illness.
- Marriage.
- Family.
- Organized Religions.
3 stages of construction.
Externalization, Objectification, & Internalization
. Through interaction, people create a meaning.
Think of
cocktail parties, football games, bar mitzvahs, political rallies, and even nations
. These are all social realities.
| gender role cultural norm | femininity gender norm | masculinity tradition |
|---|
A key idea in the sociology of crime and deviance is that crime is socially constructed which means
that whether an act is criminal or not is determined by social processes
. In the case of crime, the introduction of new Acts of Parliament which change the law constantly change the nature of crime.
The social construction of difference is a
categorical system used to artificially define people
. … Oppressed people are denied access to opportunities that are granted to those in power simply due to socially constructed labels such as race, gender, sexual orientation, class, age, ability.
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.
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’.
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.
Processes of
doing gender
are not only carried on in our society by individuals, but also through socially-standardizing practices such as legislation or the institutions of the family and marriage. … “Doing gender” thrives on continually establishing a dual order of two sexes.
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.
We
create our emotions from bodily sensations, past experiences
, and from learning emotional concepts from our parents and cultural upbringing. … In short, our emotions are not reactions to the world, but an invention of our brain to explain the cause of our sensations and actions.
