Social construction is a theory that belongs to the symbolic interactionist perspective. Peter Burger and Thomas Luckmann presented the idea of social construction in the 1960s. They argued that social realities are constructed and maintained in social interaction. That is, we do not find or discover knowledge or reality so much as we construct it. For example, we invent concepts, schemes, models, etc. to make sense of our experiences and we keep refining them as we gain more experience. According to social construction, even so-called objective facts need interpretation. And we do not construct our interpretations in isolation. Interpretations are rather guided by our common understanding, practices, language, socio-historical context, and the conceptual framework through which we describe and explain our world. Once these interpretations are accepted by the majority, they get constructed and become social realities. Thus the actors’ definition of the situation and how they recognize, produce, and reproduce social action intersubjectively[1] is central to how they make sense of their world.
For example, money printed on a piece of paper is worth nothing independent of the value individuals ascribe to it. Objective reality only makes sense when we give subjective meaning to it. That is, social construction is the process whereby a phenomenon is built up through social processes rather than being a natural occurrence. It is the process by which a concept or practice is created and maintained by participants who collectively agree that it exists.
A couple of centuries ago, our reality was that the earth is the center of the solar system. Another example is fortune cookies. Here in the USA, we associate fortune cookies with Chinese food, even though they are from Japan. Even an objective fact like our grade point needs proper interpretation. What do we think of when we hear someone has a grade point average of 4.0? Here in the USA, we would interpret it as a very good GPA. But the same objective fact may be interpreted differently in the UK, where the GPA can range between 1-20, with 1 as the best score.
Thus, the socially constructed reality is a product of our perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and statements about it, all of which are influenced by social, cultural, legal, and political contexts and by the language we use.
In sum, all knowledge is conceptually mediated and influenced by socio-cultural factors. Our social world is negotiated, organized, and constructed by our interpretations of objects, words, actions, and events. This interpretation is based on shared experiences and culture.
The rules of courtesy are another example of a socially constructed reality, which can be different for different cultures and countries. One’s sense of beauty or what is considered beautiful is another example of social construction. Gender is yet another example. One behaves according to the gender they identify with. Race of a person another example of social construction as scientifically speaking, we are all ‘homo sapiens sapiens’.
Process of social construction
Burger and Luckmann (1966) argue that social construction works in three stages, externalization, objectification, and internalization. Let’s look at these stages with the example of racism in society.
Externalization
Externalization is the process by which the meaning is carried and communicated to the outside world. To understand how racism is socially constructed, let’s try to understand the process of externalization first. Some people started feeling superior based on the color of the skin, facial features, and hair texture. These feelings of superiority started to gain momentum in some cultures and societies where the individuals created and maintained this practice of superiority through their language and behaviors. Superiority based on the color of the skin and outward features became a reality when individuals agreed that these differences based on the color of the skin, facial features, and hair texture made people who possess these features superior. Thus, superiority based on outward physical features became a social fact.
Objectification
Objectification is the process of treating nonobjective things as objects. Once the social fact of racial superiority was established, people started objectifying this reality by institutionalizing it by creating segregated classrooms, neighborhoods, playgrounds, etc. Over time, these practices legitimized racist attitudes and behaviors by giving them cognitive, moral, and linguistic bases, thereby embedding racism in every aspect of society and its functioning. Racism becomes an objectified reality that is seemingly objective and stable but is continually reconstructed in action. The processes of externalization and objectification, thus, are continuously in a dialectical process influencing each other such that the product acts back upon the producer.
Internalization
Internalization is the process of internalizing and unquestioningly accepting the intersubjectively[1] externalized and objectified understandings of a social group as reality. That is the objectified social reality (white superiority in this case) is retrojected into consciousness in the course of socialization as valid truth. Over time, such racially discriminatory practices become a valid truth that gets cemented over generations. Individuals learn to legitimize the institutional order which is internalized as subjective reality. Thus, racist institutions and practices become the norm of society. Below is the example of a white woman calling the police on a black birdwatcher making a false acquisition that, “there’s an African American man threatening my life”. She exhibits the behavior of a person who has internalized the belief of superiority based on color. Unfortunately, this has become a norm a subjective reality in our society today.
Footnote
[1] Intersubjectivity refers to shared understanding. Something is intersubjective if its existence depends upon the common features of different minds. Intersubjectivity recognizes that meaning is based on one’s position of reference and is socially mediated through interaction. In other words, knowing is not simply the product of individual minds in isolation.
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Cite this article (APA)
Trivedi, C. (2020, November 25). Social construction simplified! ConceptsHacked. https://conceptshacked.com/social-construction
