Social constructionism

Social constructionism and
social constructivism

Dr Abolghasem Arabiun,
Faculty member of Tehran university
Created by:Elnaz davari,
Gratuate student of Tehran University

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social constructivism
• Social constructionism and social
constructivism are sociological theories of
knowledge that consider how social
phenomena develop in social contexts
• When we say that something is socially
constructed, we are focusing on its
dependence on contingent variables of our
social selves


assumptions
• The underlying assumptions on which social
constructivism is typically seen to be based
are:
• reality,
• knowledge,
• and learning


Reality
• Social constructivists believe that reality is
constructed through human activity. Members
of a society together invent the properties of
the world (Kukla, 2000). For the social
constructivist, reality cannot be discovered: it
does not exist prior to its social invention.


Knowledge
• To social constructivists, knowledge is also a
human product, and is socially and culturally
constructed (Ernest, 1999; Gredler, 1997; Prat
& Floden, 1994). Individuals create meaning
through their interactions with each other and
with the environment they live in.


Learning
• Social constructivists view learning as a social
process. It does not take place only within an
individual, nor is it a passive development of
behaviors that are shaped by external forces
(McMahon, 1997). Meaningful learning occurs
when individuals are engaged in social
activities.


social constructionism
• A major focus of social constructionism is to
uncover the ways in which individuals and groups
participate in the creation of their perceived
social reality. It involves looking at the ways social
phenomena are created, institutionalized, and
made into tradition by humans. A socially
constructed reality is one that is seen as an
ongoing, dynamic process that is reproduced by
people acting on their interpretation and their
knowledge of it.


Social constructionism vs. social
constructivism
• Although both social constructionism and social
constructivism deal with ways in which social
phenomena develop, they are distinct. Social
constructionism refers to the development of
phenomena relative to social contexts while
social constructivism refers to an individual's
making meaning of knowledge within a social
context (Vygotsky 1978). For this reason, social
constructionism is typically described as a
sociological construct whereas social
constructivism is typically described as a
psychological construct.


postmodernism
• Some have gone so far as to attribute the rise
of cultural studies (the cultural turn) to social
constructionism.
• Within the social constructionist strand of
postmodernism, the concept of socially
constructed reality stresses the on-going
mass-building of worldviews by individuals in
dialectical interaction with society at a time.


Degrees of social construction
• Though social constructionism contains a
diverse array of theories and beliefs, it can
generally be divided into two camps:
• Weak social constructionism and
• strong social constructionism.


Weak social constructionism
• Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker writes that
"some categories really are social
constructions: they exist only because people
tacitly agree to act as if they exist. Examples
include money, tenure , citizenship,
decorations for bravery, and the presidency of
the United States."


Strong social constructionism
• Strong social constructionists oppose the existence of
"brute" facts. That a mountain is a mountain (as
opposed to just another undifferentiated clump of
earth) is socially engendered, and not a brute fact. That
the concept of mountain is universally admitted in all
human languages reflects near-universal human
consensus, but does not make it an objective reality.
• This leads to the view that all reality is a social
construction, which is close to the view of many post-
modernist philosophers like Jean-Francois Lyotard, who
claim that our view of reality is really a narrative, a
discourse rooted in consensus.


Thanks for your attention


Social constructionism

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