The social construction

of reality
ESS6008
Dr Amanda Simon
Reading recap
According to your understanding of the reading:

• What are the key essences of social constructionism?

• Do you agree with this theoretical viewpoint?

*Constructionism not constructivism

Factors that impact on
interpersonal interactions
Macro structural level
Class, race/ethnicity, Gender, religious orientation

Meso level
Institutional ethos, sub-culture

Micro Level
Tacit knowledge, personal
identities, position/role
What is constructionism?

Constructionism is a broad umbrella approach under which

many other approaches and theories sit.

Social construction investigates how human knowledge is

constructed through social interaction.

There is no definitive definition of constructionism but there are

certain assumptions that are central to the approach.
What is social
constructionism?
• Social constructionism focuses on the processes by which
people come to describe, explain and account for the world
around them.

• Social constructionism emphasizes the cultural and historical

aspects of phenomena that are presumed to be exclusively
natural.

• “meanings of phenomena do not necessarily inhere in the

phenomena themselves but develop through interaction in a
social context” (Conrad and Barker, 2010: S68).
“Meanings are not found in things in the world or within each
individual; rather meaning develops in coordination with others.
Language then is of critical importance because it is the system
through which reality is constructed”
(Littlejohn, Foss and Oetzel, 2017: 117)

We don’t just see objects, places, situations before our eyes, we

see them as something. The ‘something’ that we see is the
social construction of the object, place or situation.
 “The nature of the world is less important than the language
used to name discuss and orientate the world”
(Littlejohn, Foss and Oetzel, 2017)

Thoughts??
Central assumptions of
constructionism
• A critical stance towards ‘taken for granted’ knowledge of the
world.

• Acknowledgement that our understandings of the world are

historically situated

• Knowledge is socially constructed

• Socially constructed knowledge results in socially constructed

actions.
“A lot of things we take for granted as given, fixed and
immutable, whether in ourselves or in the phenomena we
experience, can upon inspection be found to be socially derived
and socially maintained. They are created and perpetuated by
human beings who share meanings through being members of
the same society or culture. This in short is what
constructionism is all about” (Burr, 2003: 45)
The process of construction
Community /group
understandings of the world

Conceptualisation/
definition/ categorisation
of object/instance

Constructions become
real and solid

We act towards the

object/ instance
based on its
construction
The construction of a mountain
Barrier to
Sacred development
site project

Monument
of cultural
heritage
Recreational
hiking spot
What about a ‘universal’ social concept like childhood?

Is it socially constructed?

What is it constructed as?

The construction of children
The construction of illness
Video exercise
• Watch the video and answer the following questions:

• How is the homeless man constructed by the other

customers?

• What factors (social/historical/personal) might be influencing

the construction of the homeless man?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFMz6XfLjnc
The construction of spaces or
contexts
We also construct social contexts in the same way that we do
ourselves and other people – based on a range of factors such
as:
• Our experiences with that context
• The associations that we make with the context
• The experiences of others in relation to the context
• The circumstances under which we come to be in the context
But where do these
constructions come from?
• What resources do we pull on to construct the social world?

• Is there anything that informs/ influences the construction

process?
What is discourse?
• More than just talk or language
• Our construction of social realities are informed by the wider
discourses that are embedded within the wider social contexts
in which we exist
• Discourse exist beyond the immediate context of the
conversation, text or action.
• There are a number of possible discourses surrounding any
one person, object, event etc.
Differing discourses
Differing discourses
• Illegal immigrant
• Refugee
• Migrant
• Economic migrant
• Asylum seeker

Each of these terms represent and facilitate very different

discourses, yet they can be used to describe the same group of
people.
• Anything that has a meaning is a manifestation of 1/more
discourses.

• Each event, action, conversation etc has a discursive context

The effects of discourse
• Discourses cause us to see the world in particular ways, they
inform our constructions of social reality.

• Discourses do not remain as abstract entities, they directly

affect social processes, policies, institutional procedures etc.

• Discourses do however change and at times give way to

new/alternative discourses.
Criticisms of social
constructionism
• Failure to recognise objective reality

• Since there are multiple realities and all are meaningful, there
is no way of judging one account of reality as better than
another.

• It is not clear exactly how people co-construct themselves and

what role self concept plays in this.

• Absence of the ‘self’ (attitudes, motivation, personal agency

etc).
• Lack of explanation for wants, hopes, fantasies etc

• Relegation of experiences to side effects of discourse

• Doesn’t explain why we make alternative decisions despite

dominant discourses we are exposed to.
Construction activity
• Think about one of the three key contexts (education, health
or social care institution), how might it be constructed by
service users?

• How might teachers, doctors, social workers be constructed?

• How might this affect interpersonal interactions within these

contexts?
Summary
• Lecture recap
• Any questions??
• Reading
Key References
Burr, V. (2015) Social constructionism. Third edition. Sussex and
New York: Routledge.

Conrad and barker, (2010) The social construction of illness: Key

insights and policy implications. Journal of health and social
behaviour. 51(S), pp.S67-S79.

Littlejohn, S. W., Foss, K. A. and Oetzel, J. G. (2017) Theories of

human communication (eleventh Edition). USA: Waveland
Press.

Shilling, C. (2006) The body and social theory. Second edition.

London, California and New Delhi. Sage Publications.