Social Construct

A Social Construct is a construct that is a social phenomena created and maintained through social interaction and communication within a society.

• Context:
  • It can (often) apply to a Social Group.
  • It can be studied by Social Constructionism.
  • It can be created by a Social Construction Process.
  • It can be internalized by individuals and influence their behaviors, perceptions, and interactions.
  • It can change over time as society evolves and different perspectives emerge.
  • It can play a crucial role in shaping societal narratives, norms, and institutions.
  • ...
• Example(s):
  • Political Social Construct, such as:
    • The State: A construct defining territorial and governmental aspects of a society.
    • Citizenship: A construct determining membership and belonging to a state.
    • Democracy: A construct outlining a system of governance based on popular sovereignty.
    • Nationalism: A construct fostering loyalty and devotion to a nation.
    • ...
  • Cultural Social Constructs, such as:
    • Gender: A construct classifying people based on roles and behaviors associated with each gender.
    • Race: A classification based on physical appearance, ancestry, or cultural background.
    • Class: A division of people into groups based on socioeconomic status.
    • ...
  • Behavioral Social Constructs, such as:
    • Good Girl Social Construct: An idea perpetuating certain expectations for girls.
    • Racism Social Construct: The categorization of individuals based on race and associated stereotypes.
    • ...
  • Good Girl Social Construct: An idea perpetuating certain expectations and behaviors traditionally considered appropriate for girls.
  • American Social Construct: Concepts and norms that are often associated with American identity and behavior.
  • Racism Social Construct: The categorization of individuals based on race and associated stereotypes and prejudices.
  • Property Right Social Construct: The legal and social agreement defining ownership and usage rights over property.
  • …
• Counter-Example(s):
  • Economic Constructs, such as:
    • Money: A medium of exchange that holds value based on societal agreement.
    • ...
  • Legal Constructs, such as:
    • a Property Right Social Construct: The legal and social agreement defining ownership and usage rights over property.
    • ...
  • a Personal Construct.
  • a Universal Truth, such as a physical law.
• See: Theory of Knowledge, Sociology, Communication Theory, Social Reality, Essentialism, Interpretivism, Social Phenomena.

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References

2023

• GBard
  • A social construct is an idea or category that is created and maintained through social interaction. This means that social constructs are not inherent or natural, but are instead created by humans and can change over time.
  • Some examples of social constructs include:
    • Gender: Gender is a social construct that is used to classify people as male, female, or other. Gender roles are the expectations and behaviors that are associated with each gender.
    • Race: Race is a social construct that is used to classify people based on their physical appearance, ancestry, or cultural background.
    • Class: Class is a social construct that is used to divide people into groups based on their socioeconomic status.
    • Money: Money is a social construct that is used as a medium of exchange. It is not a physical object, but is instead a symbol that has value because people agree that it does.

2014

• (Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructionism#Definition Retrieved:2014-11-22.
  • Social constructs are the by-products of countless human choices, rather than laws related to human judgment. Social constructionism is not related to anti-determinism, though. Social constructionism is typically positioned in opposition to essentialism, which sees phenomena in terms of inherent, transhistorical essences independent of human judgment. A major focus of social constructionism is to uncover the ways in which individuals and groups participate in the construction of their perceived social reality. It involves looking at the ways social phenomena are created, institutionalized, known, and made into tradition by humans. The social construction of reality is an ongoing, dynamic process that is (and must be) reproduced by people acting on their interpretations and their knowledge of it. Because social constructs as facets of reality and objects of knowledge are not "given" by nature, they must be constantly maintained and re-affirmed in order to persist. This process also introduces the possibility of change: what "justice" is and what it means shifts from one generation to the next. Ian Hacking noted in The Social Construction of What? that social construction talk is often in reference not only to worldly items, like things and facts – but also to beliefs about them.

2014

• (Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructionism Retrieved:2014-8-6.
  • Social constructionism, or the social construction of reality, is a theory of knowledge in sociology and communication theory that examines the development of jointly constructed understandings of the world. It assumes that understanding, significance, and meaning are developed not separately within the individual, but in coordination with other human beings. The elements most important to the theory are (a) the assumption that human beings rationalize their experience by creating a model of the social world and how it functions and, (b) that language is the most essential system through which humans construct reality.

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