Social Construction of Reality

Abstract

Abstract Social construction is a paradigm for inquiries into how realities are created and lived rather than existing outside of human beings. The earliest mention of the idea that realities are human creations is found in Greek philosophy, but contemporary conceptions have originated with Berger and Luckmann's The Social Construction of Reality . This entry distinguishes cognitive from social constructions and accounts for the latter as constituted in the interactions among their human participants, developing intersubjective, verifiable realities. Suitable conceptions of language are presented, and the role of discourse in the construction of scientific facts is reviewed, but attention is focused mainly on how social realities come to be, are sustained among participating actors, drift, or are reconstructed deliberately. Social constructivism opposes Enlightenment science by questioning the certainty and determinism of its findings. In the tradition of critical scholarship, social constructivism can provide a methodology for exploring emancipatory paths.