[lit-ideas] The Social Construction of Reality

  • From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2010 15:44:54 EDT



On Thu, 
23 Sep 2010, Torgeir Fjeld wrote as per  below,
and asked, about Palma's name dropping of Hacking
 
> no, that an  event or object is socially constructed does not  merely 
mean 
that we can't get  at the 'an sich'-ness of the thing, it  means that there 
are structured (and  structuring) ways in which we  render objects and 
events. whether someone is  rendered freedom fighter  or lewdachris isn't a 
function of the non-determinate  character of the  thing itself, but an 
effect of 
structured dispositions to  'think,  percieve and act' in those who produce 
meaning.
>
> the   suggestion that there should be objects or events outside any 
meaning  prodcution  is unbridled idealism --

Cfr. the 3rd edition, annotated by J. Michael G., of "The Social  
Construction of Reality" is a book about the sociology of knowledge written by  
Peter 
L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann and published in 1966.
 
"The work introduced the term social construction into the social sciences  
and was strongly influenced by the work of Alfred Schutz. The central 
concept of  The Social Construction of Reality is that persons and groups 
interacting  together in a social system form, over time, concepts or mental 
representations  of each other's actions, and that these concepts eventually 
become habituated  into reciprocal roles played by the actors in relation to 
each 
other. When these  roles are made available to other members of society to 
enter into and play out,  the reciprocal interactions are said to be 
institutionalised. In the process of  this institutionalisation, meaning is 
embedded in society. Knowledge and  people's conception (and belief) of what 
reality is becomes embedded in the  institutional fabric of society. Social 
reality is therefore said to be socially  constructed."
 
A sample:

"Society as Subjective Reality
Socialization is a  two-step induction of the individual to participate in 
the social institutional  structure (in its objective reality).
 
"The individual… is not born a member of society. He… becomes a member of  
society. In the life of every individual… there is a temporal sequence, in 
the  course of which he is inducted into participation in the social 
dialectic" (p.  129) “By ‘successful socialization’ we mean the establishment 
of a 
high degree  of symmetry between objective and subjective reality” (p. 163)
 
=> Primary Socialization takes place as a child. It is highly charged  
emotionally and is not questioned. Secondary Socialization includes the  
acquisition of role-specific knowledge (taking one’s place in the social  
division 
of labor). It is learned through training and specific rituals, and is  not 
emotionally charged (“it is necessary to love one’s mother, but not one’s  
teacher”). Training for secondary socialization can be very complex 
(full-time  teachers and expert training), and depends on the complexity of 
division 
of  labor in a society (e.g. educational and university system). Primary  
socialization is much less flexible than secondary socialization (e.g. shame 
for  nudity comes from primary socialization, adequate dress code depends on 
 secondary: “A relatively minor shift in the subjective definition of 
reality  would suffice for an individual to take for granted that one may go to 
the  office without a tie. A much more drastic shift would be necessary to 
have him  go, as a matter of course, without any clothes at all”).
 
“The child does not internalize the world of his significant others as one  
of many possible worlds… It is for this reason that the world internalized 
in  primary socialization is so much more firmly entrenched in consciousness 
than  worlds internalized in secondary socializations…. Secondary 
socialization is the  internalization of institutional or institution-based 
‘subworlds
’… The roles of  secondary socialization carry a high degree of anonymity… 
The same knowledge  taught by one teacher could also be taught by another… 
The institutional  distribution of tasks between primary and secondary 
socialization varies with  the complexity of the social distribution of 
knowledge”
 (p. 129-147)
 
=> Conversation/communication aims at reality-maintenance of the  
subjective reality. What seems to be a useless and unnecessary communication of 
 
redundant banalities is actually a constant mutual reconfirmation of each  
other’
s internal thoughts (maintains subjective reality).
 
“One may view the individual’s everyday life in terms of the working away  
of a conversational apparatus that ongoingly maintains, modifies and  
reconstructs his subjective reality… [for example] ‘Well, it’s time for me to  
get to the station,’ and ‘Fine, darling, have a good day at the office’ 
implies  an entire world within which these apparently simple propositions make 
sense…  the exchange confirms the subjective reality of this world… the 
great part, if  not all, of everyday conversation maintains subjective reality… 
imagine the  effect…of an exchange like this: ‘Well, it’s time for me to 
get to the station,’  ‘Fine, darling, don’t forget to take along your gun.’ 
(p. 147-163)
 
Identity of an individual is subject to a struggle of affiliation to  
(sometimes conflicting) realities. For example, the reality from primary  
socialization (mother tells child not to steal) can be in contrast with second  
socialization (gang members teach teenager that stealing is cool). Our final  
social location in the institutional structure of society will ultimately 
also  influence our body and organism.
 
“…life-expectancies of lower-class and upper-class [vary] …society  
determines how long and in what manner the individual organism shall live…  
Society also directly penetrates the organism in its functioning, most  
importantly in respect to sexuality and nutrition. While both sexuality and  
nutrition 
are grounded in biological drives… biological constitution does not  tell 
him where he should seek sexual release and what he should eat.” (p.  
163-183)"
 
See also
social constructionism
Phronetic social science
 
Speranza
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