Social Construction of Reality

• Social construction of reality asserts that?


  Reality is socially constructed through human interactions and shared understanding
• The theory emphasized the subjective meaning individuals attach to their social experiences
• Instead of objective truth...

  What we perceive as "real" is shaped by collective agreements and shared understandings
• Social institutions, cultural norms, and everyday interactions are established and maintained through?


  Shared meanings and social routines
• Different societies may have distinct perceptions of reality based on their social contexts
• Media and communication contribute to reinforcing these constructed realities
• Proponents of Social Construction of Reality

  Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann
• Year proposed

  1966
• Common sense 


  Provides the basic, shared knowledge that is necessary for navigating the ordered , structured, and, predictable reality
• "Common sense" emerges from the?

  Intersubjective world
• Intersubjective world 


  Where mutual agreements among individuals create a common sense of reality.
• Paramount reality (par excellence)


  Represents the overarching, taken-for-granted perception of daily life influenced by shared understanding. This reality cannot be changed or escaped.
• Other realities may be seen as finite provinces of meaning 


  Defined as the 'turning away' of reality in everyday life in a radical kind
• Examples of "other realities"

  Daydreaming, religion, aesthetics
• Other realities is a temporary escape but doesn't change the structured reality of daily life
• Shared knowledge of traffic rules and routines makes life predictable

  This is an example of? Paramount reality.
• The reality of everyday life is shared with others.
• Face-to-face situations

  Most important experiences as there is continuous and reciprocated interchange of expressivity that allow speakers to interact more closely and appropriately
• Typification

  Help us decide on how we interact with someone by assigning a certain 'type' (example: man, buyer, jovial type)
• Typification gets reshaped in face-to-face situations


  One can know a person better as more interactions happen
• Role performance


  Individuals manage impressions and typifications in everyday life
• "The social reality of everyday life is thus apprehended in a continuum of typifications." (Berger & Luckmann)
• Less face-to-face interactions

  Typifications become more general
• When typifications continue on and people continuously use them in interactions...

  Social structure is built
• Evolving interaction (with someone you assigned a typification to) will gradually build up your understanding of them and contribute to the social structure of the workplace as these patterns of behavior become part of how you relate to them and others.
• Berger and Luckmann emphasize that language is fundamental to the social construction of reality.
• Language functions in what way?

  It functions symbolically. Words are symbols that represent abstract concepts and ideas, and transcends immediate experiences to address complex social constructs.
• Through language, human-created concepts appear as objective realities independent of individuals.
• Language = human-created concepts become objectivated concepts = these concepts acquire meaning through social interactions = shared social reality = social stock of knowledge that guides daily life and social functioning
• Language ambiguity and miscommunication

  (1) Disrupt the shared meanings that sustain the socially constructed reality = (2) confusion = (3) weaken the shared understanding of reality = (4) fragmentation of the predictable = (5) social disorientation and potential conflict
• Language through social interactions shapes and maintains social construction and cultural realities
• Language is a tool for helping individuals shape and perceive their cultural identities