Social Construction: a concept who's time has come

books:


	• The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge Peter L. Berger, Thomas Luckmann Anchor, 1967 - 240 pages average customer review:based on 19 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Makes you think, not decipher

A very thought-provoking book. It really challenges you, but in a friendly way. The writing is crystal clear, warm and often witty. No need to "crack the code" of terminology: you get straight at the ideas. THAT is where the challenge is.

Berger and Luckmann have crafted a fascinating argument, drawing on earlier sociological classics (Weber and Durkheim in particular) but also incorporating key insights and concerns from phenomenology, exitentialism, and pragmatism. So there's a pedigree. But you don't need to be confident about or even familiar with Berger and Luckmann's predecessors to understand and appreciate this work. It stands alone as a classic in its own right.

In fact, I appreciate the earlier works more AFTER having read the Social Construction of Reality. That's probably because Berger and Luckmann are so skilled and generous in explaining the best of what other theorists have to offer.

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An important work on how people come to know

The book begins with the defining statement of its thesis (page 1): "The basic contentions of the argument of this book are implicit in its title, namely, that reality is socially constructed. . . ." The essence of this: our understanding of what is "real" is something that comes from our living in a social world. That social world is a major part of defining what "reality" is.

The book is not necessarily an easy read. But the authors' argument is important and the reader will be rewarded by "toughing it out." Even if one disagree with Berger and Luckmann, it is important to grapple with and address their arguments.

One of the major issues of the human condition is that we become convinced that we "know" reality" and reject other people's views of "reality"--when, in fact, as the authors argue, "reality is a construction of society." Much conflict, then, is a battle over constructions--and not a battle over objective reality.

Human nature's role? The book winds up with a telling comment here (page 183): "Man is biologically predestined to construct and to inhabit a world with others. This world becomes for him the dominant and definitive reality. Its limits are set by nature, but, once constructed, this world acts back upon nature. . . . In this same dialectic man produces reality and thereby produces himself."

This is an important work on how people come to understand the world around them and how that perception, in its turn, affects their behavior. Many readers will be uncomfortable with this argument, but it is an important issue to address. And this book is one of those key venues where such an interaction between readers and ideas can take place.

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Profound but sobering impact

I was first introduced to this book in 1970, in a high school class. The concept of "reification", whereby a manmade item is given a cosmic status, was important to me then and still is now. As for some others, the book inspired me to become a sociology major. The thinking, along with the related book The Sacred Canopy, greatly challenged my religious beliefs, as the man-made quality all such beliefs and doctrines becomes apparent. The thinking has also helped me navigate through many conflicts without giving into the man-made reality of the majority. If one truly wants to be an individual, or believes in liberation, this book is essential.

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Social Construction: a concept who's time has come

The book establishes the concept, practice and impacts of social construction theory: a theory of human interaction, relating, and community building. We are beginning to understand that rational choice theory is limited, its bounded not only by the idea that individual human thought is restricted and not omniscient, but further restricted by a retro-evolutionist position that although seemingly "natural" posits mankind in an animal survival mentality. Not untrue, but not the whole story. The whole story is one of trans-rationality in which evolution unites perception and conception of reality into what may, in fact, be omniscient. The bounds of our "bounded rationality" may be boundless established only by our imagination and practical application of social collaboration most effectively operationalized as language: we language our world. We say it is so, and then work to construct the potential of the utterance. If nothing else, it takes the victimization out of survival and ushers in a new definition of adult human potential and also redefines the practicality of accountability.

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The most important book ever written.

This book should be considered absolutely required reading for anyone studying sociology or psychology, or anything else. This book is written so well it elucidates some of the most profound and insightful psycho-social theories in plain english, although some familiarity with basic social science terminology is a prerequisite for thorough comprehension. Its impossible to give a complete synopsis of it in a brief review, but overall the book covers the construction of social reality in complete detail, from institutions to the microsocial world of individual identity construction. The section on society as subjective reality, and the subsection on identity, is of absolute importance for psychologists like myself who work with identity problems like DID. Too often psychotherapy of the self and identity ignores the underlying fact that these are dialectic social products. The foundation of self improvement and change is this awareness of the socially constructed self. This book explains all of this with great clarity and alot of useful examples. This book is the most profound, important book I have ever read, it is the most important book in the entire world. Read this book and you will never see anything the same way again. Be prepared!

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

This book reformulates the sociological subdiscipline known as the sociology of knowledge. Knowledge is presented as more than ideology, including as well false consciousness, propaganda, science and art.

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