Social Constructivism And Social Construction

Social constructivism is the theory that explains the idea of the changing world and the reality we are trying to understand, which is not merely something that exists, unrelated to us or different from us. Rather, it is something we are constantly taking part in, in the making of this world and production of our own realities through experiences and by attaching meanings to common acts, things and certain objects we use in our social worlds. In other terms, it is to say, we construct our own realities and social society by participating and creating these worlds through social construction. Speaking of which, social construction is the act of adding meaning to such objects, events, characters and other items surrounding us. To demonstrate,

Often times, social constructivism is molded by social, economic and political factors that control our social worlds. The act of social construction creates norms in society that commonly oppress certain individuals to conform to, in order to understand our realities and the world we’re living in. These norms and beliefs are socially constructed; thus, they keep changing overtime and these are learned through education, the justice system or through the engagement with popular culture. Taking into consideration of the several viewpoints learned in class and seen in society, it is clear that our existence and the following topics we discussed, race and racism, health and technology and finally power and privilege are all socially constructed. This is because, these topics did not simply exist or just develop them self, in fact, it is us who give meaning and understanding to certain objects, items, events or people in world that give them a certain position in our social

The entire concept of race and racism is a social construct as it is us human beings that give white individuals the power and authority to be defined as the norm in society. In other words, it is us who believe white individuals are superior than the rest in society, which leads to racial groupings and the act of racism towards one another. As a result, these racist acts and groupings affect several individuals and make them feel alienated. For example, as Cole described Markian Lozowchuk’s experience; “Whether it was motivated by ignorance, training, police culture or something else, the officer’s behaviour sent a clear message: I didn’t belong” (2015, p. 38). This shows, how black skin individuals like Markian Lozowchuk’s felt vulnerable and unaccepted in their own city, due to the type of racism he encountered with the police on a regular basis. To specify, the type of racist behaviour Markian Lozowchuk’s faced is known as systemic/ institutional racism, one in which the law, rules and other social norms are embedded within a social setting, which result in unequal treatment and consequences. Lastly the third type of racism experienced is called cultural racism, one in which society is viewed based one’s own values and standards and justify