Social Construction

Leo Marx, once a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Harvard graduate, wrote an article titled “Technology The Emergence of a Hazardous Concept”. In this article, the author explores the modern day definition of the word technology and argues that technology offers too broad of a definition and is ill fitting to describe all technical advancements and their creators. Technology can be defined as the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science (dictionary.com). On the other hand, it can

In his essay, “Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change,” Neil Postman brings up a plethora of ideas on the topic of our ever-changing landscape in the technological world, discussing at length the problems of technology and culture. In his first point, Postman states that “technology giveth, and technology taketh away” (Postman, 27). His argument insists that in a culture swept up in technology, humans do not stop and ask questions regarding the possible detriments of new inventions. He continues on to say that though technology favours some individuals, it may harm others, or neglect a group of people entirely. In spite of this, humans continue to use and expand upon technologies as they emerge. Next, the author discusses how

The social construction theory is based on the reality that the society has created that may seem obvious to a person who agrees to it. In other words, our life experiences and interaction towards others is the way we create our reality through social interaction. This means that we were not born with this sense of knowledge, but was taught through social interaction and our life experiences (Orem 2001a, 7). Social construction is based on the categories of difference which are race, gender, and social class (Ore, 2011a: 8).

Race is a social construct that was developed to classify people into vast different groups through ethnic, anatomical, cultural, genetic, historical, linguistic, geographical, and social attachment. Initially, race referred to people using a common language to identify national affiliations, but with time observable physical traits were used to denote race. The idea of race means that humans are divisible into biologically distinct and exclusive groups in terms of physical and cultural features. The ideology of race is also associated with the beliefs of the superiority of white people. These beliefs were concretized during the Scientific Revolution and American colonization that established political relations between Europeans and people with different cultural and political backgrounds. Therefore, race is a social construction, the idea that people have perceived through their daily interaction. Race does not have any significance in taxonomy because all humans belong to the same species, Homo sapiens. Assertions from various scholars

The macrosystem is describing the cultural world along with ethnicity and the economic status. (Hutchison, 2016) Considering how I had a very wide range of diverse friends it helped me to develop and grow within my macrosystem. In my opinion, I feel that my macrosystem really needed to have a diverse background seeing as how when in the social work field, I will be working with all types of people, from different religious views and cultural background. I also feel the social constructionist perspective can go along with this system as well. According to Hutchison, social constructionist perspective helps see human understanding as the product and the driving force of social interaction. (Hutchison, 2016) During my junior leading up to my graduation

“Technology is a queer thing. It brings gifts in one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other,” as quoted by American stand-up comedian Carrie Snow. As aforementioned by Snow, technology is an anomaly itself since it is composed of a staggering amounts of attributes, ranging from moral to physical attributes specifically, that have yet to be established or even discovered. These aspects seem to be established for when it comes to developing any form of technological progress. Even as simple as it seems to ponder the concept of technology, it is rather stunning to process as well. It all seems to be due to the thought of not knowing the outcome of any advancement in technology. Unfortunately, there is also the other side of technology

Social construction is the basis in which we create a meaning of something through our interaction in society. (video) These meanings are generally accepted throughout society but are completely created. These creations of meanings are what groups recognize and attach understanding to. Most of social construction is already ingrained in us without even realizing it. In social construction, the meanings that are attached reinforce knowledge of reality. (video)

The third artifact to answer my question is a collage. The collage contains images and quotes about technology. During the creation of this collage I realized that technology isn’t just computers or smartphones. It’s anything that has been invented to make the tasks of life easier. Some of the most notable inventions pictured in the collage are: fire (the containment of), simple machines, the steel plow, the steam engine, the airplane, the light bulb, penicillin, the computer, and the internet (Baxter). The main point of the collage is that we increment technology over time, that we affect technology in a way that allows us to progress the abilities of humanity.

Social Constructionism is the way we construct what is acceptable or not acceptable. It is the way we over time reinvent or redefine the way we perceive things. To socially construct a problem it first has to be noticed. Once a problem is noticed then someone or some group may feel it is a problem and decide to start talking about it and why it is an issue. If enough people start talking about it and everyone starts agreeing then we now have a socially constructed problem. For example, alcohol at one time was considered a norm. Then all it took was someone to observe and deem that alcohol was an issue, to start talking about it and why drinking was a problem. Before you know it a large number of people are influenced to think drinking alcohol

Social scientists define social construct as a social mechanism, phenomenon or category created and developed by society; a perception of an individual, group, or idea that is constructed through cultural or social practice. Social constructs or social constructions define meanings, notions, or connotations that are assigned to objects and events in the environment and to people’s notions of their relationships to and interactions with these objects. In the domain of social constructionist thought, a social construct is an idea or notion that appears to be natural and obvious to people who accept it but may or may not represent reality, so it remains largely an invention or artifice of a given society. Depending on the constructionist perspective,

For this assignment I want to volunteer somewhere I’m comfortable and at the same time show how different city will do different thing. During spring break, my old high school host a baseball tournament where high schools from all over Colorado come and play. As an alumni and volunteer, I had the opportunity to be apart of the field crews and collecting trash at the end of each day. When I was a player, all I have to do at the end of the game was taking care of the field. Now as a volunteer I have to help the field crews clean up the fields and the stand where crowd sit watching the game. At the end of the day, I have to take out the trash and help the concession stand. Go back to my old high school as a volunteer help me understand different social construction of each community.

I feel that the social constructionist concept is valuable, and it’s important to remember the danger in not recognizing the fault of systems in place that shape our views. I like the thought (“…the world is not simply reflected back to us through systems of representation”), but I feel not everyone has access to create or critique systems that help us interpret media (“… we actually construct the meaning of the material world through these systems.”(page 13))

I enjoyed reading your post. According to Dictionary.reference.com (2015), “social construction is a social mechanism, phenomenon, or category created and developed by society; a perception of an individual, group, or idea that is ‘constructed’ through cultural or social practice”.

Nevertheless, social constructionist’ theory is contradictory. Having considered that social constructionism points out that we need to doubt the existing social science, and also to question the existing view that conventional knowledge is based on objective and value-free observation (Burr. V, 1995). Accordingly, social constructionists appear unbiased and objective in terms of producing knowledge and analyzing previous social science. However, a value judgment is involved in how they define social phenomena. According to Hacking’s (1999) statement, Social constructionists concentrate on evaluating things and transforming things in order to satisfy themselves. Take the feminist movement as a typical example to illustrate how social constructionism’

The idea of the social construction of reality means that reality, the questioning of what is real or not real is not what it is about rather it is about that reality comes from what is constituted (find a synonym) from operations and ideas.Once something is socially constructed we are easily able to perceive what is being socially constructed into because we are mostly influenced by society. If something is socially constructed and we are raised in perceiving it in that specific way. It is strong enough to make us believe that is how things are. In Roy’s Construction Historical Reality, he uses the example of the social construction of a rock, he states “A rock can hurt you regardless/but if people had not constructed the concept of ‘rock,’