Social constructionismLecture 6 in Philosophy of Social SciencesFriday, October 17th, 2014

Prof. Julia Christensenjuliac@ruc.dk

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Review - critical theory1) Belief that it is necessary to understand the lived experience of real people in context.

2) Interpret the acts and the symbols of society in order to understand the ways in which various social groups are oppressed.

3) Examine social conditions in order to uncover hidden structures.

4) Belief that knowledge is power - understanding the ways one is oppressed enables one to take action to change forces.

5) Critical social science makes a conscious attempt to bridge theory and action - bring about positive change in social conditions.

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Critical theory, poststructuralism, postmodernism

Agger reading: critical theory, poststructuralism, and postmodernism are effective as critiques of postivism - they challenge taken-for-granted assumptions about the ways in which people write and read science

All three reject the idea of “presuppositionless representation” - what does this mean?

Overview

1) Post-structuralism and deconstruction

2) Post-modernism and situated knowledge

3) Social construction

4) Project group discussion for reflective assignment

What is post-structuralism?

A theory of knowledge and language (related to, but different from, postmodernism)

Includes a series of works from European philosophers and critical theorists (many French) - such as Jean Baudrillard, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, among others

Rejects the idea of a universal social science - humans are complex, and unable to fully escape social structures.

Where does post-structuralism come from?

Response to structuralism, which argued that human experiences and behaviour must be understood in relation to larger, overarching structures, not freedom or choice

Levi-Strauss: structural anthropology

Culture NatureMale Female

Rational EmotionalWhite BlackRich PoorAble Disabled

Civilized PrimitiveMind Body

Binary oppositions

Binaries and post-structuralism

Binary opposition as “value-laden” - seen as influential characteristic of Western and Western-derived thought, with one of the two opposites typically given a role of dominance over the other.

Derrida: binary oppositions create “a violent hierarchy” where “one of the two terms governs the other.”

Post-structural criticism of binary oppositions is not simply the reversal of the opposition, but its deconstruction - what does this mean?

Poststructuralism and deconstruction

Deconstruction: deconstructing the assumptions and knowledge systems that produce the illusion of singular meaning.

Derrida: every text is ‘undecidable’ - reading is a ‘strong activity’, not merely a passive reflection of an objective text with singular meaning

Destabilized meaning: the reader replaces the author as the primary subject of inquiry - how does the meaning of a text shift in relation to certain variables (for example: class, racial or sexual identity of the reader)?

Literary deconstruction challenges traditional assumptions about the ways in which we read and write, rejects the positivist model of a researcher who simply reflects the world ‘out there’.

Post-structuralism and deconstruction

Language as a deeply constitutional act, rather than the technical device for establishing singular, stable meanings that others may believe it is - positivism’s embeddedness in language

Deconstruction can help to reveal the values and interests suppressed far beneath the surface of science - politicizes and democratizes science by opening its text to outsiders

Example from text: Blau and Duncan (1978), social mobility defined with respect to occupational status of one’s father

Subtext: assumptions about gendered nature of work as well as male supremacy. Leads people to think only men work, or should work; also misrepresents the reality that many women also work outside the home.

Deconstructionist argument: there is no univocal or unchallengable measure of occupational status, there are only competing versions, each of which is incomplete because it engages in certain exclusions.

Read the article here: http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2014/10/crime_on_campus_usa.html

and here: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://uwpd.wisc.edu/news/shedding-the-victim-persona-staying-safe-on-campus/

Working with a partner or two seated next to you, discuss the sub-text - what assumptions are being made about the causes of sexual violence on university campuses? What assumptions are made around responsibility and prevention?

Activities I

Post-modernism

Rejects totalizing perspectives on history and society - “grand narratives” - that attempt to explain the world in terms of patterned interrelationships. Examples: the Enlightenment, democracy, Marxism

No large stories about the world, only small ones: postmodern social theory examines the social world from the multiple perspectives of class, race, gender and other identifying group affiliations.

Post-modernism and situated knowledge

Rejection of the “God’s eye view”

Science as a narrative (Escobar)

Knowledge as local, contingent, and situated (Haraway)

Wrap-up: critical theory, poststructuralism, postmodernism

Critical theory, poststructuralism, postmodernism - contribute to the development of a postpositivist philosophy of science

Poststructuralism meets the Frankfurt School critique of science by drawing attention to the texts and subtexts, reading and democratizing science

Postmodernism rejects the view that science can be spoken in a singular universal voice

Together, critical theory, poststructuralism and postmodernism make social scientists attune to the ways in which their own analytical and literary practices encode and conceal value positions that need to be brought to light

Social construction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVCkJ7jLnz0

Social construction

A theory of knowledge in the social sciences that examines the development of jointly constructed understandings of the world.

It assumes that understanding, significance, and meaning are developed not separately within the individual, but in coordination with other human beings.

Social constructionism exists in opposition to essentialism: there are many things that people understand as reality that are in fact at least partially, if not completely, socially situated.

Social construction

Knowledge is a social product - and also situated.

Power and hierarchy underlie social construction.

Language is at the core of knowledge: the discursive practices of social construction

Social construction is a dynamic process: knowledge and meaning are not stable, they change across time and space.

Social construction

According to Hacking, when something is said to be socially constructed, it usually means:

1) In the present state of affairs, X is taken for granted. X appears to be inevitable.

2) X need not have existed, or need not be at all as it is. X, or X as it is at present, is not determined by the nature of things; it is not inevitable.

Also, a value claim - the idea that society would be made better if a particular social construct were done away with, or radically transformed.

Social construction

1) In the present state of affairs, gender is taken for granted. Gender appears to be inevitable.

2) Gender need not have existed, or need not be at all as it is. Gender, or gender as it is at present, is not determined by the nature of things; it is not inevitable.

Social construction

1) In the present state of affairs, youth homelessness is taken for granted. Youth homelessness appears to be inevitable.

2) Youth homelessness need not have existed, or need not be at all as it is. Youth homelessness, or youth homelessness as it is at present, is not determined by the nature of things; it is not inevitable.

Social construction

1) In the present state of affairs, youth homelessness is taken for granted. Youth homelessness appears to be inevitable.

2) Youth homelessness need not have existed, or need not be at all as it is. Youth homelessness, or youth homelessness as it is at present, is not determined by the nature of things; it is not inevitable.

So - social construction talk is not only applied to worldly items - things, facts - but also to our beliefs about them.

Social construction

With social construction, therefore, we are primarily interested in the epistemic claims we make, the explanations for why we have some particular belief has to do with the role that this belief plays in our social lives.

Discourse and social construction

Discourses are “practices that systematically form the objects of which they speak” (Foucault 1994).

This constructed social reality then has the ability to create, justify, and influence social meaning, action, and power.

The social construction of gender

Society and culture create gender roles - ideal modes of behaviour

“One is not born a woman, but becomes one.” - Simone de Beauvoir

Activities II

In your project groups, identify 3-4 bullet points in response to:

How is the experience of being female socially constructed?

How is the experience of being male socially constructed?

How is the experience of being transgendered socially constructed?

The social construction of race

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qaWp8_z81w

Activities III

In your project groups, discuss:

What do we mean when we say race is a social construct?

How do we understand power and hierarchy in the production of race as a social construct?

Critique of social construction

Critics argue that social construction generally ignores biological influences on behaviour or culture.

Many adapt social constructionism because of its potentially liberating stance: if things are the way that they are only because of our social conventions, as opposed to being so naturally, then it should be possible to change them into how we would rather have them be. But why is this not the case?

Why is social construction important?

Ian Hacking: “Don’t ask for the meaning, ask what’s the point.”

To change how we see things - to be more equitable, more just, to raise consciousness, to reform power relations

Activities III

In your project groups, choose a social construct from the list - explain how this is a social construct:

Disability Mental illness

Homelessness Inner-city school

Illegal alien Welfare

Think about how this social construct has changed over time. Does we think about X today the same way as we did 100 or more years ago? Do we think about it in the same way, everywhere?

Activities IV

In your project groups, discuss:

1) Hacking’s main points in understanding teenage pregnancy as a social construct;

2) The key concepts you take from today’s lecture and readings. Jot down 2-3 bullet points for each.

Wrap up

Class discussion - sharing key concepts