Understanding the Society

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The Social Construction of Reality By Anne Cortez | Adamson University UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIETY

description

This lecture covers the following topics: basic sociological concepts, society as a human construction, and the social construction of reality.

Transcript of Understanding the Society

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The Social Construction of Reality By Anne Cortez | Adamson University

UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIETY

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Discussion Outline

• Basic sociological concepts

• Society as a human construction

• The social construction of reality

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art

terror prof

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Reality is socially constructed. (Berger & Luckmann, 1996)

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Principles of Early Economic Systems • Reciprocity • Redistribution • Householding

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION

SHARED MEANING

The communal creation of the social world in

which we live.

People’s common interpretation or mutual understanding of what

a verbal or nonverbal message signifies.

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We live as if we are following scripts - learned frameworks that provide direction for people by helping us to interpret and respond to what is happening around us

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“People and groups interacting in a social system create, over time, concepts or mental representations of each others actions. These concepts eventually become habituated into reciprocal roles played by the actors in relation to each other – institutionalized.”

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Importance of “social construction of reality” in understanding life • Much of what we accept as objective or “natural facts of life” are

really socially constructed (rather “moral facts of life”) • Once acted upon, socially-constructed facts of life become true

for ourselves and others

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Truth is nothing. What you believe to be true is everything.

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BASIC SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS Status Social stratification Role Social norms

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STATUS - a category or position a person occupies that is a significant determinant of how she or he will be defined and treated • Achievement - through our own efforts • Ascription - being born into a status or attaining it

involuntarily at some other point in the life cycle

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STATUS SET- a number of statuses we occupy simultaneously, such as mother, daughter, attorney, patient, employee, and passenger

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ROLE - the expected behavior associated with a status

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A son talking to his

mom to ask for

allowance

A trike driver

negotiating with his

passenger about

the fare

You talking to

your crush

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SOCIAL STRATIFICATION- The system created by the society which categorizes its members by status and then rank these statuses in some fashion

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SOCIAL NORMS - shared rules that guide people’s behavior in specific situations. Social norms determine the privileges and responsibilities a status possesses.

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What are statuses, roles and social norms for? They allow us to organize our lives in consistent, predictable ways.

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What are statuses, roles and social norms for? They allow us to organize our lives in consistent, predictable ways.

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Problem of anomie (normlessness) - when traditional social norms have changed but new ones have yet to be developed

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Stereotypes- oversimplified conceptions that people who occupy the same status group share certain traits in common

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Where do we derive social order and stability? Through the social construction of reality, which follows three steps: institutionalization, legitimation, and internalization.

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All societies are constructions in the face of chaos.

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Human existence takes place in the context of order, direction, stability.

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INSTITUTIONALIZATION- process of reciprocal habitualization of actions or roles by members of the society over time, not instantaneously

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From “there he goes again” to “here we go again”

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LEGITIMATION- process of explaining and justifying the existing institutions and habitual practices

The challenge of legitimation inevitably arises when the objectivations of the present institutional order are to be transmitted to a new generation.

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#seemsLEGIT

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From “what to do” to “why do it”

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INTERNALIZATION- the process by which an individual interprets the objective reality as subjectively meaningful to himself through socialization

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From “the reality” to “my reality”

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We create our individual realities through the two stages of socialization – primary socialization and secondary socialization.

• Primary socialization is the first socialization an individual undergoes in childhood, through which he becomes a member of society.

• Secondary socialization is any subsequent process that inducts an already socialized individual into new sectors of the objective world of his society.

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Primary socialization facilitates the construction of our “first world”. It is inevitable and imposed.

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Secondary socialization allows us to discover and explore “other worlds” or “subworlds” apart from that which was built in our childhood.

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Reality is constructed by the society. Society is a human construction.

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REFERENCES Berger, P. and T. Luckmann (1996). The social construction of reality. USA:

Penguin Books.

Lindsey, L. (2005). The sociology of gender: Theoretical perspectives and feminist frameworks. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Wharton, A. (2012. The sociology of gender: An introduction to theory and research. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

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Questions?