Topic #2 The Social Construction of Reality
Topic #2. The Social Construction of Reality
This week discusses how humans create or construct their social reality. We will discuss the processes of social construction. The social world is made up of the “facts” and ideas we share. These things may or may not reflect what “really” happened or exists.
Peter Berger & Thomas Luckman looked at the process that any body of knowledge becomes accepted as reality. They found that people create a shared reality through interactions. For them reality has both objective (the social structure/institutions we create) and subjective elements (Thoughts, symbols meanings and belief systems). They suggests that alienation is the loss of meaning or the point in which social knowledge has broken down. See the world as intersubjective – the world that you share with others.
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Shared meanings: Reality isn’t purely objective or individual; it’s built through agreement among people.
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Social interaction: Everyday exchanges reinforce what is considered “real” or “normal.”
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Institutionalization: Over time, these shared meanings solidify into social institutions and norms.
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Objectivation: Once shared meanings are established, they appear as external, objective facts — even though they originated from human agreement.
What is reality actually made up of?
The video below is the best example of the social construction of reality. It shows how ideas become institutional and "real" and "true" for the members of a given society.
Assignments
Assignment #1: Discussion Post. Do you think people construct their own reality? Why or Why not? What does this theory mean to you? Can you summarize Burger and Luckman in your own words? Are you Mandela Effected? What is your hypothesis as to what's going on.
Assignment #2: Analyze the Bodyguard Temple in India. Information posted below.
Readings
The readings for this week are listed below. When ever possible I linked directly to an online resource. I also posted these readings and links to canvas.
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Reading: Chapter 1, Wallace and Wolf
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Reading: WI Thomas Definition of the Situation
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Reading: Berger and Luckmann The Social Construction of Reality http://perflensburg.se/Berger%20social-construction-of-reality.pdf.
W. I. Thomas -
the Definition of the Situation
Get it? Where do you stand?
In Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s classic work The Social Construction of Reality (1966), the term intersubjective refers to the shared meanings and understandings that arise through social interaction's. ChatGPT
Think about how this works in the human world. Why do you believe what you believe? Who taught you about the rules of society?
•Man is a decision maker unlike lower animals.
•Preliminary to any self-determined act of behavior there is always a stage of examination and deliberation which we may call the definition of the situation. And actually not only concrete acts are dependent on the definition of the situation, but gradually a whole life-policy and the personality of the individual himself follow from a series of such definitions
What people define as real s real in its consequences.
How do you define the situation.
Many people in this class are in areas related to the criminal justice field. If you are in law enforcement your definition of the situation will determine your interactions in the community. For example, when officers perceive a situation as a threat, their responses may be more aggressive leading to heightened tensions with the community. Conversely, if they approach a scenario with empathy and a of collaboration, it can foster trust and cooperation. Ultimately, how you construct your reality shapes not only your actions but also the reactions of those around, influencing the overall dynamic of community relations.
Why do I start off with this topic?
First, this topic really makes you think about yourself and the nature of the social world. It really carries the discussion of the domain assumptions to the next level.
Second, I want, no I need you to examine how your paradigm and beliefs impacts your behaviors in the class. One year I had a gentleman in class that was very open about his negative feelings about women and other groups in society. Every paper he submitted regardless of the topic was just a litany of his beliefs on who was at fault for all the social problems in the world. He was so locked into his beliefs and labels that he just could not learn. You do not have to agree with all the theories presented but you should try to understand them. As a graduate student you should be able to explain each theory without bias or name calling. Weber and others noted that we should strive to be OBJECTIVE if we want to do good sociology. This means that we need to be aware of our own biases and belief systems.
Third, all of the theorist we will cover in this class has a perspective on social reality. Think about the difference in how conflict theorist or functionalist see the world. Understanding what people think about reality gives you insight into their behaviors or the conclusions they may draw in certain cituations. Some of the issues raised here will come up later when we talk about Symbolic Interaction and things like Phenomenology. But I always start with this topic because I want you to start from what Bourdieu would call a reflexive (self examining) position.
Do some self reflection
How could your interactions be different depending on how you define the situation. How does your construction of reality impact your interactions with others in your job. How do you see human actors are people willful deviants or are they at the mercy of a system that controls their behavior?
Reflexive sociology, developed most notably by Pierre Bourdieu, means that sociologists must be self‑aware of their role within the social world they study. They analyze not only society but also the conditions of their own thinking, institutions, and academic practices.
Investigate the difference between reflextive and reflective.
Please click on the lecture links in Canvas. I decided not to post them to the webpage now. You will find the lectures on Canvas.
Theorists look at the same social world and see something different. Which way is she turning for you? Can you make her change direction. This is another illustration that shows that we all dont see things exactly the same.
The Spinning Dancer, also known as the Silhouette Illusion, is a kinetic, bistable, animated optical illusion originally distributed as a GIF animation showing a silhouette of a pirouetting female dancer. The illusion, created in 2003 by Japanese web designer Nobuyuki Kayahara,[1][2]
What is reality.
It looks very different depending on where you stand.
•Reality involves consensus
•Reality is not fixed
•Reality emerges from social behaviors
•What does it mean to be real? Are you real? For 50 points extra credit prove you are real.
Who are you?
Do we live in some kind of Matrix or Simmulation?
Simulation theory proposes that reality as we experience it might be an artificial simulation — a highly advanced digital or computational construct rather than a base physical world. The film The 13th Floor does a good job od presenting how simulation theory would actually work. In sociology, simulation theory is a metaphor for how social realities are constructed — people act within frameworks of meaning that feel “real” but are collectively produced. It connects to social constructionism and symbolic interactionism, emphasizing that what we call “reality” depends on shared interpretation and mediated experience. If we were to discover that we live in some kind of simulation, what would that mean for the field of sociology? Would it change our academic focus? After all, if “reality” is not actually real, then what exactly are we studying?
The important thing to remember is that sociology does not study reality in a purely physical or metaphysical sense. Instead, we study how individuals interact with, interpret, and navigate the reality they believe themselves to be in. Our focus is on the meanings people create, the behaviors they adopt, and the social worlds they build together.
People move through the reality they understand, respond to it, and participate in shaping it. They construct norms, expectations, and institutions—not in a mystical “manifest your dreams” sense, but through everyday interaction, reinforcement, and shared interpretation. Like the classic monkeys and the ladder story, people learn patterns, pass them on, and eventually treat them as “the way things are,” even when the original reasons have been forgotten.
What would you do if you found out you were a so called sentient being just living in a computer simulation?
Much of what we experience actually happens in our own brains.
Mandela Effect
One could say that the Mandela effect is the ultimate insult to our idea of a objective reality. If you are not familiar with this idea I recommend that you do some research. Be warned it is rabiit hole that could change you. Several years ago I discovered this effect when I realized that I had different memories of some aspects of the past that were out of step with contemporary reality. Things that I knew were just different or even gone.
The lable emergrd from Fiona Blum. The “Mandela Effect” is what happens when someone has a clear memory of something that never happened in this reality. It was named after Nelson Mandela after she noted that people had very different memories of when he actually died.
There is no answer to the cause of the mandela effect. Some argues that it involves something called "false memories" This effect impacts pop culture, individual people, history, phisiology, religion, geography and many other aspects of the social world. Why are so many people in contemporary society experiencing false memories? Where does this disorder come from?
The question for Sociologist is what happends if we dont actually share a common reality. How will that impact socialization and the normalization of institutions? The Social Construction of Reality suggests that we all get to gether to determine what society looks like. But what if it is more complicated than that. I'll list a few of the big Mandela Effects for me. Do your own research, everything doesn't resonate with everyone... but I gurantee that something will confuse you.
Take the Mandela Effect Quiz
According to buzzfeed, "If You Get Less Than 10/15 On This Mandela Effect Quiz, You’re Probably In An Alternate Reality"
This is just one short quiz there are several others you can explore.
This is the one that gets many people. In this reality, he never said Luke I am your father.
Image Credit: https://sl.bing.net/bcQZN5AhMGG
Do you remember the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz carring a gun?
Do you remember toons or tunes? It was always toons for me, but nope?
Do you remember the the fruit of the loom logo in with fruit in a cornecopia? I do!...But there was never a cornecopia. How do multiple diverse people make up a cornecopia?
Where are your Kidneys located in the body? I remember the kidneys being in the lower back area, as illustrated in the clips above. But nope the kidneys are under your rib cage. So the idea of a kidney punch now makes no sense.
The Bible phrase " the lion shall lay down with the lamb" never existed. It always said "the wolf and the lamb" yet there are hundreds of images of a lion and lamb. Personally I have never seen an image of a wolf and lamb in any religious context.
Assignment: Critical Thinking - The Social Construction of Reality IRL
Explain the Bodyguard Temple
What is going on at the Bodyguard Temple?
Your assignment for this section requires you provide a critical analysis of this Indian temple?
Using Berger and Luckman's reading how would you explain what is going on? How would their concepts apply to this situation.
The full assignment is ported to canvas.