Social Construction Of Reality Theory Essay

When discussing reality, several questions emerge regarding what reality is. A reality, "the real situation that exist," (Merriam-Webster.com) consists of two forms-perceived reality and actual reality. One spends his or her entire life trying to decipher the difference between the two forms; yet to truly understand reality, it is essential that you comprehend both. Plato 's "Allegory of the Cave," Dick Gregory 's "Shame" and Frederick Douglass ' "Learning to Read and Write" illustrate examples of both perceptions. Furthermore, how conceptualization of reality helps establish who one will become.

Labeling theory holds that individuals come to identify and act as per their labels. The major tenet of this theory is that the behavior and self-identity of individuals is affected by the way they are described by other people (Vold, Bernard, Snipes, & Gerould, 2016). According to this theory, the act of deviance is not implicit in a particular act, but is hedged on the inclination of the majority to ascribe labels to minorities in society who deviate from standard behavior. Labeling leads to dramatization of a particular act – which propagates the behavioral clash between the individual and the community. Through ascribing labels, the individuals acquire a negative self-image. The individuals accept themselves as labeled by the

What we think is reality will ultimately become our reality if we believe certain things about an individual; he/she begins acting in exactly that way.

According to sociocultural thought, human activity like learning and behavior are impacted by individual, social and contextual issues. Humans are considered to be social and reflexive in nature and this causes human thought and behavior to be altered by the complexities of that social world. Therefore when studying any phenomenon, it is important to keep in the mind the context in which it took place. The focus on the role of social dynamics ensures that a holistic view of the phenomenon is obtained. At times the interplay of social dynamics affects the outcome of a phenomenon.

The foundational concepts of sociological imagination, social construction of reality and socialization help us learn more about ourselves and the world.

The social construction theory describes race as an aspect of life constructed by humans, which affects our lives as social beings. How people are viewed in life, whether it is judged upon their gender, race, or even the style of clothing they wear, has an affect on various aspects of their life. Their education, career, salary, where they live, and their friends are all dictated by at least one aspect of social construction. Race has one of the strongest impacts in life, since there is an overbearing subconscious racial lens in the minds of most people. As social beings, these racial ideologies are embedded into our brains. Some people choose to ignore them, some act on them negatively against others, and some decide to challenge them head

Informational Social Influence this theory consists of the need to analyze different the information and different points of view. When a person is found in an unknown environment, without sufficient information about it. That person will look at other people’s behavior to know what the social norm is and will then behave in a similar way. People need information about their environment to feel comfortable.

Everyday that you wake up and come into contact with what you do and the people you speak to is sociological. You wake up and interact with objects. Some of these objects you

There are several theories created by many thinkers of our time that believes that societal, financial, and social arrangements and/or structures as the main cause of criminal behavior. In society, depending on where you are, there are usually some unwritten norms that are expected to be followed. It can be in a business corporation, out in the streets, at home. Usually there will be two sets of norms that is expected to be followed that causes an individual to feel torn. However, the feeling of being torn is the inner battle of doing the right thing, conscience or keeping yourself alive.

One such theory, through which all others are partially explained, is the Social Construction of Reality. Sociologists W. I. and Dorothy S. Thomas explain the theory this way: “If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” Therefore, if a person is raised to believe something

Most people are unaware of the social construction of reality. This is the process through which truth and knowledge are “discovered, made known, reaffirmed, and altered by the members of a society (Newman 29).” One main component of any society is the way individuals are organized and how these organizations cause them to interact with each other. This classification, or social stratification, is based on class, race, and gender. Although they are contrasting concepts, class, race, and gender are interconnected systems of power and inequality. It is not the categories themselves that cause resources and opportunities to be distributed differently, but rather the meanings people attach to them. Social order is a product of human activity.

On the first day of the experiment, the blue-eyed children, or the in-group, were told they were superior to the brown eyed children, the out-group. On top of being told they were better and smarter than the brown-eyed children, the out-group was not allowed to drink from the same fountain, play together at recess, or go back for seconds at lunch-time. The brown eyed children received less recess time, had to wait to go to lunch, and wore collars for easy recognition.

Reality is not an objective thing that is imposed upon us, but is created by us. Reality does not exist externally but internally, as each individual or group interprets it, and is always changing. Due to these concepts sociologists often speak about the “social construction of reality” which is essential to understand when attempting to explain human social behavior. Since realty is the basis of people’s actions, W. I. Thomas states, “If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences”. The “social construction of reality”, human social behavior and W. I. Thomas’s statement are three concepts that fit hand in hand and are important when trying to explain one another.

Social constructionist use the term social construction to imply that our understanding of the world in which we live is constructed from the social interactions we have on a daily basis. In reference to identity, social constructionist theory (SCT) proposes that we as social beings actively construct our identities using social tools as the means in which to construct our identities, the foremost one being language.

Historically, humanity has been obsessed with discovering the nature of reality. Every person eventually develops their own worldview based on their beliefs, morals, and experiences. At one point in their lives, many people undergo a radical change in perception that forces them to change this view, eventually adopting a new perception of reality. Such a transformation occurs once one starts to question the fundamental nature of one’s own existence and that of the world around them. This realization begins with the disillusionment with one’s environment, continues with the questioning of one’s life’s worth, and concludes with the acceptance of a new worldview.