A Field Guide to Social Construction

Bibliographic Data

ID4080041
AuthorsRon Mallon (0000-0001-8347-8939)
Year2007
Volume2
Issue1
Pages93-108
Publication date2007-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophy Compass (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1747-9991 • E-ISSN: 1747-9991
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1747-9991.2006.00051.x
OpenAlexW2158755140
LanguageEN
Citations received28
References cited36

A wide range of discussions throughout the humanities and social sciences include claims that various phenomena are "socially constructed." Many academics associate "social constructionism" with the so-called "science wars" in which social constructionism is identified with some sort of radical anti-realism about reality in general, or the findings of science in particular. But the move to radical anti-realism is only one way to develop the central idea of constructionism - that human decision and human culture exert profound and often unnoticed influence - and much of this work remains interesting and provocative within a broadly naturalist and realist framework. Here the author reviews and explores a variety of constructionist claims, including the plausible suggestion that social constructionist hypotheses have special purchase in discussions of human kinds

Constructionism · Epistemology · Field (mathematics · Naturalism · Realism · Social constructionism · Social science · Sociology · Strict constructionism · Variety (cybernetics · Computer Science · Critical Realism in Sociology · Philosophy and History of Science · Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education · Philosophy

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