Social constructs are a product of the culture generated by each society. We use them to refer to and give meaning to phenomena that we build on the basis of our beliefs in order to be able to interact with each other and better manage reality and the world in which we live.

In this article we explain what a social construct is, what its theoretical framework is and why we need to create it . In addition, we give you some examples to help you understand better what they are.

Social construct: definition and theoretical framework

Social constructs or social constructions define meanings, notions or connotations that people assign to certain objects or events. They are artefacts that do not exist in nature and are invented to facilitate interpersonal relationships and interaction between people and the environment.

Sometimes, a social construct constitutes an idea or a notion that seems to be natural and obvious to the individuals who accept it, even though it does not faithfully represent reality; however, this does not cease to be an invention or a socially constructed artifice with which we interact on the basis of established rules .

The first work that addressed the issue of social constructions was perhaps La construcción social de la realidad , by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann, published in the 1960s. The central idea that these authors defended was the fact that people interact in a social system and form, with time, mental representations of the actions of others , turning these into reciprocal roles and rules that end up being typified and shaped in social institutions.

In this sense, from the theoretical framework of social constructivism it is postulated that knowledge is always generated within the framework of a series of cultural and social practices that impregnate everything, hence it is necessary to speak of reality being socially constructed; that is, the real would be established as a consequence of a dialectic process between social relations, typified habits and social structures .

However, nowadays there is controversy about questions such as: what is and what is not a social construct, what types of experience are more or less influenced by cultural variables or if it is possible that something can be socially constructed and, at the same time, biologically determined.

Why social constructs are created

We human beings need to give meaning to our reality and this is precisely what the theory of social constructivism postulates: we create social constructs to give meaning to the objective world .

One of the most common ways of making sense is by building categories and applying labels. For example, we divide people according to the different physical characteristics they possess and create the social construction called “race”. Or we classify a living being according to whether it has branches with leaves, building the concept of “tree”.

These two examples, although very different from each other, have one thing in common: they are both artificial constructions based on ideas and beliefs that can vary over time and space (the context or culture).

Social constructs include values and beliefs that, as we say, can be modified as societies and individuals interact; thus, new meanings emerge or change those already available. The term “feminism” is not the same today as it was several decades ago. And the same is true of other social constructions, such as humour or the concept of gender.

Examples of social constructs

We human beings have generated a multitude of social constructions to order and better understand the reality and the situation in which we live. Next, we will see some examples of social constructs.

1. Social classes

Social class is a type of socio-economic classification that we use to establish different human groups based on shared criteria, such as: wealth, monetary income, employment, political and purchasing power, consumption habits, etc.

Although most social scientists share the fact that social class seems to represent a universal phenomenon, its meaning is often located contextually, since what determines class varies from one society to another and even within the same culture there may be different people who have different notions of what determines whether or not they belong to a social class.

2. Language

The language one learns depends on the culture in which one is born, so we can say that language is socially determined and is a social construction. However, there is a long list of studies in psychology and neuroscience that show that our brain is equipped as standard with the neurophysiological mechanisms necessary for us to understand how language works and what we can and cannot learn in this sense.

Although our brains are designed to process language according to certain established rules, human beings have tried to create artificial languages, using linguistic rules that seem appropriate and logical to us as children; however, what finally happens is that this first “language” mutates and acquires all the peculiarities that natural languages have. This means that language would be biologically determined and would be, at the same time, a social artifact .

3. Gender

The way we currently experience the concept of gender , in which we see the “boundaries” between the different categories, is influenced by learning and culture. But physiological and biological aspects also influence on a fundamental level.

When we talk about gender being culturally constructed, we have to take into account that this concept includes a set of features, behaviours and characteristics, both sexual and non-sexual : some of them very limited by biology; others only marginally restricted by it; and others that are purely social.

For example, men tend to have more body hair than women. However, some men are hairier than other men, and the same is true for women. In some extreme cases, some women may have more hair than men, but this is rare. This is a phenomenon controlled by hormone production, which in turn is controlled by genes. Therefore, this fact would be very limited by biology.

On the other hand, there is scientific evidence that aggression and nurturing instinct are influenced by different hormone levels in men and women.

However, complex behaviours such as “aggression” and “nurturing” are also highly influenced by learning and culture : so much so, that there is an overlap between men and women in these dimensions, and some cultures may push men and women to one extreme or the other. In short, these features would be partially defined by cultural variables.

In short, many of the social constructs, as is the case with gender, are a combination of biological determinants and cultural aspects, so it is necessary to know how much there is of each of the parts in order to better understand and use these constructs.

Bibliographic references:

  • Berger, P. and Luckmann, T. (1966). The social construction of reality . New York: Doubleday.
  • Niaz, M. (2001). Social constructivism: panacea or problem? Interciencia, 26(5), PP. 185 – 189.