Social Construction of Reality Flashcards

Questions and Answers

What is the Social Construction of Reality?

A natural process

An inevitable outcome

An isolated phenomenon

A shared reality created through actions and interactions (correct)

What are Basic Principles of the social world?

The social world is created by people, can be altered, and is not natural or predetermined.

What do Agents create in the context of social structures?

Social reality that becomes a structure.

What is Externalization?

The process by which individuals create their social world through their actions. Signup and view all the answers

Define Objectivation.

The process in which individuals perceive everyday life as an objective reality. Signup and view all the answers

What is Institutionalization?

The process where meaningful behaviors become routinized. Signup and view all the answers

What does Historicity refer to in the context of social objectivation?

The thickening of the institutional world as generations pass. Signup and view all the answers

What does Legitimization in social contexts mean?

Giving a cognitive moral basis to meaning. Signup and view all the answers

How is Language connected to the process of Objectivation?

Meaning becomes embedded in language. Signup and view all the answers

What is Internalization?

The process individuals go through to learn the legitimization of the institutional order. Signup and view all the answers

Provide an example of the Social Construction of Reality.

Society is a human product, an objective reality, and humans are a social product. Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Defined by Thomas Luckmann and Peter L. Berger as the ongoing process where individuals create a shared reality through interactions.
This shared reality is perceived as objectively factual or subjectively meaningful by the individuals involved.

Basic Principles

The social world is constructed by people rather than being a natural or predetermined entity.
Human actions and interactions transmit social realities.
The social world is subject to change; it can be deconstructed and reconstructed.
Reality is not fixed or inevitable; it can be reshaped.

Agents & Structures

Agents, representing individuals at the micro level, shape social reality.
This social reality eventually evolves into structures at the macro level, influencing the lives of those who created it.

Externalization

Refers to individuals creating their social reality through their activities.
It is the act of bringing internal thoughts and concepts into the external world.

Objectivation

The process by which individuals perceive and experience everyday life as an organized, independent reality.
This reality is seen as prearranged and imposing upon human beings.

Institutionalization (Ways of Objectivation)

Involves the routinization and habitualization of meaningful behaviors within society.

Historicity (Ways of Objectivation)

Highlights that as generations pass, the institutional world becomes more complex and layered (thickens).

Legitimization (Ways of Objectivation)

Provides a cognitive and moral basis for the meanings assigned to actions and institutions, justifying their existence and authority.

Language (Ways of Objectivation)

Meaning and social constructs become embedded within language, facilitating communication and understanding.

Internalization

The process where individuals absorb and learn the values and legitimization of the institutional order within society.

Example

Society acts as a product of human actions (externalization); it is experienced as an objective reality (objectivation); and individuals are molded by social constructs (internalization).

Description

Explore key concepts and definitions related to the social construction of reality as explained by Thomas Luckmann and Peter L. Berger. This set of flashcards covers fundamental principles that illustrate how our shared realities are created through social interactions.