What is Social Construction? | Attic Philosophy

What is social construction? What does it mean to say that some entity or phenomenon is socially constructed? In this video, I talk through some examples of socially constructed entities, and discuss whether everything is socially constructed.

00:00 - Intro
01:11 - Metaphysics of social construction
01:55 - A rough definition
02:36 - Examples of social construction
02:58 - Money
06:15 - Disabled parking spaces
07:47 - Language
08:55 - Gender and disability
11:31 - What about the biology?
12:41 - Is everything socially constructed?
14:17 - Realism or anti-realism?
14:55 - Coming next … metaphysics!

More Reading Suggestions:

Ásta, 2018. Categories We Live By, New York: Oxford University Press.
Barnes, E., 2016. The Minority Body: a theory of disability, New York: Oxford University Press.
Robin Dembroff, ‘Real Talk on the Metaphysics of Gender’ in Takaoka and Manne (eds.) Gendered Oppression and its Intersections, an issue of Philosophical Topics 46 (2): 21-50. 2018.
Brian Epstein, 2015, The Ant Trap: Rebuilding the Foundations of the Social Sciences, New York: Oxford University Press.
Griffith, Aaron M., forthcoming. “Social Construction and Grounding,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.
Haslanger, S., 1995. “Ontology and Social Construction,” Philosophical Topics, 23(2): 95–125.
Haslanger, S., 2012. Resisting reality : social construction and social critique, New York: Oxford University Press.
Mills, C., 1998. Blackness Visible: Essays on Philosophy and Race, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Thomasson, A., 2003. “Realism and Human Kinds,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 67(3): 580–609.

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#philosophy #metaphysics #disability

[Mark]

One big social construct that should be talked about are government and laws. A group of people (whether imposing their will by force or selected by the populace) get together and decide what everyone is and is not allowed to do.

[cjordahl]

I find social construction to be a useful concept and mindset. I wish people were more easily able to identify that socially constructed concepts aren't objectively "true", that they can vary over time and place, etc.
I suppose people naturally differ in their ability to recognize socially constructed concepts and/or in the amount of importance they put on them. I wonder how that overlays with the Big Five personality traits, or autism spectrum, etc.
(Learned of your channel via Computerphile by the way 😉 )

[bugs]

So the "core idea" of social constructs is that the physical object or event has an extra layer of meaning created by a society, and this meaning isn't definitive or fixed

[MatthewMartinDean]

Does it take two to make a social construction? If one person has an idiosyncratic belief about disability and quietly keeps it to himself, where does that fit into social construction?

[teresahopemiller]

looking at visual impairment, it is in my experience a generic term, the meaning is a lot of detail. in the question of asking why do I use a long white cane/ stick. is because of a visual impairment. in the states we have persons who are blind totally, legally and those of us that are the rest. Im blind in one eye and myopic in the other and farsighted, with glare issues. Yet I have experience persons who felt in their ignorance that i would be faking it . But what do they know. The use is with a major trust factor of yourself being the user. I had to learn to trust myself with a event with the political event with Bernie Sanders.

[teresahopemiller]

if I had a 5-pound note would that become the authentic British Fish and Chips that are the tops. i love them. I would like to comprehend the breakdown of pound, pence, quid, etc. I am a American, sorry for the ignorance there. I love British food, The digestive biscuits. I would love to try treacle tarts. Thank you for the acknowledging the parking space for person with disabilities. in the States its a $500. fine, Bless you

[Splashstar]

I mean, disabilities happen in wild animals too, so it's not a social construct. 😮

[larkascending]

People often use "social construction" to deny or obfuscate material reality, especially around sex and divergent evolution/group population genetics (race for short). They exclusively deconstruct and navel-gaze around words like White to say that people of European descent have no meaningful genetic similarities with each other (even in smaller ethnic clusters) or differences from other groups. They then use this "social construction" argument to argue for infinite levels of replacement immigration, a boundless definition of "refugee" and their supposed rights, casting White characters/historical figures as black, and a lot of other destructive, arguably genocidal policies. They do the same thing with sex and argue in favour of abominable practises like mutilation surgeries, men in women's sports/prisons/private spaces, lifelong drug dependence, and puberty blockers.

You can argue certain aspects of both the language and even physical traits of races/ethnicities (group population clusters) and sexes have been guided by conscious social decisions. They've been shaped by cultural taboos, borders, eugenic & dysgenic practises, etc. But people don't argue this in a nuanced way. They'll basically argue race and sex are exclusively social constructs or that their physical meaning is inconsequential, particularly to society, language, and communication. They'll say the racial and sexual difference between, let's say, Nicole Kidman and Idris Elba are just arbitrary, optical illusions that have no greater meaning. The term "gender" has been so abused recently, by very ill, abusive, insane people that it's become useless gobbledygook at describing anything. I just use the term sex and dismiss all the bullshit around the term "gender", it's just psychobabble.

[fishintheocean-ig]

You need a video clip to explain what social construction is? It's explained in the very name! Social construction. As in society constructed it. This isn't freaking heart surgery to understand! Smeh. I'm beginning to wonder if the idea that society itself is anything other than intellectually disabled is a social construction.