Part 1 - Option A

Explain what is meant by the term social construction and consider how it has been used to further our understanding of the concept of identity?

Undergraduate student: Katerina Aggelidou

Katerina Aggelidou

Y0975800

Social Constructionism and the concept of Identity

Social Construction is a theory; a sociological theory constructed by people for people. It has derived from specific social practices and a specific historical framework. It is a theory socially produced; it is a social invention. Just like our worlds; our ideas for religion, for genders or professions, for social classes, for sexuality or ethnicity. Social Constructionism (SC) has been constructed in the same way as our realities. Following Structuralism, Social Constructionism shares the idea that our world is what we perceive as being our world and not what it objectively is (Fisk, 1990, cited in Larkin). However, it takes issue with the Structuralist struggle for the objective and transhistorical structures and truths. For Social Constructionists, reality is relative and is socially produced. Hence, there are multiple realities, with different ones prevailing in different social contexts. As stated in the French Social Theory, we live in a fragmented world with multiple realities (French Social Theory / Post-modernism,

EPoCH CD-ROM).

This same approach can be applied over the, much studied and researched in psychology, concept of identity. Individuals are considered to be the active constructors of their identities by interacting with each other, taking into account societys views and institutionalized patterns, responding accordingly to social situations. The ways they choose to view themselves define their behavior patterns. Another point is that people choose for themselves different identities in different contexts e.g. I belong to the middle-aged group or I am a refugee. These choices usually depend on the power relations involved in the specific context. Power relations are of high importance in the Social
TMA01

Katerina Aggelidou

Y0975800

Constructionist theory. They, as well, are not fixed but are constantly changing as people interact with each other. Hence, no power is absolute (Phoenix, 2002, p. 79). Unlike the Tajfels Social Identity Theory, where a clear distinction is made between personal referring to personal relationships - and social identity regarding the wider social categories the person belongs to -, in the social constructionist theory, it is argued that all identities are social (for more on SIT see Phoenix, 2002, p. 62). Since identities are socially derived, they cannot be conceived outside a social framework. The establishment of identity, from the standing point of Social Constructionism, is a lifelong dynamic process that takes place throughout everyday communications and interpretations, though it always stays in question and is always open to change. At this point it would be interesting to study comparatively to the Social Constructionist ideas about identity, the

Psychosocial ones. Where it is obvious that SC allows for constant changes

in identities, the Psychosocial identities theories of Erikson and Marcia consider the moratorium to being achieved throughout

stage of

adolescence, where a success or a failure is more or less permanent. When Psychosocial theories suggest one single, core identity that is characterized
by continuity, Social Constructionism deems that a person has multiple identities and none is considered to be centered, as they always operate in relation to one another (Phoenix, 2002). As for the Psychosocial notion of continuity, the Social Constructionist analogue would be fluidity. Regarding the idea of continuity most people feel they possess in their selfapprehension, SC cares to impute it to the suitable re-constructions of their pasts according to their most recently acquired identity (Hall, 1996, cited in Phoenix, 2002). Social Constructionists suggest that a fundamental resource for viewing the world, for taking positions towards other people, even, for categorizing oneself, is language. This idea is supported by campaigns aiming to alter
TMA01

Katerina Aggelidou

Y0975800

the way people refer to the people with physical impairments and quit naming them the disabled (Phoenix, 2002). It seems like such a phrase is being used to define the identity of those people, who object saying, I am not my disability! (Swan, 1981, p. 84, cited in Phoenix, 2002). Language, together with all the ways of expression - or else the discourses - is concrete in specific historical and cultural frameworks. Following the same way of thinking, in a particular period of history or a particular culture, the identities available are specific too. The alternative identities one can choose from, are limited to the ones bestowed by the society in force, together with his or her own personal history.

In order for Social Constructionists to study how people construct versions of themselves (Burr, 2003, p. 163), they observe their operation and communications in their natural environment. The collection and analysis of symbolic data like the discursive or conversation analysis is the most commonly used method by the SC researchers, since, as mentioned above, they place great value in the ways language is used. A very good example of such a study is the one made by Hall, as presented in his book Modernity and its Futures (1992). A nomination of a black judge of conservative political views, Clarence Thomas, by the President of the U.S.A., in combination with the nominated judge being accused for harassing sexually a black woman, Anita Hill, polarized the U.S. society. A black conservative woman would support Hill, if her race or gender identity prevailed, or Thomas, if her conservative beliefs were in force. A white liberal man might take sides for Thomas, if his sexist identity was stronger than his political or racist ones. And so on. (Hall, 1992, cited in Phoenix, 2002). That was a case that made clear, how the identities engaged in the specific social context could affect the positions taken towards persons or situations and promote different types of actions.

TMA01

Katerina Aggelidou

Y0975800

How can a white, middle-class man promote social inequalities? In an interview reported by Cashmore (1987), analyzed by Wetherell (1996), such a man is observed to refer to immigrants, as those who come to draw the dole or those who come straight from the cane fields. Immigrants are also presented as a threat to us, in that they start to climb the business ladder and we should watch it. This man is caught here in action, constructing the immigrant profile as inferior and threatening, trying, this way, to justify his own racist views that could be circulated and affect the culture of his local society. (Cashmore, 1987, p. 166-7, cited in Wetherell, 1996, p. 220, cited in Burr, 2003, p. 165-166)

Closing this short overview of the SC perspective, it can be acknowledged that it is a perspective that questions the normality of the ideas and habits that provoke and are provoked by the casual identity constructs. On the other hand, Social Constructionism has been criticized: Is identity negotiation always an option? Is it possible that human potentiality has been over-romanticized? Does SC place too much emphasis on the reflexive fecundity of language? (Brittan, 1998) Lets let Burr to summarize in his rather poetic way:
Our identity originates not from inside the person but from the social realm, a realm where people swim in a sea of language and other signs. [This] does not mean to say that those identities are accidental. It is at this point that Social Constructionism can bring to bear a political analysis of the construction of personal identity. (Burr, 2003, p. 108-109)

TMA01

Katerina Aggelidou

Y0975800

References
Berger, P. and Luckmann, T. (1972) Theories about Identity, in Berger, P. and Luckmann, T. (eds) The Social Construction of Reality, Penguin Books / The Open University Brittan A. (1998) Symbolic Interactionism in Craig, E. (ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, London, Routledge. http://www.rep.routledge.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/article/R037SECT3?ssid=912 963346&n=3&authstatuscode=202 Accessed 2/3/07 Burr, V. (2003) Social Constructionism, London, New York, Taylor & Francis. http://voyager.open.ac.uk/cgibin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=2&ti=1,2&Search%5FArg=Social%20Constructionism&Se arch%5FCode=GKEY%5E%2A&CNT=25&PID=ZxnEqBiZR00yOfa98Zh0Xdf_6 NBL&SEQ=20070314134949&SID=1 Accessed on 2/3/07

EPoCH CD-ROM, DSE212 Exploring Psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open

University Finlay, L., Kaye, H., Kynan, S., and Thompson, A. (2002) Workbook, DSE212 Exploring Psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University Larkin, M. What is Social Constructionism? http://www.psy.dmu.ac.uk/michael/soc_con_disc.htm Accessed on 2/3/07 Phoenix, A. (2002) Identities and diversities, in Miel, D., Phoenix, A. and Thomas, K., (eds) Mapping Psychology, Milton Keynes, The Open University

TMA01