http://www.livingwellfeelinggood.com/20 ... e-reality/Social constructionism is the process through which subjective reality (a.k.a., second-order reality) is created. Subjective reality can be contrasted with objective reality (a.k.a., first-order reality) in that it exists in the minds of people and in a social context. Examples of objective reality would include the position of objects in space, the chemical structure of molecules, the force of gravity, and planetary orbits. Examples of subjective reality include all our opinions, ideas, and words for molecules and planets, whether things are good or bad or right or wrong, all thoughts and emotions, political ideologies, religions, and any social phenomenon. In other words, most of what we call reality is actually subjective reality, and we often confuse subjective reality with objective reality, mainly because it seems so real that it seems impossible to us that it actually exists only within the human mind.
Subjective reality can also seem like objective reality when many people agree on and share the subjective reality. For example, there was a time and a place when slavery was considered right and good by the majority, and so it seemed to the people alive then that slavery being right was both real and objective. The same could be said of the belief that the world was flat and the center of the universe, Nazi-ism, and Greek mythology. It is somewhat easy to look back in retrospect and see that these were subjective realities that existed only in people’s minds. It is much more difficult to see that virtually all ideas (yes, even present ideas) are essentially socially constructed within and among human systems.
Social constructionism takes place at all social levels: the intrapsychic (individual), dyad (couples, spouses, partners, siblings), family, societal, and global. In counseling, we mainly work with socially constructed ideas that cause people suffering at levels ranging from the individual to the family and extended family. Here are just a few examples of socially constructed ideas that cause human suffering at these levels.
Problematic “realities” at the level of the individual:
it’s not okay for me to want things
nobody will love me if they really know who I am
I’m not capable of thriving in this life or world
if I’m not constantly vigilant, I will be hurt or taken advantage of
Problematic “realities” at the level of the family:
having to ask for what you want means no one cares about you
people should be able to know how to treat each other without communication
expressing anger or discontent leads to dire consequences or abandonment
change causes more problems than it solves
keeping track of how much everyone contributes prevents being taken advantage of
All of these ideas are socially constructed beliefs that people learn through social context (namely, their family of origin). In collaborative language systems, the aim is to deconstruct these “realities” and construct new “realities” that lead to healthier living and relationships.
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