Social Constructionism

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What can a social constructionist approach bring to the study of social inequalities?

What kind of society would we live in if we had created a different world? Would social inequalities still exist? Where does the divide between what can be considered a social construct and what cannot reside? Is there a divide, or is everything we see, experience and know in life socially constructed? There are many competing explanations which seek to support such questions, however there are also many theorists who discard and disagree with the idea of social constructionism. Social constructionism is defined by the dictionary as a school of thought pertaining to the ways social phenomena are created, institutionalized, and made into tradition by humans. This essay will briefly discuss different definitions and explanations of social constructionism, before critically examining the social constructionist approach itself and its contribution to the explanation of some of society's inequalities; particularly gender divisions. It will look at the different forms of social constructionism with discussion focusing around opposing theorist's views and perspectives.

"The cultural world is not only collectively produced, but it remains real by virtue of collective recognition" (Berger 1966), this can be applied to the