COMM 3180-01 Communication

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COMM 3180-01Communication Social Behavior

• May 18, 2005
• Social Construction The Basics

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To Begin A Few Examples

• Balls and Strikes The Social Construction of
  Baseball
• Daisies or Dandelions The Social Construction of
  Weeds
• Firewood or Band-aid? The Social Construction of
  Science

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What Is Real? How Do We Know?

• Ontology
• The study of reality
• What exists, independent of
• How we come to know about it
• How we think, feel, or talk about it

• Epistemology
• The study of knowledge
• How we come to know what exists (positivism), or
• What exists, as created through
• How we come to know about it
• How we think, feel, or talk about it

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Social Construction Two Views

• A Hard Version
• An ontological view of social construction
• Reality is created through communication
• There is no reality independent of
  communication
• Example Baudrillards claim that there was no
  Gulf War

• A Soft Version
• An epistemological view of social construction
• Reality is understood through communication
• Reality is only meaningful through
  communication
• Example Berger and Luckmans The Social
  Construction of Knowledge

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What They Share In Common A Family
Resemblance (Burr, Ch. 1)

• A critical stance to taken-for-granted knowledge
  Questioning categories
• Historical and cultural specificity
• Knowledge is sustained by social processes
• Knowledge and action are inextricably linked

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Three Important ThemesAnti-Essentialism,
Relativity, Language

• Essentialism and Anti-Essentialism
• Truth and Relativity
• Language Two Notes
• Language is a precondition for thought
• Language is a form of action

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Why Social Construction?Burr, Chapter Two

• What is Burrs argument for the social
  construction of personality? What it your
  reaction?
• What is Burrs argument for the social
  construction of health/illness? What it your
  reaction?
• What is Burrs argument for the social
  construction of sexuality? What it your reaction?

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Allen, Social ConstructionismQuestions

• What does Allen identify as some critiques of the
  social construction perspective?
• How does Allen see her identity and career as
  shaped by the process of social construction?
• Do you see similarities between Allens narrative
  and the process by which your identity/career
  have developed?

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For Monday

• Groups will be assigned Youll need to begin
  working on group contract immediately!
• Read Burr, Chapters 3 4