(Mis)constructing social construction: Answering the critiques

2020 ◽  
pp. 095935432096775
Author(s):  
Diego Romaioli ◽  
Sheila McNamee
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Major Difficulty ◽  
Scientific Enterprise ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

This article aims to review the main criticisms of social construction (SC) after its formalization as a “movement” in the social sciences. The critiques are organized into six dominant areas that define the relationship between SC and reality, truth, language, human nature, scientific enterprise, and society. For each one of these categories, the more frequent objections raised over time by scholars will be outlined and counterarguments will be offered, centering on common misunderstandings of SC. We show how the major difficulty in embracing SC principles is attributable to the use of incommensurate assumptions and misunderstandings of the aim of social construction.

Arviq! The Northern Hunter’s Spiritual Connection to Animals and Community Presenter:

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chelsea Drent
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Social Constructions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cultural Domination ◽  
Critical Social Science ◽  
Inuit Peoples ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

In Inuktituk, nuna means the land. It means the rocks, rivers, mountains and the forests. Nuna is everything, and all parts of the nuna have an inua, which means a living soul. There is a special, if not sacred relationship between members of northern communities and the nuna. However, these sacred relationships are all too often glossed over, if not forgotten. In the social sciences, author John Sorenson articulates a critical argument and evocative opinions about hunting in his article; Hunting is a Part of Human Nature (John Sorenson, “Hunting is a Part of Human Nature,” Culture of Prejudice, Arguments in Critical Social Science. Eds. Judith Blackwell, Murray Smith, John Sorenson, (Canada: Broadview Press, 2003).Sorenson demonstrates that hunting is an unnatural human activity which is linked to a cultural domination over animals. However, in these statements Sorenson neglects to consider the northern hunter in Inuit communities around the world. Cultural myths, social constructions and daily activities prove that hunting animals is a core value to how many Inuit peoples relate to each other and perceive themselves in the cosmos. This is a study that examines the relationship of people, land, animals and faith in order to understand the significance of hunting within Inuit cultures.

scholarly journals The Distinction and Relationship between Ontology and Epistemology

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 68-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarita-Louise Kant
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Scientific Enterprise ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Fallacious Reasoning ◽  
Do So

In the social sciences, a distinction is generally drawn between ontology and epistemology, usually accompanied by the assumption that some relationship exists between ontology and epistemology. In this regard several issues arise. Whereas there seems to be general agreement on the meaning of the concepts ‘ontology’ and ‘epistemology’, there seems to be no agreement on what can be classified as ontological or epistemological. The distinction and particularly the relationship between ontology and epistemology is furthermore regarded by some scholars as problematic and contested. The aim is to examine the distinction and the presumed nature of this relationship in order to establish why it is contested. It is extremely important to take cognisance of the possibility of fallacious reasoning concerning the distinction and the relationship between ontology and epistemology, as the failure to do so may have serious consequences for the integrity and validity of research projects in the social sciences. Lastly, it is also relevant to determine whether the distinction and the presumed relationship between ontology and epistemology are important for the scientific enterprise.

scholarly journals What is Love? Discourse about Emotions in Social Sciences

Human Affairs ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Belli ◽  
Rom Harré ◽  
Lupicinio íñiguez
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Psychology ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
First Category ◽  
The Social ◽  
Second Category ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Mainstream Psychology

What is Love? Discourse about Emotions in Social SciencesThe study of emotions has been one of the most important areas of research in the Social Sciences. Social Psychology has also contributed to the development of this area. In this article we analyse the contribution of social Psychology to the study of emotion, understood as a social construct, and its strong relationship with language. Specifically, we open a discussion on the basis of the general characteristics of the Social Psychology of emotions and the contributions from different disciplines in this area of research, to give meaning to the relationship they have with the language of emotions. In this regard, we have reviewed basic references for the study of the construction of an emotion, and thematically classified them into three broad categories: 1) Contributions from different backgrounds and perspectives; 2) Construction and de-construction studies of emotion, and 3) Postconstructionist studies of emotion. In the first category, we consider the main contributions from the Social Sciences, which can be summarized in two areas: philosophical-construction of an emotion; mainstream-psychology of emotion. In the second category we have began with the relationship between emotion and language and the social construction of emotion, i.e., its discursive status. We end with postconstructionist theories, i.e., Butler's concept of performance and technoscience. To give more meaning to this line of research, the use of a concrete example of emotion seemed appropriate. Thus, we chose "love".

Prophets and Profits of Racial Science

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruha Benjamin
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Precision Medicine ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Racial Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Racial Ethnic

In this response to Terence Keel and John Hartigan’s debate over the social construction of race, I aim to push the discussion beyond the terrain of epistemology and ideology to examine the contested value of racial science in a broader political economy. I build upon Keel’s concern that even science motivated by progressive aims may reproduce racist thinking and Hartigan’s proposition that a critique of racial science cannot rest on the beliefs and intentions of scientists. In examining the value of racial-ethnic classifications in pharmacogenomics and precision medicine, I propose that analysts should attend to the relationship between prophets of racial science (those who produce forecasts about inherent group differences) and profits of racial science (the material-semiotic benefits of such forecasts). Throughout, I draw upon the idiom of speculation—as a narrative, predictive, and financial practice—to explain how the fiction of race is made factual, again and again. 

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Lewens
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Potential Functions ◽  
Human Psychology ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
The Third ◽  
Current State ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Compare And Contrast

Many evolutionary theorists have enthusiastically embraced human nature, but large numbers of evolutionists have also rejected it. It is also important to recognize the nuanced views on human nature that come from the side of the social sciences. This introduction provides an overview of the current state of the human nature debate, from the anti-essentialist consensus to the possibility of a Gray’s Anatomy of human psychology. Three potential functions for the notion of species nature are identified. The first is diagnostic, assigning an organism to the correct species. The second is species-comparative, allowing us to compare and contrast different species. The third function is contrastive, establishing human nature as a foil for human culture. The Introduction concludes with a brief synopsis of each chapter.

scholarly journals RELATIONSHIP PRODUCT QUALITY AND PRICE WITH CONSUMER BUYING INTEREST IN OLE-OLE FUTSAL BUNG TOMO SURABAYA

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-223
Author(s):  
Ahedi Syukro Sahudi ◽  
I Nyoman Sudapet ◽  
Hamzah Denny Subagyo
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Product Quality ◽  
Test Analysis ◽  
Spearman Rank ◽  
Analysis Technique ◽  
The Social ◽  
Calculation Process ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Effect Method

This research was conducted with the aim of knowing the relationship between product quality and price with the interest of buying consumer Ole-Ole Futsal Bung Tomo. This type of research uses a quantitative approach. The sample in this study were 30 respondents taken by the snowball effect method. The data analysis technique in this study usedcorrelation test analysis Spearman rank. The calculation process was aided by theapplication program Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics 20). The results of this study indicate that a correlation of 0.877 means that it is very strong and based on calculations, the product quality variable with consumer buying interest has a sig value of 0.000 <0.05, so Ho is rejected, the product quality is significantly associated with consumer buying interest. And the price variable shows that there is a correlation of 0.738 which means strong and based on calculations, the price variable with consumer buying interest has a sig value of 0.000 < 0.05 so Ho is rejected, then the price is significantly associated with consumer buying interest.

scholarly journals Making Home(s) in Displacement

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilde Heynen
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
The Political ◽  
Place Making ◽  
Spatial Practices ◽  
Spatial Practice ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
The Social ◽  
Interdisciplinary Scholarship ◽  
Architectural Perspective ◽  
The Relationship

Making Home(s) in Displacement critically rethinks the relationship between home and displacement from a spatial, material, and architectural perspective. Recent scholarship in the social sciences has investigated how migrants and refugees create and reproduce home under new conditions, thereby unpacking the seemingly contradictory positions of making a home and overcoming its loss. Yet, making home(s) in displacement is also a spatial practice, one which intrinsically relates to the fabrication of the built environment worldwide. Conceptually the book is divided along four spatial sites, referred to as camp, shelter, city, and house, which are approached with a multitude of perspectives ranging from urban planning and architecture to anthropology, geography, philosophy, gender studies, and urban history, all with a common focus on space and spatiality. By articulating everyday homemaking experiences of migrants and refugees as spatial practices in a variety of geopolitical and historical contexts, this edited volume adds a novel perspective to the existing interdisciplinary scholarship at the intersection of home and displacement. It equally intends to broaden the canon of architectural histories and theories by including migrants' and refugees' spatial agencies and place-making practices to its annals. By highlighting the political in the spatial, and vice versa, this volume sets out to decentralise and decolonise current definitions of home and displacement, striving for a more pluralistic outlook on the idea of home.

scholarly journals The contribution of cognitive anthropolinguistics to educational linguistics

1999 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 119
Author(s):  
José Manuel Martín Morillas
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Central Concept ◽  
Educational Linguistics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Pedagogical Grammar ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
And Linguistics

In this paper it is argued that, despite the welcome psycho-social emphasis in educational linguistic theories witnessed in recent decades, and with it, a rapprochement of the social sciences to the psychological sciences, the relationship between these fields has not gone far enough. The actual challenge is a move towards the unification of the social, psychological and language sciences (anthropology and sociology; cognitive science; and linguistics). A step in this interdisciplinary direction is offered by the discipline called 'cognitive anthropolinguistics', and its central concept of 'cultural cognition'. The paper discusses the implication of this concept for the field of educational linguistics, followed by a brief illustration of a cognitive-cultural application of that concept, namely the concept of 'ethnic stereotype', as part of a socio-cultural guide for a cross-cultural pedagogical grammar.

scholarly journals The Foundational Lawlessness of the Law Itself: Racial Criminalization & the Punitive Roots of Punishment in America

Daedalus ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 151 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-120
Author(s):  
Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
Brute Force ◽  
Behavioral Models ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Legal Structures ◽  
The Law ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Empirical researchers and criminal justice practitioners have generally set aside history in exchange for behavioral models and methodologies that focus primarily on crime itself as the most measurable and verifiable driver of American punitiveness. There are innumerable legal and political questions that have arisen out of these approaches. Everything from the social construction of illegality to the politicization of punishment to the stigmatization of physical identities and social statuses have long called into question the legal structures that underpin what counts as crime and how punishment is distributed. And yet, until quite recently, the question of what history has to offer has mostly been left to historians, historically minded social scientists, critical race and ethnic studies scholars, community and prison-based activists, investigative journalists, and rights advocates. What is at stake is precisely the foundational lawlessness of the law itself. At all times, a White outlaw culture that rewarded brute force and strength of arms against racialized others unsettles basic assumptions about how we are to understand criminalization and punitiveness over time: that is, who has counted as a criminal and to what end has the state used violence or punishment?

scholarly journals Duše předmětu a tělo modlitby aneb zkoumání sociologických nejistot na případu Sóka Gakkai International

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-69
Author(s):  
Petra Tlčimuková
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Sociology Of Religion ◽  
Black Boxes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Soka Gakkai ◽  
The Relationship

This case study presents the results of long-term original ethnographic research on the international Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International (SGI). It focuses on the relationship between the material and immaterial and deals with the question of how to study them in the sociology of religion. The analysis builds upon the critique of the modernist paradigm and related research of religion in the social sciences as presented by Harman, Law and Latour. The methodology draws on the approach of Actor-Network Theory as presented by Bruno Latour, and pursues object-oriented ethnography, for the sake of which the concept of iconoclash is borrowed. This approach is applied to the research which focused on the key counterparts in the Buddhist praxis of SGI ‒ the phrase daimoku and the scroll called Gohonzon. The analysis deals mainly with the sources of sociological uncertainties related to the agency of the scroll. It looks at the processes concerning the establishing and dissolving of connections among involved elements, it opens up the black-boxes and proposes answers to the question of new conceptions of the physical as seen through Gohonzon.

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