Social Constructivism relies on certain assumptions on reality, knowledge, and learning. To understand and apply models of instructions that are rooted in the perspectives of social constructivists, it is essential to know the premises that underlie them; they include reality, knowledge, and learning. Social constructivists assert that hypothesis of truth is assembled from human activity. Members of the society together invent the properties of the world (Kukla, 2000). For the social constructivist, facts cannot be discovered; it does not exist before its social invention. To social constructivists, knowledge is also a human product and is socially and culturally constructed (Kukla, 2000). Individuals create meaning through their interactions with each other and with the environment they live. They view learning as a social process which does not take place only within an individual, nor is it a passive development of behaviors that are shaped by external forces (McMahon, 1997). Meaningful learning occurs when individuals are engaged in social activities. Social constructivism model influences people in the society to make meaning out of certain phenomena with regards to race and racism, health and technology, and power and privilege.
Race and Racism
Different beliefs about race and its social consequences are found across all cultures; past and present. A race is, in fact, a cultural construction, one or another culture’s folk theories trying to explain human biological variation. The high variability found in racial notions is indicative of their local cultural composition. Hence, the concept of race is practically one of some popular cultural conceptions about human variability.
The idea of race was asserted more through the works of the Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778). He built upon earlier notions of species, distinct groups of living things that cannot interbreed (McMahon, 1997). Linnaeus proposed a classification comprising six human groups. While evolutionist views of monogenesis (single origin of all humans) replaced polygenesis (multiple separate origins) and creationist opinions (based on religious beliefs and not on investigations). In Europe, nineteenth-century theories were mostly alike in expressing racist sentiments though they were not recognized as much.
On the other hand, racism is a set of negative beliefs held by individuals or groups concerning a population thought to be biologically distinct. The notion of racism was facilitated by Sir Francis Galton (1822-1922) – the father of statistical manipulation. This further spread to the United States done by a physician- Robert Bean of Virginia. His work, in 1906, purportedly showed that part of the brain was different in sizes in “Whites and Negroes” (Sesardic, 2010). His interpretations and biased readings demonstrated the affinity of the ideas of racism and sexism in the United States apparent in English science.
The Nazi “race science” of the 1930s reverted to nineteenth-century polygenesis to explain differences among racial groups and to assert its group’s alleged superiority. Some Germans were likewise seen as unfit; being disabled, mentally ill and homosexuals were considered biologically different from “normal” people.
The topics of race and racism have different points of view depending on which side of the divide one lands. In the end, the two can be simplified into a battle for supremacy in which the “white” people were predisposed to win as opposed to their “Negroe” counterparts who had fewer resources, secondary education levels and also less exposure to the modern religion and medication and to crown it all, tanned skins. Hence, the “whites” had some leverage over the blacks.
Health and Technology
As defined by World Health Organization, health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Health is a dynamic condition resulting from a body’s constant adjustment and adaptation in response to stresses and changes in the environment for maintaining an inner equilibrium called homeostasis. Whereas technology is the use of scientific knowledge to the practical aims of human life or it can also refer to a collection of techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services or the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific research(Brey, 2009).
The aspects of health and technology when combined, lead to the application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of lives through the use of procedures and pharmaceuticals used in healthcare. The application of medical technology bears some benefits and also, social and ethical issues
Benefits of Technology in Healthcare
Technology allows for the development of a wide-range of healthcare products like the use of 3D printing to print out replaceable body parts can be used to produce specialized splints, prostheses and other components for medical devices and inert implants.
Less invasive treatment options; such as the use of calibrated robotic surgeons and laser surgeries with an insufficient margin of error which make very small insertions but still, perform better than humans.
Cost reduction; advancements in the medical technology field leads to the discovery of many and more affordable medical services leading to competition by the leading pharmaceutical firms in a bid to set market-friendly prices to dominate the said market.
Better treatment and less suffering; technology has changed healthcare by providing new machines, medicine, and procedures that save lives and improve chances of recovery, direct healing and research so that experts can make healthcare even more useful.
Social and Ethical Issues of Medical Technology
Despite the evident benefits of medical technology, we face a range of ethical issues associated with disruptive technology; without adequate preparation for the future waves of technological change, all stakeholders will come across threats, ethical issues and serious problems. Some of the likely troubles include;
Healthy people switching to technology – There are concerns about healthy people or people with deformities on parts of their bodies such as limbs wanting to change to get the deformed parts replaced with mechanized pieces so that they become bionic.
Bioterrorism – in futuristic scenarios, advancement of nanotechnology means there would be nanobots in our bloodstream to detect diseases and send alerts to our smartphones before the illnesses grow; if this becomes a reality, the concern is on how to prevent terrorists from hacking the devices and trying to control our health and lives.
The integration of technology and healthcare remains an issue of contention with matters arising from extremities in the application. For instance, concerns have been raised concerning the full digitalization of patient records which would ease access to medical services anywhere in the world, but at the same time, they are also prone to hacking by malicious users who may hack the sites and illegally obtain patient information for ill-intents.
Power and Privilege
Power is the capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so that B acts by the wishes of A. The bases of power include formal power and personal power. Formal power consists of coercive power, reward power, and legitimate power. Personal power consists of expert power and referent power. On the other hand, privilege is understood to be those rights, benefits, and advantages enjoyed by a person or groups beyond the edges of other individuals. Majority group refers to the most significant group, while a minority group is a group with fewer members represented in the social system.
Power can be further broken down into; Institutional power - it is the official authority to decide what is best for others or, the ability to determine who will have access to resources and exercise control over others. Prejudice- it is an opinion that is formed on insufficient grounds before facts are known or in disregard of facts that contradict it. Stereotype- an exaggerated or distorted belief that attributes characteristics to members of a particular group, simplistically lumping them together and refusing to acknowledge differences among members of the group. Oppression- the combination of prejudice and institutional power which creates a system that discriminates against some groups benefits other groups (Mahalingam, 2007). Examples of these systems are racism and ageism.
Power and privilege are rights mostly enjoyed by wealthy and influential people in the society. Usually at the expense of the less privileged people and mostly leads to oppression since the powerful hence, power and privilege should be limited or regulated in ways which will ensure there is equality in society despite possession or lack of power.
Conclusion
Considering the above social constructivism analysis in relation to race and racism, health and technology, and power and privilege, it is noticeable that there exists new ways of looking into established and accepted "realities.” The social constructivism argument can also help understand how dominant groups have institutionalized constructs like race, age, gender, physical incapacity, and mental disability to perpetuate models of oppression and discrimination.
Reference
Brey, P. (2009). Philosophy of technology meets social constructivism: A shopper’s guide. Readings in the Philosophy of Technology, 98.
Kukla, A. (2013). Social constructivism and the philosophy of science. Routledge.
Mahalingam, R. (2007). Essentialism, power, and the representation of social categories: A folk sociology perspective. Human Development, 50(6), 300-319.
McMahon, M. (1997, December). Social constructivism and the World Wide Web-A paradigm for learning. In ASCILITE conference. Perth, Australia (Vol. 327).
Sesardic, N. (2010). Race: a social destruction of a biological concept. Biology & Philosophy, 25(2), 143-162.
