Social Constructs and the Reality of the Social World
Social constructs, according to Dr. Dennis Hiebert, are ways that people interact with one another and build a world that they feel is accurate and intuitively meaningful. Therefore, it is evident that the social world is not real or predetermined, but rather is made by people through their interactions. It is true to say that about 95% of what people know is what they have been told by other people and end up believing. This is because people learn what they do not know or comprehend through their senses from other beings.Therefore, according to Dr. Hiebert's speech on social constructs, the reality of the social life is shaped directly by people's experiences throughout their interactions. All norms and beliefs are an outcome of stories told which people end up taking as social conventions.
The Influence of Others on Our Beliefs
Dr. Hieberts establish his argument about social constructs on the knowledge acquired from other people as being embraced and believed upon by humans. Being taught and accepting is human's nature whereby what is told humans tend to conduct a test for its truth (Schulkin 25). It is therefore clear that many of the things learned from others can be thought about critically and be evaluated for its truth. People should learn to keep in mind that much of what they believe is as a result of the different interactions among themselves.
Shaping of Senses and Intuition
Furthermore, Dr. Hiebert addresses that what counts as reasons in people is also shaped by what other people say. However, the Dr continues and states the shaping of the senses and intuition is not always as a result of interactions with other people. In this context, it is clear that Dr. Hiebert was trying to suggest that although what people believe is as a result of what they have experienced and heard from other people, there is a small portion of what they believe which is shaped by their senses and intuition. The small portion, however, it is insignificant sine much of what people believe is as a result of what they tend to have heard from other people.it is therefore clear that Dr. Hiebert's speech suggests how people's thinking and belief is influenced by their interactions.
The Possibility to Reshape the Social World
The Dr becomes concerned with the shaping of social constructs in that the world can be altered for better or for worse. It regards what people say and what they believe from different information conveyed by different people, that the shaping of the social world is dependent upon (Steele 46). However, the idea of social construct gives room to think critically about a particular direction which the social world may take through evaluation and analyse to reshape the belief to help people live in the right manner. Therefore, the social world can reflect what is real and better through the promotion of a culture of analysing and evaluating what other people say before incorporating their ideas as conventions.
The Uncertainty of Social Reality
Also, Dr. Hiebert explains how the social reality in which people lives is not certain. Moreover, the reality is also not natural and can cause fear to deliberate the possibility that humans' social reality is not factual. It is petrifying if people social reality does not consider what the accuracy of what is real in the world (Steele 52). However, it is also liberating to know that people can make social reality reflect on what is good and implement measures to make it much better. For instance, it is liberating for all people to embrace the telling of truth in courts as well as empowering women through observing their rights. Therefore, it is clear that the social reality in which people live is not inevitable nor is it natural.
Reconstruction and Deconstruction of the Social World
Moreover, the Dr addresses the possibility of deconstructing and reconstructing the world. He states that throughout the world's history, there has always been reconstruction and deconstruction because of the various interactions of its inhabitants. Different scholars have written about the reconstruction and deconstruction of the social world for better or for worse. Some have expressed their idea on the reconstruction through the reflection of truth about human beings while others have reconstructed the social world through the reflection of falsehoods about real people.
The Sociological Question about Social Construct
According to the Dr, the sociological question about social construct is not what is real neither how do people get knowledge about what is factual nor how do some things come to exist. He gave three phases to the process of social constructs which include externalization, objectivities, and internalization. Therefore, paying attention to the three steps, it is clear that the society is a human product, a reality from the human's objectives and a social outcome.
The Relationship Between Human Activities and Knowledge
In conclusion, it is clear that all human activities in the material world are a part of people's knowledge and being as learned from others. Some existence cannot be tied to cognition since some of the aspects are incorporated directly from nature. Furthermore, people do not socially construct all reality since some of the facts are natural and cannot be changed. Therefore, some of the social constructs come down to the physical nature established and formed by God.
Works Cited
Berger, Peter L, and Thomas Luckmann. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. , 2011. Internet resource.
Hiebert, Dennis. "What does 'The Social Construction of Reality' Mean? - by Dr. Dennis Hiebert." 19 Dec. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqFhd-Igs6w. Accessed 14 Dec. 2017.
Schulkin, Jay. "Social Smarts, Moral Sentiments, Social Constructs." Naturalism and ucPragmatism, 2012, pp. 145-174.
Steele, Claude. Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2011. Print.
