Put another way, it exists because humans agree that it exists.
Psychologists andsocial scientistsstudy socially constructed reality to better understand how groups of people create social phenomena.
They seek to understand how people participate in the construction and institutionalization of their perceived reality.
Verywell / Laura Porter
Examples of Social Construct
Some examples of social constructs are countries and money.
Countries would not exist were it not forhuman interaction.
Without that agreement, there could be no countries.
Money also would not exist without human interaction.
If we think about objective reality, we might think that money does exist.
After all, we can touch the paper or the coins.
The concept of virginity is also a social construct.
However, it is not something that physically exists in the real world.
The emphasis on virginity also varies depending on the community and culture.
One way humans create social constructs is by structuring what they see and experience into categories.
Do trees exist outside of the social construct?
If we didn’t agree on the construct of a tree, would we see those plants any differently?
Does race exist outside of the social construct?
Would we treat people of different colors differently if we did not have the social construct of race?
Additionally, humans canalter the constructas they continue to interact with the world.
We have sincedebunked these myths.
The social construct of gender illustrates thenature vs. nurture debateabout human behavior.
They have learned how they should behave and what they should sound or look like.
This debate remains contentious when it comes to sex and gender differences.
“Their work brought the idea of social constructionism to the forefront of mainstream sociology.
Key Takeaways
Social constructs exist because people agree that they exist.
They play an essential role in helping people understand and interact with the world in which they live.
This includes our ideas about topics such as gender, race, and sexuality.
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