Social Constructionism in the Symbolic Interactionist Tradition

Abstract

Abstract This chapter offers a symbolic interactionist’s introduction to social constructionism in three parts. First, the author reviews Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s The Social Construction of Reality and considers its relationship to early symbolic interactionist thought. While the two perspectives shared assumptions about the ever-emergent quality of social life, it is argued, the constructionist perspective offered a conceptualization of social structure that likely appealed to later generations of interactionist scholars. Second, the author outlines interactionist debates about the nature of socially constructed realities, charting the split between “strict” and “contextual” constructionists. Finally, the author considers how recent critiques of constructionism in academic and public discourse might inform future interactionist scholarship. Specifically, the continued utility and potential hazards of social constructionism vis-à-vis race, gender, and a post-truth political environment are explored.