The Perils of Strong Social Constructionism: The Case of Child Sexual Abuse

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article tests the adequacy of social constructionism from a critical realist standpoint by examining a single social problem in some detail: child sexual abuse (CSA). It explores a continuum of positions in the research literature. These range from: strong social constructionism, derived from social and historical relativism, which can be read as effectively justifying CSA; to a position that, while accepting ‘weak constructionism’, prioritizes the real abiding features of sexual violence against children and the proven harm that it creates in any social context. The critical examination of competing views on CSA places a particular emphasis upon the rhetorical power of the conceptualizations of CSA as a ‘moral panic’. The notion of a moral panic brings with it assumptions about the degree of confidence that we can have in the extent of CSA in modernity in terms of: its wrongfulness; the assumed harm that accrues to victims; and the costs to society in its wake.