Social Construction Research Articles

Investigating EFL Students' Civic Consciousness

Civic consciousness serves as a pivotal impetus for societal advancement and development, embodying individuals' cognition, attitudes, and sense of responsibility across social, political, economic, and cultural domains. Contemporary college students, as the forthcoming leaders of society, constitute a vital segment of Chinese citizenship and play crucial roles as participants and stewards in national political development and social construction. Their civic consciousness directly impacts the construction of material, spiritual, and political civilization within China. Educating EFL students on civic consciousness is instrumental in fostering accurate ideological concepts, empowering them to fulfill their duties as social citizens, igniting creativity and intellectual curiosity, enhancing comprehensive cultural literacy and cross-cultural communication awareness, nurturing critical thinking skills, and enabling students to internalize civic virtues as their behavioral norms through natural infiltration, thereby establishing a foundation for their future roles as global citizens and contributing to sustainable development. However, the civic consciousness of EFL students is confronted with significant challenges due to the interplay of international and domestic factors. Notable issues include a deficient awareness of the rule of law and an inadequate understanding of rights. This study initiates with the concept and significance of civic consciousness, elucidating its definition, connotation, and importance within college education. Through questionnaire surveys and interviews, the current state of civic consciousness among students in ZYU(Zhejiang Yuexiu University) is analyzed, identifying prevailing problems and challenges. Subsequently, effective countermeasures within the context of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning are proposed to address these concerns.

Migration scale, process, and impact in the Tiwanaku colonies: Paleomobility at the archaeological site of Omo M10.

Contemporary migrations show form and intensity of interaction between homeland and host communities to shape social dynamics and identities. We apply here a contemporary theoretical framework and biogeochemical analyses to elucidate the scale, processes, and impacts of migration in the Tiwanaku polity (6th-11th c. CE) by inferring the mobility of individuals interred at the Tiwanaku-affiliated site of Omo M10 (Moquegua Valley, Peru). For each of 124 individuals, we captured paleomobility across the life-course by analyzing up to four enamel and bone samples that formed during discrete developmental periods for radiogenic strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and stable oxygen (δ18Ocarbonate(VPDB)) isotopes. At Omo M10, archaeological human enamel and bone values range from 87Sr/86Sr = 0.70632-0.72183 and δ18Ocarbonate(VPDB) = -13.4‰ to +1.7‰, with a mean of 87Sr/86Sr = 0.70763 ± 0.00164 (1σ, n = 334) and δ18O = -7.8‰ ± 1.9‰ (1σ, n = 334). Together with archaeological evidence, we interpret these data as evidence for multigenerational interaction between communities in the high-altitude Tiwanaku heartland and at the site of Omo M10. Our results suggest that one-fourth of individuals spent some part of their life outside of Moquegua and one in eight individuals from Omo M10 were first-generation migrants. Greater mobility of females and juveniles at Omo M10 indicates that gender and family were important social constructs in maintaining relationships and cultural continuity in provincial Tiwanaku life, and communities maintained autochthonous migration streams with Tiwanaku-affiliated populations throughout the south-central Andes. Intra-individual biogeochemical analyses of migration at Omo M10 contribute a nuanced perspective on the diverse experiences of multigenerational Tiwanaku colonies.

How social media exposure constructs social confidence: An empirical study on impact, mechanisms, and multilateral relationships.

Social confidence functions as a vital spiritual force in fostering the positive and healthy evolution of society. This paper explores how social media exposure contributes to the construction of social confidence within the framework of Media-system Dependency Theory. The research unveils the following key findings: (1) Social media exposure positively facilitates social confidence; (2) Group efficacy and group cohesion, perceived as manifestations of cognitive divergence between "efficacy" and "collective" within collective efficacy, both serve as mediating mechanisms influencing the impact of social media exposure on social confidence. The Channel Testing of Causality confirms that group cohesion plays a significantly more crucial role as a pathway compared to group efficacy; (3) The differentiated impact of social media exposure, encompassing Tencent WeChat and Sina Weibo, materializes in distinct components of social confidence and follows different influence pathways.

Co-crafting the Meaning of Potter’s Craft

The article is based on ethnography and the autoethnography of making. It presents an anthropological reflection on pottery craft as a way of life in a 21st-century village in Poland. The individual case of a village pottery shop in the region of Masuria is in focus, a place located in the north of the country. The exchange of knowledge and a participatory mode characterised the ethnographic enterprise. The author’s approach combines critical reflections on the social construction of folk art and craft in Poland with discursive renderings of craft-related bodily knowledge and the embodied recognition of materials and their affordances. Highlighting the alienating potential of the folk representation of the rural, it follows the meanings of pottery craft having been accommodated in the lifeworld of a modern village potter. The pottery workshop is presented both as an environment where skills and techniques are mastered as well as where experimentation happens and knowledge is built. The author focuses on recognising features of the world that are only made available through practicing the potter’s craft. The craft is also a way of establishing meaningful links with the local environment of the potter.

IMPLEMENTATION MODEL OF RELIGIOUS MODERATION IN BOARDING SCHOOLS IN THE CONTEXT OF PETER L. BERGER'S THEORY OF SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION (STUDY AT ISLAMIC BOARDING SCHOOL IN EAST JAVA - INDONESIA)

This research is an Applied Research on National Strategic Studies, on the Implementation Model of Religious Moderation in Ma’had (Islamic boarding school) by taking case studies in Surabaya City, Probolinggo Regency, Jember Regency, and Sumenep Regency. Objectives of the activity: First, to analyze management patterns in implementing religious moderation in Ma’had. Second, to analyze the application of subject teacher (ustadz) learning in implementing religious moderation in Islamic boarding school (Ma’had) for their students. Third, describe the obstacles faced by Ma’had institutions in implementing religious moderation. The research design is designed as a field research design in which the researcher will conduct observations and interviews with the respondents, on the issues raised. These findings will be analyzed using the social construction theory of Peter L. Berger.The results of the study show: First, the management pattern in implementing religious moderation in Islamic boarding school/Ma’had begins with determining the vision and mission of the madrasa, and preparing the madrasa work program which is documented in the Ma’had Strategic Plan, Ma’had Work Plan, Annual Activity Plan, Ma’had Activity Plan and Budget, and Ma’had Curriculum. Second, Ma’had in implementing religious moderation generally use three patterns, namely: (1) integrating in the learning process; (2) habituation activities; (3) through extracurricular. Based on the implementation model of religious moderation at the Ma’had, it can generally be concluded that these patterns are following Peter L. Berger's Social Construction Theory, namely the existence of stages in implementation such as the preparation of vision and mission, work programs and habituation to the institution (process externalization), implementation of vision and mission, work programs, and habituation to Ma’had (objectification process), and a correct understanding of moderation and implementation in everyday life both in the school, home, and community environment (internalization process).Based on the findings/results of the research, the suggestions/recommendations that can be given are: (1) there needs to be socialization, workshops, technical guidance, training on religious moderation for all educators and education personnel in Ma’had in order to create a unified insight; (2) The government in this case the Ministry of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia needs to provide a separate budget related to religious moderation activities, especially in Ma’had so that activities can be carried out massively, systematically, and structured from the central level to the Ma’had level; and (3) Ma’had need to coordinate with parents through the madrasa committee, and carry out MoUs with stakeholders such as national private companies through CSR programs in implementing religious moderation in Ma’had, so that activities can be carried out massively and planned.

Who is responsible for migrant integration? Contextual political drivers of governance actors’ responsibility frames in small and medium European localities

ABSTRACT This article develops a comparative analysis of ‘responsibility frames’ of migrant integration – i.e. cognitive understandings about who should be responsible for migrant integration – held by actors involved in local integration governance across 36, rigorously selected, European small and medium towns and applies multilevel regression analysis to examine potential contextual and political drivers of the emergence of such frames. Our findings contribute to the existing literature on local integration frames indicating that, first, overall, frames that see integration as a responsibility of ‘migrants only’ prevail over other frames. Second, integration frames are localised, meaning that municipalities provide distinct contexts for the social construction of migrant integration. Third, political factors are crucial at both the individual and contextual level: not only elected local policymakers’ frames depend on their political party affiliation but also frames held by bureaucrats and non-public actors depend on the political affiliation of the local executive of their locality.

Heterogeneous Sex Dolls: Outlining a Sociology of Knowledge Approach to the Abject

AbstractThis paper explores the integration of Julia Kristeva’s concept of abjection into the sociology of knowledge, with a particular focus on the cultural phenomenon of hyperrealistic sex dolls. Employing a unique methodological approach, this paper interprets Kristeva’s Powers of Horror through Berger and Luckmann’s The Social Construction of Reality by utilizing two observation-based vignettes. It proposes a novel translation of the abject, typically a psychoanalytic concept, into empirical research frameworks that traditionally emphasize everyday reality. This synthesis extends the boundaries of a sociology of knowledge by incorporating affective responses to transgressive phenomena. The findings suggest that pre-recognition psychoanalytic concepts can significantly broaden the theoretical scope of sociology, offering new lenses to examine events and affects that lie beyond conventional sociological analysis.

Constructos del agua, mercancía y valor

The work revisits certain categories within social sciences to analyze water through two primary lenses. The first lens views water as a social construct, involving various communal, social, and institutional actors. This perspective has historical roots extending back to the liberal era of the early 20th century and continues through the post-war period of 'developmentalism.' During this time, water resources were seen as a public service managed by municipalities, communities, and, following the establishment of the Sistema Nacional de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (SNAA, known as AyA) in 1961, by a centralized state institution. Secondly, the study examines the transition of water from a 'use value' (satisfying a need) to an 'exchange value.' This analysis employs the concept of 'elasticity' of the commodity, representing a kind of expansive long wave embedded in the international political debates of the sixties and seventies. These debates involved various social movements and American business elites, who perceived the concept of 'free enterprise' as under threat. This resulted in 'authoritarian liberalism,' which has had lasting effects. In the present era, a 'total market' logic prevails, where water markets, transnational corporations, and stock market pricing determine the distribution of this resource on the planet through supply and demand laws.

Naturalistic Decision-Making in Intentional Communities: Insights from Youth, Disabled Persons, and Children on Achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for Equality, Peace, and Justice

The seventeen UN SDGs address critical global challenges. Among them, Goal 10—reducing inequality—and Goal 16—promoting peace, justice, and strong institutions—serve as foundational pillars in democracies, enabling the achievement of all other goals. Children, youth, and persons with disabilities are among those who stand to benefit most from these goals. Insights from the naturalistic decision-making practices of intentional communities, often framed as Contenders or Deviants in social construction theory, could be instrumental in advancing these objectives. This study examines the decision-making practices of three intentional communities representing youth, disabled persons, and children, each fostering a different version of equitable, peaceful, and justice-oriented governance to build strong institutions. The communities studied include a self-producing Korean popular music (K-pop) group representing youth Contenders, a mental health-supporting annual English conference for individuals on the autistic spectrum, and a Canadian alternative education, self-directed public senior elementary and secondary school—both considered Deviant societies in social construction theory, one focusing on disabled persons and the other on children. The historical method assesses the effectiveness of these communities’ preferred practices in achieving Goals 10 and 16. The results offer actionable insights for enhancing equality, peace, and justice while strengthening institutions to realize the full range of UN SDGs in democratic societies.

Capitalist roaders or socialist reformers? A critical review of Marxist literature on China since 1976

Marx identified a transitional phase between capitalism and communism in which society is transformed under a Revolutionary Dictatorship, but still retains aspects of the capitalist society from which it was born. Socialist construction then, is not only the process of developing the productive forces and transforming the relations of production. It is also a process of continued ideological and class struggle against remaining capitalist elements within society. This is both a struggle against the resurgence of capitalist relations within the economic base, as well as a project of societal transformation. Much of the debate over China's economy rests on the nature of the 1978 Reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping. Marxists debate whether these Reforms represent a break with the project of socialist construction in China or a development of this process. This paper will critically review the scholarship on the question of socialist construction in China before and after the Reforms, reviewing works by Deng Xiaoping, Domenico Losurdo, Charles Bettelheim , William Hinton, Pao-Yu Ching, Minqi Li, and Zhun Xu.

Cheng Enfu and Domenico Losurdo's Views on Socialist Construction

Cheng Enfu and Domenico Losurdo's Views on Socialist Construction

Language and Group-based Power: Myths, Proverbs and Metaphors as Depositories of Gendered and Ethnic Identities in Perpetua Nkamanyang Lola’s Revised Edition of "The Lock on my Lips (2023)"

Gender and Ethnicity are two types of group distinctions with which group-based power is associated and, in most postcolonial African urban contexts, gender and ethnicity intersect to shape our identities, opportunities and the challenges we face. Drawing from postcolonial, queer and feminist theories, this study examines the role of language in the construction of group-based power structures. The study examines the gender and ethnic specific function of Language (specifically myths, proverbs, metaphors, idioms and witty sayings) in the revised edition of Lola’s The Lock On My Lips with the view of demonstrating that the budding dramatist employs these linguistic devices to invest her work with a truly African sensibility and flavour, but mainly to show the role language plays in the social construction of gender and ethnic otherness.

Revisiting writing feedback: Using teacher-student writing conferences to enhance learners’ L2 writing skills

Previous studies have largely overlooked teacher feedback, which plays a significant role in the social construction of knowledge within educational ecosystems worldwide. While written corrective feedback has been the focus of writing feedback research, oral feedback in teacher-student L2 writing conferences has not received as much attention, especially from an ecological lens. To address this research gap, this study investigated how writing training, including teacher-student conferences, can improve learners' L2 writing skills, with a specific focus on Ethiopia. The study explores how these conferences can help students enhance their L2 writing skills through constructive criticism and encouragement. To achieve this, 63 students (aged 15 to 23; 38 male and 25 female) were divided into experimental and control groups using a quasi-experimental design. The students underwent pre- and post-tests during an eight-week intervention. MANOVA was used to evaluate the pre-test data, while ANCOVA was used for the post-test analysis. The post-test results show that teacher-student conferences can effectively improve three writing skills: organization, vocabulary, and mechanics. The greatest impact on students' understanding of the writing process was seen in mechanics (43.4%), vocabulary (36.9%), and organization (11.5%). However, the intervention did not have a statistically significant impact on two other writing skills: content and language usage or grammar. Recommendations for future research and strategies for integrating teacher-student conferences into writing instruction are provided.

Voicing infant talk: Infant's agency in Spanish family interactions

In a moment in which society frequently legitimizes the narrative that young children are “goal-oriented”, “competent” and “agents”, this paper denaturalizes this core value through empirical examples of how agency is enacted in family practices in which parents and siblings animate infant “speech” (voicing), fortifying the child's active family membership. The paper draws from a multimodal, longitudinal, ethnographic study examining the language socialization of infants in Spanish middle-class families from Madrid. In dialogue with a relational approach to agency, voicing is analyzed to showcase how the social construction of babies' agency dynamically changes in different positions (e. g. between competence and vulnerability) and in different verbal and no-verbal attunements between babies and family members. As we consider the interactional and verbal routine of voicing, we also move to a more vaguely defined terrain of undervalued dimensions, such as infant vocalizations and other forms of multimodal and embodied communicative practices, as they co-occur in socio-material ensembles.

Race in Integrated Data Systems: Why, Wherefrom, and How

Integrated administrative data systems (IADs) are a powerful resource to implement research and analysis for social policy. While IADs may capture racial identity data from multiple administrative sources, there is no agreed upon criteria for whether and how to synthesize this information in a way that (1) produces knowledge to advance racial equity, while (2) underscoring race as a social construct. This study leverages a county-level IAD to test and analyze an event-table design to represent racial identity that, when informed with historical and community knowledge, may meet both of the aforementioned goals. We illustrate this approach applied to the development of a registry of youth experiencing homelessness, as captured by linked administrative data from vital records, homeless service agencies, schools, food support programs, and other systems. The event table design includes race identity for each person in the registry across all systems included. We develop criteria to inform the hierarchy of one source over another when there are discrepancies in race identity across systems, and when categories for this variable differ across administrative systems. We provide historical and social context behind potential discrepancies and discuss approaches to missing data. Furthermore, we highlight the value of including qualitative knowledge from agency data managers, users, and those represented in the data to inform the synthesis of information around race. Finally, we illustrate how this approach can guide research analysis and contextualize results, thus enhancing the research process and advancing racial equity with IADs.

Ethnoracial disparities in childhood growth trajectories in Brazil: a longitudinal nationwide study of four million children

Growth is an important marker of child health and development. It is related to aspects such as social-economic conditions, being affected by social inequalities. Race is a social construct that functions as an essential tool of racism. It creates social hierarchy, resulting in segregation, different quality and access to health care, and unequal distributions of social determinants on health. Understanding the effects of ethno-racial inequalities on growth trajectories is essential to improve children development and well-being. In the study we investigated child growth according to maternal ethno-racial group using a nationwide Brazilian database. Data were obtained via linkage of the CIDACS Birth Cohort and the Brazilian Food the Nutrition Surveillance System. It included 4,090,271 children under 5 years old, born at term, followed-up between 2008 and 2017. We used mixed-effects model to estimate both original and standardized forms of length/height and weight trajectories. Results pointed out to growth differences among the racial groups, concerning both markers. Children born to Indigenous mothers presented the most critical situation, followed by those born to Parda, Asian-descent, and Black mothers. The strengthening of policies aimed at protecting Indigenous children should be urgently undertaken to address systematic ethno-racial health inequalities. Additionally, these findings may help policymakers to achieve the United Nation’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (eradication of hunger and all forms of malnutrition).

The university as an intellectual capital catalyst for sustainable organisations: conceptualising the nexus

Purpose Intellectual capital (IC) is an increasingly important strategic asset for sustainable value creation in organisations. This paper aims to provide a conceptual perspective on the university’s role as a catalyst for IC creation and development within the dynamic landscape of organisations, exploring the nexus to capture its essence. Design/methodology/approach Adopting a conceptual framework development approach, key concepts were cohesively and coherently synthesised from various theoretical underpinnings, namely, the multiple capitals approach to maximising corporate value creation, the evolved triple bottom line approach to corporate sustainability, the triple helix innovation model and its subsequent extensions, the upper echelons theory and the social licence construct linked to stakeholder, legitimacy and institutional theories. Findings A comprehensive conceptual framework was developed that outlines universities’ role in catalysing four corporate IC forms crucial to sustainable organisational value creation: human capital, governance capital, social/relational capital and structural/organisational capital. The framework interprets this role of universities as dynamic IC reservoirs serving regional ecosystems for sustainable development. It highlights the synergistic sustainable value creation between universities and organisations in host communities and broader society, with university governance acting as a key driver. Originality/value This paper offers a theoretically grounded interpretation of universities’ pivotal role in catalysing essential forms of IC to support contemporary organisations’ sustainable value-creation processes. The proposed framework has the potential to ignite conversations on the crucial connection between universities and corporate IC development relevant to sustainable organisations, inspiring future empirical research, reflection and discussion.

Dispossessed exposures. Housing and regimes of the visible

Literatures and organising show us how, in contemporary racial financial capitalism, housing is formed through dispossessive histories and geographies. Here, we query how these enter into play in the visual regimes through which housing is seen and experienced. For if the visual realm is as much a construct as any other housing matter, finding a grammar to tap into its workings might become handy when its violent outcomes come to the fore. What is reproduced in the visual regimes of housing? What is offered and taken anyway? What might never be seen, and by whom? The article offers a tentative analytical approach to questioning what we call dispossessed exposures: the (en)visioning of homely futures that are deprived, already in the social construct of seeing with the house, the possibility of radical care for and of habitation. These ideas are unpacked through reflection on two films: Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables and Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouihl’s Gagarine. We offer these reasonings as a contribution to ongoing conversations in the renewed field of housing justice scholarship.

The Social Production of Hate Crime Statistics: The Differential Construction of Islamophobic Hate Crime by the Media and Law Enforcement

The decentralized nature of American policing largely allows agencies to define crime, and the requisite severity of that crime, at the institutional level. As a result, local hate crime statistics are differentially constructed across space. The current research posits that official hate crime statistics most accurately reflect a rate-producing, rather than a behavior-producing, process. Focusing on anti-Muslim hate crime, a particularly understudied form of hate crime, we examine reporting differences across community factors, using the media reports as a comparison point. We analyze official FBI hate crime reports, and news reports collected by Mapping Islamophobia, employing a logistic regression to predict anti-Muslim hate crime reporting. Our findings suggest significant variation in the social construction of anti-Muslim hate crime, both across institutions and across space.

Capturing Changing Concepts: The Case of Humanism

AbstractChanging concepts, understood as social constructs and facets of linguistic expressions, and likewise the mechanisms of change and the dynamicity of their contents, cannot be adequately analysed without a holistic perspective of a language system on the one hand, and a multi-layered perspective of conversational interaction on the other. I take on board a case study of the concept humanism, in particular in its relation to speciesism, to argue for such a broad perspective when discussing concept revision, including its deliberate and automatic aspects. Section 1 sets out the scene and the objectives, emphasising the importance of metapragmatic concerns. In Sect. 2, I briefly introduce some relevant terms and debates surrounding concepts, lexemes, and their dynamicity. Section 3 moves to the question of the foundations of meaning and points out the importance of addressing it in the context of these debates. Section 4 contains the case study of the concept humanism and the insights it offers for carving out the boundaries of inquiry into the life of a concept, focusing on the importance of broadly understood propositional content and the non-propositional overlay as they are dynamically constructed in discourse—and, as such, on the importance of metapragmatic concerns. Section 5 concludes and reiterates my plea against carving out fields of inquiry based on narrowly understood pursuits.