Social Constructionist Perspective Research Articles

The Rise and Decline of the Liberal World Order and the Multilateral Trade System: A Critical-Constructivist Synthesis to International Regime Analysis

This article devises an analytical framework that synthesizes neo-Gramscian and social constructivist perspectives to dissect international regimes amid global hegemonic shifts. It portrays regimes as intersubjective constructs with unique social purposes within the broader hegemonic fabric, shaped by dominant ideologies and power distributions. The study examines the transition of the trade regime from General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to World Trade Organization (WTO) through the Uruguay Round (1986-1994) and the Doha Round’s deadlock since 2001. The article posits that the Uruguay Round marked a pivotal hegemonic transformation, transitioning the regime from embedded liberalism to neoliberalism by transforming its social purpose, norms, and generative grammar. Yet, this shift, which precipitated a legitimacy crisis within the WTO and was exacerbated by the Doha Round’s failure to regenerate neoliberal hegemony with a fresh synthesis of free trade and sustainable development, arguably rendered the WTO directionless and contributed to the fragmentation of global trade governance amidst emerging regional pacts and varied ideological visions of economic liberalism.

Inclusion of Syrian students in need of special support in Norwegian schools - a qualitative study with students and parents

ABSTRACT Despite the over-representation of immigrant children assessed as requiring special needs education, research into their social and educational experiences in the Nordics is limited. This qualitative study explored the experiences of five Syrian students in need of special support, and their parents in Norway. A thematic analysis was conducted using intersectionality theory and the social constructionist perspective. Analyses found that Syrian students had positive experiences at schools, with less academic pressure compared to their experiences in Syria, but poor peer relationships. Parents expressed varied emotions, including gratitude for not having to hide the special needs of their children, but uncertainty about how to seek help. Those conflicting feelings seemed to originate from the language barriers, different cultural traditions, and a limited understanding of the Norwegian educational system. Our findings contribute to the literature concerning the inclusion of immigrant students in need of special support and their families, emphasising the significance of culture, and advocating for their participation in both schools and research.

Let us move forward: Comment on “are generations a useful concept?”

Generational labels (e.g., Millennials and Baby Boomers) are widely used in daily life to represent the unique characteristics of groups of people. However, the existence of generational differences remains contentious. In their focal paper, Costanza et al. (2023) critically reviewed the literature on generational differences and proposed two future research directions: the social constructionist and lifespan development perspectives. In this commentary, we aimed to extend the proposed directions for future research on generational differences by integrating the two perspectives into one theoretical framework. Future research should investigate how proximal social relationships (e.g., intergenerational relations) and distal social norms (e.g., age norms) change over historical time and whether these historical changes shape individuals' development and aging. The theoretical framework that integrates the two proposed research directions may stimulate research on generational differences to progress beyond the concept of generations.

ACCOUNTS OF ELEMENTARY TEACHERS ON THE USE OF PEDAGOGIES IN ADDRESSING LEARNING LOSS DURING THE IN-PERSON CLASSES: A PHENOMENOLOGY

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe the experiences of Elementary School Teachers in using pedagogies to address learning loss during in-person classes. The concept and idea for the study were gleaned from Shulmans (1986) Pedagogical Content Knowledge Theory, which proposes that effective teachers possess a specific knowledge set alongside certain personality qualities, abilities, and dispositions. This theory emphasizes that teaching well requires both artistry and scientific understanding. There are numerous practices, techniques, and abilities that contribute to effective instruction, and these cannot be fully captured in a limited list. The study is further supported by Vygotskys (1978) Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, which views the learning environment from a social constructivist perspective. This theory fundamentally explains how students acquire knowledge in a social context, interacting with peers and mentors. Additionally, Banduras (1977) Social Learning Theory is used as a supporting framework, which suggests that increased social interaction leads to higher levels of learning. Finally, the study is grounded in van Dijks (2020) Theory of the Digital Divide. There were five (5) public elementary school teachers participated in the in-depth interview. They were selected using purposive sampling method. The results revealed in the experiences, coping up mechanisms, and insights in using pedagogies and strategizing to address the learning loss of the students. More so, collaboration with parents, ineffectively usage of modular learning, problems in reading skills of the learners, structuring of rewards and punishment, and flexibility and consistency in teaching. The results are believed to be significant to teachers and Department of Education regarding on the experiences of public elementary school heads returning to being classroom teacher. KEYWORDS: experiences, public elementary school teachers, learning loss, phenomenology, Davao de Oro

Exploring cultural landscape narratives to understand challenges for collaboration and their implications for governance

ABSTRACT Ongoing land use change, including both land abandonment and agricultural intensification and expansion, not only present a threat for biodiversity and ecosystem health but also for the persistence of cultural landscapes. However, farmland abandonment and the resulting loss of traditional cultural landscapes is an under-researched topic in the literature. Our work in a transdisciplinary action research project in the Spreewald Biosphere Reserve suggested that challenges to preserve the cultural landscape are rooted in diverging landscape understandings and future aspirations. Dealing with and integrating different perceptions and viewpoints is a key challenge in landscape governance. Narratives as storylines about a topic or an issue have a structural and temporal dimension and can help understand land-use conflicts and different viewpoints. We adopted a social constructivist perspective on landscape to engage with meanings and perceptions (including values) that constitute landscape to diverse stakeholders. To understand these differences in meaning, we drew on Q-methodology and conducted 38 interviews with key stakeholders. We elicited three co-existing and partly overlapping landscape narratives. These differ with regard to meanings of the term cultural landscape, including how stakeholders characterise the landscape, how they appreciate it, and what they perceive as threats. We show how such differences in meanings and values attributed to the landscape translate to different problem framings and future aspirations and thus present a barrier for collaborative management and governance. We highlight how participatory vision development could help address narrative tensions and argue that a more integrative perspective would better include cultural aspects.

Gender and Social Construction in Local Government: A Experience from Regent of Lebak Regency, Indonesia

This article dissects how socially constructed society views women in politics as regional heads. Amid the minimal existence of women in politics, women still dare to enter politics to become regional heads. The research results in this article will first explain how social construction translates social roles between women and men, including in the political sphere. Second, this article highlights gender analysis of the leadership style of Iti Octavia Jayabaya as Regent of Lebak from a social construction perspective. With their myriad of problems, women are challenged to enter politics without solid support and political capital. Likewise with Iti Octavia Jayabaya, although her leadership cannot be separated from the existence of a political dynasty, Iti Octavia Jayabaya broke the social construction, which assumes that it is difficult for women to be involved in politics and even become regional leaders. Iti Octavia Jayabaya has proven this through various achievements related to the development of the region he leads to escape it as a disadvantaged region. This research contribution enriches approaches and references regarding the study of women's leadership, to gender issues in government and local politics.

A Theoretical Study on the Effectiveness of Grassroots Social Governance

Social stability is one of the important pursuits of rulers with great priority over other aspects. From the perspective of social construction, social stability marks the stability and happiness of people’s lives, so the improvement of people’s happiness is important. Social stability is also the premise of people’s peace and contentment for harmony. Grassroots social governance is an important part of social governance that is a necessary prerequisite for maintaining social stability and promoting social development. This paper explains the necessity of improving the effectiveness of grassroots social governance, points out the shortcomings of the current system, and analyzes and discusses methods to improve its effectiveness.

Bridging organizational identity work and institutional work: Preserving the identity of the Church of Norway through institutional change

Applying institutional theory to organizational identity (OI) work, this article analyzes how the OI of the Church of Norway was reformulated when it was disestablished as a state church. Building on social constructionist perspectives and their implications for agency, drawing on a case study, this article deepens the link between institutional work and OI research by promoting institutional work as an analytical tool to understand OI work. Deviating from current trends in OI research, which emphasize the discursive bottom-up work of organizational members, this work focuses on the pivotal role of regulative elements in a highly institutionalized organization and questions the division between a social actor and the social constructionist perspective of OI. It calls for more empirical research on OI work, which encompasses broader institutional aspects.

On the Concordance of Romantic and Sexual Feelings and Identity Among University Students in Taiwan.

The degree to which romantic and sexual feelings correspond to one's sexual identity may signify how a person comes to embrace a specific sexual identity. People who endorse an essentialist perspective may expect to see a high degree of concordance between feelings and identity, and a lack of concordance may be associated with negative consequences. People who endorse a social constructionist perspective may view sexual identity as constructed in situ; a lack of concordance is inevitable and may not be associated with negative consequences. This research tests the levels of concordance of feelings and identity by comparing those with and without romantic and sexual feelings using risk ratios and odds ratios. A representative sample of college students in Taiwan was recruited (N = 3882, with 2440 females and 2988 who identified as heterosexual). The findings suggest that (1) people's romantic and sexual feelings largely correspond to their sexual identity, with all risk ratios and odds ratios higher than 1; (2) the concordance was at its lowest level among those with different-sex feelings; (3) gender differences in concordance were trivial; (4) individuals who were questioning their identity were the least clear about what they expect and want in intimate relationships; and (5) no general negative consequences in intimate relationships were observed among discordant/branched individuals. Implications regarding romantic and sexual feelings, sexual identity, and intimate relationships are further discussed.

Climate-induced migration and gender dynamics in Bangladesh: a social constructivist analysis

ABSTRACT Environmental migration is not a new phenomenon. Climate changes have caused migration from prehistoric times. With climate change exacerbating cyclones and floods, migration from coastal areas to major cities like Dhaka in Bangladesh has become more frequent and severe. This influx poses numerous urban planning challenges. Sometimes, it leads to human trafficking. The focus of this article is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the intricate relationships between gender norms and the availability of rights and opportunities. Women’s migration involves social and psychological effects as well as physical movement. This research examines the social constructivist perspective in the discourse surrounding climate-induced migration.

“Why not the thoub and the abaya?” An interactional sociolinguistic approach to the interplay between nationality, gender, and professional identity in the Qatari academic workplace

Although identity is recognized as an important topic in Arabic sociolinguistics, little attention has been paid to how major structural changes impact different forms of identity, especially in professional and workplace contexts. In this article we tackle this gap to investigate how Qatari junior academics give meaning to their professional identities as they negotiate the roles they claim to fulfil vis-à-vis their students in a particularly complex workplace context characterized by processes of internationalization and nationalization. More specifically, we work from a social constructionist perspective and adopt the “narrative as social practice” approach ( De Fina & Georgakopoulou 2008 ) to carry out micro-oriented linguistic analyses of research interviews with female Qatari junior academics. Our findings indicate that the interviewees often present themselves in their stories as “role-models,” not only as and vis-à-vis women but also, and even more importantly, as and vis-à-vis Qataris. This invocation of the intersectionality of their identities reflects the complexity of this changing academic workplace. Finally, this article points at the importance of investigating identities of people who are directly affected by organizational change, as it uncovers the in situ effects on the micro-level of processes on the macro-level.

Transdisciplinarity from the grassroots: exploring student-led dialogues for sustainability

ABSTRACT The responses of higher education (HE) institutions towards the climate crisis and escalating social inequalities have been researched from either ‘top-down’ (i.e. institutionally-led) or ‘bottom-up’ (i.e. student-led) perspectives. As scholars call for enhanced insight into the space between these two poles, this paper provides an autoethnographical account of a ‘bottom-up’ network led by doctoral students – Researchers 4 Sustainability (R4S) – initiated within a UK university to contest ‘top-down’ structures by way of disciplinary silos. Likening disciplines to communicative subsystems, we draw on a social constructivist perspective of dialogue to demonstrate how three forms of dialogue – exploring, explaining and expanding – support not just the transcending of disciplinary boundaries, but crucially, institutional hierarchies, in the creation of sustainability knowledge. Herein, we introduce a framework against which to organise student-led dialogues relative to their inter- and/or trans-disciplinary orientations and offer recommendations for theory and practice.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard: How Language and Societal Influences Shape Power and Discourses

The current paper aims to analyze the case of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s claims of domestic abuse, in the context of Foucault’s concepts of a socially constructed society, power, subject positions and discourses. Foucauldian Discourse Analysis goes against the westernized concept of structures such as gender, sexuality morality and norm, as it disregards the notion that these concepts are immutable and mainly biological, and suggests that society is fluid, placing the wider sociocultural and historical context of a society as the basic foundations of creating discourses, placing individual concepts and groups in hierarchies, with knowledge and power granting access to higher places in the societal hierarchy and therefore facilitating the production of discourses. In light of that, the introduction includes three qualitative studies that depict the fluidity of gender concepts regarding domestic abuse, and analyzing in the analysis section the power dynamics, subject positions and discourses created regarding the two actors, based on theoretical background around FDA analysis and social constructionism, qualitative studies, as well as recordings of the live trial in 2022 and two articles out of the four that were chosen, analyzing themes of gender differences, court environment and the media. The use of 6 analytic tools were used in order to identify the discourses, as well as explain the social constructionist perspective around gender and language. Keywords: Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, FDA, Gender, Discourse, Social constructionism

Too Much Screen Time or Too Much Guilt? How Child Screen Time and Parental Screen Guilt Affect Parental Stress and Relationship Satisfaction

ABSTRACT Recent decades have witnessed a surge in public discourse around the negative effects of media technologies. One of these public debates concerned the negative effects of child screen time on children’s development resulting in parental feelings of guilt and stress as parents struggle to limit their children’s screen use. Based on a social constructivist perspective, we suggest that parental stress around child screen time and subsequent relational strain with children is affected not simply by the amount of time children spend with screens but by the amount of guilt parents feel over allowing such use. Based on cross-sectional (N 1 = 140/N 2 = 474) and longitudinal (N = 192) data of American parents, evidence indicates that parental guilt around their child’s screen use enhances the amount of stress parents feel around their child’s screen time, which, in turn, relates to lower parent-child relationship satisfaction. Implications for future research and the public debate around child screen use as well as for the larger debate on digital well-being are discussed.

Constructing victimhood in Canadian news coverage of HIV criminalisation: Claims-making activities and HIV non-disclosure.

A robust body of research has documented the representational politics of news coverage in their depiction of HIV-positive people charged for HIV non-disclosure. News media representations of HIV-negative sex partners in cases of HIV non-disclosure have received far less scholarly attention. Adopting a social constructionist perspective, this article identifies how "victims" of HIV non-disclosure are constructed in news media. It is based on a dataset consisting of 341 news articles on HIV non-disclosure from 14 English Canadian newspapers across the political spectrum. Victims of HIV non-disclosure were constructed as: (1) suffering horribly, (2) morally pure and virtuous, (3) vengeful and (4) agentic and responsible for their situation. We consider how such constructions are enmeshed within arguments that establish or reject HIV non-disclosure as a social problem. We then discuss the ways these constructions and the assumptions upon which they are based reflect broader discussions on the severity of HIV, the responsibility for HIV risk and exposure, and the contestations over the very nature of the social problem of HIV non-disclosure. Constructions of victims that uphold HIV criminalisation have relied on assumptions of HIV as a deadly disease but de-emphasise personal responsibility for HIV risk. By contrast, constructions of victims that, in effect, oppose HIV criminalisation have tended to minimise the harms of HIV and invoke personal responsibility for HIV risk. We suggest that both proponents and opponents of HIV criminalisation engage in the "ideology of victimhood" and thus participate in and reinforce what Best (1997) termed, the "victim industry."

Beyond mere respect: new perspectives on dignity for healthcare workplace learning.

Although dignity in workplace learning in healthcare is gathering interest, we know little about stakeholders' conceptualizations in this area across professional groups. Dignity breaches in workplace learning are common, often with serious and long-lasting consequences for the affected. Conceptualizations shape behaviours and experiences. To prevent dignity violations in students' learning, it is thus important to understand stakeholders' understandings of the topic. This study therefore explores the dignity conceptualizations around workplace learning that students, placement educators and university staff hold across seven allied health professional groups. Using a social constructionist perspective, we conducted individual and group narrative interviews (n = 51) with students, placement educators and university workplace learning staff from seven allied health professional groups. We used the 5-step Framework Analysis to explore and develop themes, identifying differences and similarities across stakeholder groups. We identified eight distinct, yet interrelated, dimensions of dignity from participants' narratives: dignity as respect, dignity as self-x (the various relationships we have with ourselves), dignity as feeling safe, dignity as understanding otherness, dignity as supporting others, dignity as equality, dignity as professionalism, and dignity as belonging. Dignity as respect was identified across all participants, although mutual respect and a culture of respect were only present in academic participants' talk. The remaining seven dimensions all present important factors extending our understanding of the construct of dignity. In line with existing research, our study identifies the absence of an unambiguous, positive conceptualization of dignity in workplace learning among stakeholders. It adds novelty in two ways: by identifying dignity dimensions that require informed action beyond respecting others, and by revealing a tension between dignity as professionalism and dignity as equality. We suggest revising existing dignity concepts in workplace learning to address this tension and to reinforce that active care, team integration and skilled support are all non-negotiable elements of dignified behaviour within workplace learning.

The Duality of Sport Social Workers Coaching Critical Positive Youth Development Within Competitive Youth Sport

To meet the diverse needs of youth athletes within contemporary society, the privilege and responsibility of youth sport coaching must be reimagined. Critical positive youth development (CPYD)—which is grounded in Freire’s critical consciousness—emphasizes the urgency to empower youth to promote social justice and increase their ability to contribute to societal change. Considering the scarcity of CPYD in coach education, sport social workers may offer unique educational experiences and critical learning opportunities that may help fulfill a CPYD mandate within the youth sport landscape. From a social constructivist perspective, the aim of the current study was to explore the duality of sport social workers coaching competitive youth sport. Findings from 10 sport social workers suggest that the values, knowledge, and skills of the social work profession—particularly sport social work—seem to offer a transferable skillset and lessons to be emulated by CPYD coach education. For instance, because of their unique education and training, social workers are taught to use a strengths-based approach, maintain a holistic perspective, and teach life skills that contribute to PYD. However, findings also emphasize the notion that education may not solve all challenges concerning the need to foster CPYD, as many other variables make up the sport system.

Исследование социальной устойчивости в контексте переходного периода в жизни мигрантов: мозаика качественных методов

Migration is a psychosocial challenge, and migrants' transitory experiences in host countries are shaped by a combination of linked environmental factors. The absence of social aspects of resilience, as well as disciplinary limitations and biases, hinder the methodological rigor and flexibility needed to investigate social resilience as a phenomenon that occurs at the intersection of social, cultural, and political environments. Based on the social constructionist perspective, this paper identifies the need for a methodological mosaic and proposes a methodological guideline to investigate social resilience among migrants embedded in a multi-layered environment and person-environment interaction. The proposed methods include participant observation, biographical interviews, resilience diaries, focus groups, participants’ workshops, and expert conferencing. The inclusion of participantfriendly methods provides a space to listen to the voices of participants across the margins, and to engage experts and social workers in a participant-centered data examination. The concept of using a methodological mosaic in social resilience and migration studies provides a solid foundation for conducting multidisciplinary social science research. It gives the freedom to engage experts from various disciplinary backgrounds and benefits from diverse perspectives to connect the methodological pieces. The methodological mosaic described in this paper can be used to advance interconnected and participant-friendly data collection strategies and to gain a holistic understanding of migrants’ lived experiences. The paper, though a methodological proposal, contributes to broadening the methodological scope and integration in migration studies.

Digital Affordances on Speaking English Fluently: Learning English as a Second Language

Speaking is a skill that involves verbal communication, such as deriving meaning between two or more people as a speaker and listener. The pread of technology make people easier to study. On of the digital tool to improve speaking ability is by using digital story telling or called DST. Lots of researcs about DST have been published and told how effective it is. The effectiveness of DST as a tool to support the learning of all four English language skills. In this study, a descriptive research technique, case studies, was used. The case study aims to explore that examine the characteristics of existing cases and try to describe them in detail. In this study used digital media in teaching speaking. The two most important methods used by Toontastic turned out to be scaffolding and subject familiarity. In their learning Regarding protocol, more than 50% of students said the gradual development of the story was driven by: Toontastic makes it easy to create your own stories. From a social constructivist perspective, Toontastic's resources were the bridge that took ZPD's performance to the next level.

Experience of Knowledge Sharing Among the Teachers in Higher Education

Knowledge sharing experience among teachers in higher education practice is important now a days. This study aims at exploring the experiences of the knowledge-sharing process among teachers in a higher education institution. It highlights teachers' professional experience professionally in knowledge sharing. Social-constructivist perspectives and phenomenological study frameworks are used. Data was collected by conducting in-depth interviews with two people from a college under Tribhuvan University, an institution of higher education. Data were analyzed by coding, creating themes, showing interrelationships, and reasoning. Results show that institutional culture and politics, teacher rewards, beliefs, status, and professional ethics and standards influence decisions to share or withhold knowledge with some teacher colleagues. The outcomes focus on professional conditions, political influences, and incentives all have a significant impact on knowledge sharing, with institutionalized processes and hierarchies affecting the willingness of educators to share expertise. Trust and ethical considerations are also important, with trust and perceptions of ethical standards affecting active involvement and cooperation. This study recommends that knowledge sharing is a productive topic to carry out research in the future.