To start, we need to first try and understand the main principles and issues of human nature. How does an individual define what is real?
Well, one defines what is real through one's perception of the world, and one's perception of the world, is based on learned interpretations. This learning is social: we learn from and among persons in social interaction.
The main vehicles through which the meanings are conveyed are: symbols, including language, cultural myths -- larger social meanings of objects, actions, signs, episodes, the structure and practice of our institutions, our rules for congruent action. All of these vehicles of meaning together, construct: our world-view -- our sense of how the world works, what is valuable, why things are the way they are. Our sense of ourselves, our identity, purpose, our ideologies -- our sense of the appropriateness of, the structure of, and the exercise of, power, action and roles in society.
Our selves, our societies, our institutions change continually, through interaction. The "real conditions" of our existence are not subjective however. They have meaning through social interaction and, their perceived value, causes, and significance are socially produced.
Reality, insofar as it means to us, is situational, or pragmatic: the context governs our interpretation.
The social construction of reality thus becomes important because it is a subjective reality, a product of the conventions of society. Without society, and the inherent conventions therein, man would have no way to define the reality which he perceives, and the social language which has risen up around us would not exist at all. The fact is, that the language does exist, and therein lies the significance of sociology.
To address the idea of the social construction of reality, is to examine the means by which man makes differentiations about reality. If the concrete world is seen to be objective, which it is, then it must be the perceptions of man that alter the way it is seen.
These changes occur through value judgments and conventions, which may be so deeply embedded in the conventions of society as to be seen as innate. What they truly are, are subjective interpretations of reality, based on social orientation. This orientation allows man to make differentiations about reality -- that is, as a subjective interpreter of reality, man utilizes conventions to differentiate between what he believes in the concrete world and what he does not believe.
A man does not question the concreteness of things, but he questions the authenticity and relevance to his own world, in a seemingly egocentric manner. If man perceives something that is not relevant, or does not correspond to his idea of reality, he deems it not real. Thus, the statement “If men define a situation as real, it is real; in its consequences" demonstrates the subjective nature of man's reality, in a sociological sense.
If man sees a situation as real and authentic, he considers it worthy of action, or reaction. This reaction may be seen as the consequence. This consequence is real because it is an effect of the action which man has been motivated to take in response to a situation in the concrete world, which he has deemed relevant to his existence. So, it may be said that, the consequences are by nature “real" because man has already deemed the situation as real by recognizing and reacting to its relevance to him. This relevance is not always defined through action, but is defined through impression as well.
Impressions result from the real life situations which man finds relevant, and make him change his way of thinking. This altered perception affects the conventions ingrained within man and turns into a generalization in the way in which man perceives the world.
Keep in mind that these perceptions, are the products of his social conditioning. Thus, labels and categorizations arising from social conditions represent perceptions which in some way alter or solidify the conventions of man within his society. In relation to various terms in our society, this point can be more properly illustrated. Society and subsequently man's reality, is constructed upon the basis of variations amongst the members of society. These variations include race, class, gender and sexuality.
In Part 2, we will look at how varying individual characteristics, represent the different means by which each individual can perceive reality.
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