Kenneth J. Gergen and Social Constructionism

Kenneth J

What is Social Constructionism?

Social Constructionism has been instrumental in remodeling grounded theory. In attempting to make sense of the social world, social constructionists view knowledge as constructed as opposed to created. This paper discusses how social constructionists construct knowledge and argues that social constructionism is concerned with the nature of knowledge and how it is created and as such, it is unco...

Introduction: Social Constructionism and Its Critics

The articles in this issue signify the maturation of social constructionism. After introducing the articles, I raise two questions that have remained under-represented on these pages. First, the historicization of constructionism has been avoided by constructionists and critics alike; and, second, the epistemological concerns have been dominated by realist– anti-realist debates. I conclude by i...

On Some Social Constructionisms of Emotions: Hochschild and Gergen

This short paper elaborates two social constructionisms by A. R. Hochschild and K. J. Gergen, and what results from them for studies on emotions. Moreover, a problem for research on emotions is raised through criticism for the theories by Hochschild and Gergen. 1 Hochschild: The Theory of Feeling Rules Based on the experiments by Schachter and Singer that showed an in uence of social contexts o...

Against Metaphysical Social Constructionism in Psychology

Originating in postmodern interpretations of diverse intellectual disciplines, social constructionism (SC) exerts a profound influence throughout modern psychology (K. J. Gergen, 1985), including such areas as social psychology, psychoanalysis, feminist psychology, family therapy, and the psychology of knowledge. The core of SC is the proposition that humans construct knowledge through social i...