Social constructionism and the theory, practice and research of psychotherapy: A phenomenological psychology manifesto

Social constructionism may be defined as a perspective which believes that a great deal of human life exists as it does due to social and interpersonal influences (Gergen 1985). Although genetically inherited factors and social factors are at work at the same time, social constructionism does not deny the influence of genetic inheritance, but decides to concentrate on investigating the social influences on communal and individual life. The subjects that social constructionism is interested in are those to do with what anthropologists call culture, and sociologists call society: the shared social aspects of all that is psychological. There are several versions of social constructionism with different writers making different emphases. Two distinguishing marks of social constructionism include the rejection of assumptions about the nature of mind and theories of causality, and placing an emphasis on the complexity and interrelatedness of the many facets of individuals within their communities. Causality may exist within specific cultures but much work needs to be done before these connections can be described with any certainty. Social constructionism regards individuals as integral with cultural, political and historical evolution, in specific times and places, and so resituates psychological processes crossculturally, in social and temporal contexts. Apart from the inherited and developmental aspects of humanity, social constructionism hypothesizes that all other aspects of humanity are created, maintained and destroyed in our interactions with others through time. The social practices of all life begin, are recreated in the present and eventually end. For psychotherapy, this view emphasizes the importance of the acquisition, creation and change of emotional behaviour, therapeutic ability and ways of interpreting things and people. Because the genetic material of each race and region is different, as well as the cultural practice, then we say right from the start that there is no universal human nature. What social constructionism shows to be important are