Social Construction

cultural variables

systematic way to study differences

naturalization

when people mistakenly come to think of what is socially constructed to be from nature

social location bias

the upbringing, background, culture, bias, aptitude, etc a person has

semiotics

• language

• signifying systems that study the signs and symbols in communication and their meanings.

• the study of signs and symbols and their interpretations

define Social Construction

Social construction is the theory that concepts, practices, and realities are developed and maintained through social interactions and cultural practices, often seen as subject to varying interpretations; an “invention” society agrees upon collectively

• works with material reality and transforms it into social reality

race

• socially constructed

• not real

• imagined common descent

• folk notion, not scientific

• national; regional; linguistic

racialization

the process through which social categories, such as race, are constructed and assigned meanings based on perceived differences.

race: biology vs. social construction

• different races have different genetic characteristics,

• yet are still socially constructed race can correlate with colour and certain genetic traits

• but not consistently enough to justify scientifically the notion of human races

One-Drop Rule

• if you had any “Black blood” (African ancestors) you were considered Black

  • socially constructed and racialized as Black

  • encompassed other non-white groups

  • having any non-white blood made you not white

semiosis

the process of constructing meaning

signification (semiotics)

making sense of signs

3 nature of signs

1. signifier & signified

2. symbol, icon, index

3. denotation & connotation

parts of semiotics

1. language (linguistics)

2. semiotics proper (other signs)

A Classic (“Saussurean”) View of Semiosis

• signifier + signified

• material/immaterial

  • material: the object itself

• together the signifier and the signified make

• up the sign

• sign ≠ the physical object

• sign: ordinary language

  • the sign itself

• signifier: technical language

  • yellow colours, silhouette of a car on slippery roads

• signified: the message

  • slippery roads ahead

define sign

ordinary language; anything that communicates a meaning that is not the sign itself to the interpreter of the sign

signifier + signified = sign

define signifier

the part of a sign that represents the concept or meaning, often a word, image, or sound; technical language; the observable aspects of the sign itself

define signified

the message itself; what the sign represents or refers to

Charles Peirce’s Theory

• symbol

• icon

• index

define symbol

arbitrary meanings attributed to a sign

define icon

quality/physical characteristics of a sign; shares some physical form with the referenced; motivated

define index

does not share any of their form with the reference; motivated