In 1893, the U.S. Supreme Court had to determine if a tomato was a fruit or vegetable due to tax laws on imported vegetables.
The Nix family, tomato importers, argued it was a fruit (not taxed), while botanists define fruit by its role in plant reproduction (containing seeds).
Legally, tomatoes were ruled fruits and the Nix family had to pay the tax.
The tomato's categorization impacts people's experience with it.
The definition of reality affects how people experience it.
Culture
Humans add meaning, importance, and value to reality.
Culture: Shared ideas, objects, practices, and bodies within a group.
Socialization
Socialization: The lifelong learning process to become members of cultures.
Through this, people become culturally competent.
Culturally competent: Understanding and navigating cultures easily.
Social Construction
The meaning of a tomato varies; it is a social construct.
Social construct: A shared reality interpretation varying across time/space.
Social constructs originate from social construction.
Social construction: Layering objects with ideas, folding concepts, and building connections.
Members of the same culture typically share similar social constructs.
Human communication relies on social constructs, including language.
Social constructs can become social facts.
Money is an example; it's made up but powerful and coercive as a means of survival.
Types of Social Constructs
Signifiers: Things that stand for other things (e.g., emojis, diamond rings).
Categories: Subsets of things believed to be similar (e.g.,