Transcript Chapter 3
Chapter 3 Building Reality: The Social Construction of Knowledge What Makes Truth? • What is a healthy level of cholesterol? • What is Pluto? • What’s a bug? • What is your currency worth? • These ideas are social constructions. Social Construction of Reality • The process through which the members of a society discover, make known, reaffirm, and alter a collective version of facts, knowledge, and “truth” • Which is maintained and changed through – Culture – Language Culture and Language • Culture – Material – Non-material • Language – Vocabulary – Jargon – Euphemisms Shaping Reality • Self-fulfilling prophecy – Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) – Placebo effect – Nocebo effect – Stereotype threat • Incorrigible propositions Thinking Sociologically • How does what is considered to be “true” or “reality” change from one culture to the next, and from one historical period to the next? • What examples can you think of that show how culture and reality have changed over time? Who Controls Reality? • History • Conflict and power • Social institutions – – – – Economy Politics Religion The media • Moral entrepreneurs Conflict Perspective • Certain groups or people are more influential in defining reality than others • Reality is often based on the interests of powerful people, groups, organizations, and institutions • Moral entrepreneurs seek to shape their morality into law Media • News is a constructed reality • Economics: Who owns access? • By 2009 six companies owned over half of all media outlets • Time: What gets left out? • Spin: Whose perspective is represented? Moral Entrepreneurs • Individual (and smallgroup) efforts to control the construction of reality • Not necessarily wealthy or influential • Good at using publicity and public relations Thinking Sociologically • Conflict perspective and the media – Whose voice is not heard? – Whose perspective is not represented? – How does this shape reality? Doing Sociological Research • Casual research vs. empirical research • Probabilistic research – Looks at the likelihood of an event occurring (probability) – Rarely makes absolute predictions – Tries to take into account exceptions and variations Casual vs. Empirical • Casual research – What we do every day as we observe our surroundings and draw conclusions about what we see • Empirical research – Seeks generalizability (representative sample) – Systematic, controlled observation – Theoretical basis for method of study Approaches to Sociological Research • Qualitative – Research based on nonnumerical information that describes social life (text, written words, phrases, symbols, observations) • Quantitative – Research based on the collection of numerical data that utilizes precise statistical analysis Key Terms in Social Research • Theory • Hypothesis • Variables – Independent: the one that may cause the change – Dependent: the one you are looking at to see what happens – Indicators • Spurious relationships Kinds of Research • Experimental • Field research – Non-participant observation, participant observation • Unobtrusive research Experiment • A research situation designed to elicit some sort of behavior under closely controlled laboratory circumstances • Advantages – Able to study causal relationships – Easy to replicate • Disadvantages – Not a natural environment – Hard to measure many sociological concepts in a lab Field Research • Direct observation of people in their natural settings • Advantages: – Provides detailed and descriptive understandings of people’s everyday lives – Generally inexpensive to conduct • Disadvantages: – Time consuming – Difficult to replicate – Difficult to generalize to other groups – Reactivity: the Hawthorne effect – Particularly susceptible to ethical issues Unobtrusive Research • Researcher does not have direct contact with subjects • Analysis of existing data • Content analysis • Historical analysis • Visual sociology Research Tools • Surveys • Existing data • Representative samples Surveys • Data collected through questionnaires or interviews • Advantages – Large population can be studied – Random, representative samples – Results can be generalized • Disadvantages – Little in-depth information about people’s behavior or experiences – Questions need to be correctly worded Trustworthiness of Social Research • Samples • Indicators • Type of research • Values, interests, and ethics