1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910790384103321

Autore

Elder-Vass Dave

Titolo

The reality of social construction / / Dave Elder-Vass [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2012

ISBN

1-139-41179-9

1-107-23200-7

1-280-68318-X

9786613660121

1-139-42319-3

1-139-42017-8

1-139-16920-3

1-139-42222-7

1-139-41813-0

1-139-42426-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xii, 283 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Classificazione

SOC026000

Disciplina

302

Soggetti

Social constructionism

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Part I. Social Ontology: 1. Introduction; 2. Norm circles -- Part II. Culture: 3. Culture and rules; 4. Institutional reality -- Part III. Language: 5. Signification; 6. Langue and parole; 7. Categories, essences and sexes -- Part IV. Discourse: 8. Discourse; 9. Cultures and classes; 10. Subjects -- Part V. Knowledge: 11. Knowledge; 12. Reality; 13. Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

'Social construction' is a central metaphor in contemporary social science, yet it is used and understood in widely divergent and indeed conflicting ways by different thinkers. Most commonly, it is seen as radically opposed to realist social theory. Dave Elder-Vass argues that social scientists should be both realists and social constructionists and that coherent versions of these ways of thinking are entirely compatible with each other. This book seeks to transform prevailing



understandings of the relationship between realism and constructionism. It offers a thorough ontological analysis of the phenomena of language, discourse, culture and knowledge, and shows how this justifies a realist version of social constructionism. In doing so, however, it also develops an analysis of these phenomena that is significant in its own right.