Theories Of Social Construction

Social Construction Theory is the notion that we use categories and identities to structure our own experiences and analysis of the world. The nurture approach would argue these categories, once coined by society, are then accepted as reality, despite the facts. For instance, the Earth was once believed to be flat, and so societies beliefs revolved around that thesis (Penrose & Jackson, 1993). Therefore, social construction is the outcome of human choice. However, it is noted that within different cultures or societies, we construct our own interpretations of reality and thus within social construction theory, an objective fact does not exist (Burr, 2003); all definitions are value laden and biased to some degree (Barak, 1998, p.21). These …show more content…
In particular, the working class (Presdee, 2004: 45). Regardless of if you are an open minded person or not, it is always possible to hold negative thoughts about any class and prejudice can be indiscriminate, it is a fact of life. One agent of hegemony that frequently likes to add negative connotations to the working class is the mass media. The media creates a moral panic using pre-existing stereotypes which are based on only an element of truth. Therefore, if we were to look into more detail of these moral panics, it is very easy to disprove any of them. For instance, not everyone who is unemployed and on benefits are 'scroungers ', they might have health problems for example, and some might not even be working class. Another common perception is that the majority of working class female teenagers are pregnant or already have their own children, when in reality this is not the case and middle class teenagers are also susceptible to teenage pregnancy. Nor are all working class youths engaged in gangs and anti-social behaviour just because of the clothes they wear such as hoodies. Even if a middle class youth was to engage in anti-social behaviour, they would not be labelled for it if they were not dressed like a gang member. middle class youth may not wear a hoodie, they will not be labelled as a gang member. However, the …show more content…
The way they often choose to express themselves is through their clothes and style under consumer capitalism (Martin 2009: 125). Those who fall into these categories are often referred to as 'chavs ' which stands for council housing and violence. However, this quickly became a derogatory term directed at the majority of the working class, and so class hatred became an integral part of British modern culture. This can be seen in newspapers, TV comedy shows and films etc. (Jones, 2016). The word 'chav ' has even made its way into the Oxford English dictionary, so no wonder the hatred of working class people has become so socially