Social Constructionism And Social Identity

Register to read the introduction… To further support the theory that all ideas are socially constructed through language, American psychologist Kenneth Gergen (1999) uses anecdotes to create meaning and his reference to changing from writing with a pen to using a computer suggesting he has constructed the identity of being a pen writer. There is strength in this account with his affiliation with writing with a pen and his fondness for his parents helping him to construct his identity through social relations. His use of language gives a feeling of understanding of how he felt about the pen and how he related pen writing to …show more content…
Social constructionists believe we all have different identities depending on what we are doing and who we are with at a particular time. There is the theory that we, as human beings, are not simply born with personality traits and genetics plays little part in our identity, but as we grow and interact with others in social situations, our personalities are simply a result of this social interaction. Personality, according to social constructionists, affects the way in which we behave in certain social situations and without other people being present in such situations we would not need to behave the way we do as there would be no point because no one would be there to observe us, i.e. if we were always alone we would not be seen by others to be, for example, shy or chatty.
Social constructionists believe that it is the way we are seen by others that makes us behave the way we do and therefore determines ‘who we are’ and this could be seen as a weakness in this perspective as people could be seen to have a false identity and sense of self as we only allow others to see what we want them to see. It makes no distinction between the personal and the social, unlike SIT which focuses on group