Reading logs

Title and Author

Question

Research Methods

Summary of Findings

Takeaway Message

Unfamiliar Vocabulary

Kenneth Gergen, “Together We Construct Our Worlds”

How are shared social realities constructed through language?

Observation, linguistic analysis

Realities come about through linguistic and social consensus. Things have no inherent meaning beyond that which we assign them through the ways we talk about and interact with them. We may all see the same physical objects, but we understand them in distinct ways (example: is a tree “fuel” or a “holiday decoration”?).

Four main points that Gergen discusses:

1. The ways in which we understand the world is not required by “what there is.”

2. The ways in which we describe and explain the world are the outcomes of relationship.

3. Constructions gain their significance from social utility.

4. Values are created and sustained within forms of life (including science).

Words create worlds!

Social construction: a “truth” or “reality” that is based on social consensus. Social constructions describe how we understand and interpret things, but do not describe any inherent, non-social reality.

Language games: the social process by which words acquire collective meaning and are used to communicate shared realities. A language game is specific to context and doesn’t make sense outside that context.