Notes on Social Constructionism (2009)

A major focus of social constructionism is to uncover the ways in which individual and groups participate in the creation of their perceived reality.

It involves looking at the ways social phenomena (how games are perceived and how games engage players) are created, institutionalized (in game studios?) and made into tradition by humans (game designers; in creative industry).

Socially constructed reality is seen as an ongoing, dynamic process; (why? As ICT evolves rapidly or change of players’ need / demand—linear to interaction; traditional media to new media)

Reality is reproduced (games are redesigned / upgraded / re-packaged); by people acting on their interpretation and their knowledge of it.

Berger and Luckmann (1967) argue that knowledge is derived from and maintained by social interaction:

“When people interact, they do so with the understanding that their respective perceptions of reality are related, and as they act upon this understanding their common knowledge of reality becomes reinforced. Since this common sense knowledge is negotiated by people, human typifications, significations and institutions come to be presented as part of an objective reality. It is in this sense that it can be said that reality is socially constructed.

Ian Hacking (1999): The Social Construction of What?

Berger and Luckmann (1967): The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge

Theoretical perspective is the philosophical stance lying behind a methodology: it provides a context for the process involved and a basis for its logic and its criteria.

Assumptions I made when I choose a particular methodology.

Interpretivism looks for culturally derived and historically situated interpretations of social life world.

Max Weber (1864 – 1920)

Human Sciences	Natural Sciences
Understanding	Causality
Interpretive approach	Explicative approach (explaining)
Qualitative research methods	Qualitative research methods

Both the natural sciences and social sciences may be concerned at any given time with either the nomothetic or the idiographic.

The one scientific method should apply to these 2 forms of sciences and should cater for both nomothetic and idiographic inquiry

-------

Wilhelm Dilthey (1833 – 1933):

-          Social reality and natural reality are different kinds of reality, therefore their investigation requires different methods.

Windelband and Richkert:

-          Rejecting the notion that there is some kind of real distinction between natural reality and social reality.

-          Accept that there is a logical distinction

o   In the case of nature, science is looking for

§  Consistencies

§  Regularities

§  The ‘law’ that obtains nomothetic generalizing method.

o   In the case of human affairs (in historical studies), we are concerned with the individual case idiographic individualizing method.

§  Isolate individual phenomena in order to trace their unique development

ASSUMPTIONS: symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969, p2)

-          Human beings (game developers) act toward things on the basis of the meanings that these things have for them;

-          The meaning of such things is derived from, and arises out of, the social interaction that one has with one’s fellows (seniors, other experts, etc);

-          These meanings are handled in and modified through, an interpretive process used by the person in dealing with the things he encounters (various game genres).