Understanding Social Constructionist Theory

[atzi]

to those that studied or is studying psychology. i believe u will come across this theory.
currently i am a student studying psychology and its a distance study program meaning i have to do most of my studies and reading myself. i am given an assigment to explain how SCT helps construct group identity and with this explaining the identities of people with disablilities. but being confused abt the theory itself, i am unable to apply it well here.
i am confused by is identity forged by society thru our daily interactions with society itself or by the way we describe ourselfs? and how does all this apply to construction of grp identities?
hopefuly someone here can post an explaination to help me bring light to this.

thanks for ur time
atzi

 

[David Baxter PhD]

need help understanding Social Constructionist theory.

Sorry, I'm not familiar with this theory. Do you know if it's at all related to social identity theory and social comparison theory?

 

[atzi]

need help understanding Social Constructionist theory.

hi david.
thanks for ur reply. if i am not wrong, the key figure of Social identity theory would be Henri Tajfel? abt how we build our identity base on the grp we want peopel to see us in. as for social comparise theory i am not sure. nvr heard of it yet. only in my first yr =)

so no.. SCT thou has some similarities but its a theory on its own. one of its key figure would be kenneth gergum.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

need help understanding Social Constructionist theory.

Yes re: Tajfel. Social Identity Theory sort of incorporates Social Comparison Theory as the basis for defining ingroups and outgroups, one's status within a group, and moving into new groups upward or downward in status.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

need help understanding Social Constructionist theory.

You might want to have a look at some of the articles listed in this Google search: Social Constructionist Theory

 

[atzi]

need help understanding Social Constructionist theory.

thanks for the links. did a search already but found little explaination but will keep looking.

for social identity theory. are u familar with the minimal grp experiement conducted by Tajfel? from my understanding of it, i can onli see it helps explains grp prejudice but not explaining how grp identity is formed. is there some perspective i missed and also my understanding of the meaning of grp identity is an other way of saying social grp. did i interpret it correctly?

can u also list me an example/example i can read up on that give evidence to construction of grp identity thru SIT?

thanks for ur time

 

[David Baxter PhD]

need help understanding Social Constructionist theory.

I sent you an email containing an excerpt from an article about Social Identity Theory. Email me if you don't receive it.

 

[atzi]

need help understanding Social Constructionist theory.

i didnt recieve ur mail =( if u didnt recieve my email i sent to u. pls let me know here.

thanks
atzi

 

[David Baxter PhD]

need help understanding Social Constructionist theory.

Re-sent.