From Social Constructionism to the Construction of the Social, 5 op

This course unit is designed to familiarise students with strands of constructionist thought in social research. Social constructionism has fundamentally shaped the way in which contemporary social sciences understand social phenomena and render them researchable, and recent discussions and debates have developed the constructionist approach further, making it attentive to materiality, for example. The course unit introduces theoretical discussions and key conceptual tools relating to how categories and practices are investigated. Through lectures and course assignments, we learn, first, how the social constructionist literature has emphasized the role of everyday knowledge and discourses in shaping up social realities. Then, we move towards more critical approaches that highlight how the issues concerning materiality, environmental problems, technology, reproduction, and multi-species perspectives have recently broadened the scope for posing contemporary political questions as to who constructs what, with whom, how, out of which materials, and to what effects. More practically, we examine how to formulate constructionist research questions and conduct empirical case analyses. The course also offers tools to critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of various constructionisms and to understand how they are situated within social theory. The content of this course unit may vary from year to year, please see the teaching schedule for more information