Essay Example on Social Construction: Understanding Meaning in Society

Social construction is a definitive framework that provides a better understanding of different meanings in society. In this case, people leaving within an organization, are forced to believe the definition of a symbol and how it can be interpreted to convey the same meaning to the people of the same community. Whereas this may be interpreted differently in another international community, it is essential to understand that social construction may differ from one community to the other (Sociological Images, 2008). As a result, this has influenced different changes that have defined people by their gender, color, religion, social economic, as well as physical and mental ability. In other words, it is essential to understand that social construction defines the way people think and interact in society. Through this, social construction has greatly oppressed many minority communities in the US, despite the importance of social construction.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

According to Johnson, (2018), social construction is the definitive of racial discrimination, as no one is white nor black unless they step in America. Through this, it is considered that the root of racial discrimination, has been imposed and affected by the social construction agender, which has dramatically influenced many African Americans. Black women enjoy privileges associated with females in Africa, which helps them to prosper in society. Opportunities are evenly distributed with minimal restriction; freedom of interaction and accessibility is greatly associated with the nature of occupation one has. However, the concept of racial discrimination is rampant, and corrosive like an acid, when a black woman steps in America.

The social construction, theory, brands, and classifies people based on their color, religious, as well as sex, which significantly affects the African American women. Opportunities are defined and arranged according to privileges, which is constructed from the basis of race. Black women are socially exposed to limited economic opportunities due to their color orientation. In other words, social construction tends to change from one continent to the other. The privileges of economic benefits enjoyed by the black women in Africa are now gone once they set their feet in the new foreign land, that is built based on social construction.

In other words, privileges are highly enjoyed by the whites, which helps open up several economic and financial working opportunities to cater to the whites, more than the blacks. In a nutshell, this has dramatically dictated the financial lifestyle of the blacks, forcing them to contribute significantly to the middle-class level incomes, which has deemed any chances of prosperity for the blacks in the US.

The concept of complex identity is greatly linked to the notion of social construction, which helps classify people based on their religion, gender, or even color. The complexity of identity helps define who we truly are by accessing our social environment (Kirk, & Okazawa-Rey, 2006). However, this is fused in by the classification embedded inside social construction. One can quickly identify himself as a man or a woman, based on the social construction classification that defined us. In this case, privileges can be granted based on first identifying our true identity. The aspect of a character is to help us identify ourselves, and set us distinctively from "others" (Tatum, 2018). For instance, people from a community where the population has a higher number of same religious belief, they will openly acknowledge their true religion, on the basics of trying to identify themselves. Privileges associated with the religious of the majority is the driving factor that will push people to identify themselves based on religious grounds. On the other hand, identification based on sex may be one of the challenging elements, as a heterosexual group, will feel uncomfortable revealing their sexual orientation, as this may undermine them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the concept of social construction has greatly dictated the ideology of defining, who we are, what privileges we get, and what we don't get. As a result, this has greatly influenced who we are and our identity to society. Moreover, social construction places a critical role in defining the privileges of the African American woman, which may be termed as oppressive and unfair to society.

References

Johnson, A, G. (2018). The social construction of difference, pp 15-21

Kirk, G., & Okazawa-Rey, M. (2006). Identities and social locations: Who am I? Who are my people? American identities: An introductory textbook, 9-15.

Sociological Images. (2008). Social Construction [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVVWmZAStn8

Tatum, D. B. (2018). The complexity of identity "Who am I?" PP 6-9.