Social reality
Encyclopedia
Social reality is distinct from biological reality
or individual
cognitive reality
, and has been defined as 'a level of phenomena that emerges through social interactions and that cannot be reduced to the intentions of individuals'.
'Social reality is created by humans through social interaction...is by nature dialogic';and may be considered as consisting of the accepted social tenets of a community
, so that it 'encompasses rather stable conceptualizations and laws'.
has used the theory of speech acts to explore the nature of social and 'institutional reality...and to give an account that describes the structure not only of money but also of marriage, property, hiring, firing, war, revolutions, cocktail parties, governments, meetings, unions, parliaments, corporations, laws, restaurants, vacations, lawyers, professors, doctors, medieval knights, and taxes, for example'.
Searle argues that institutional reality includes 'people...objects...and events (elections, weddings, cocktail parties, wars, touchdowns). The people, objects, and events interact in systematic relationships (e.g., governments, marriages, corporations, universities, armies, churches' to create a multi-layered social reality.
He sees language as key to the formation of social reality because 'language is precisely designed to be a self-identifying category of institutional facts' - a system of publicly and widely accepted symbols which ' persist through time independently of the urges and inclinations of the participants ' in the reality.
, who used the term "social world" to designate this distinct level of reality. Within the social world Schütz 'distinguishes between directly experienced social reality and a social reality lying beyond the horizon of direct experience. Directly experienced social reality(Umwelt)' consists of my immediate consociates, whom I am directly perceiving'. In his wake, ethnomethodology
explored further what might be called 'the naïve intersubjectivity which is the unarticulated structure of our everyday trust in and competence with social reality'.
Previously, the subject had been addressed in sociology
as well as other disciplines, Durkheim for example stressing the distinct nature of 'the social kingdom. Here more than anywhere else the idea is the reality'. Herbert Spencer
had coined the term super-organic
to distinguish the social level of reality above the biological and psychological.
between those who 'share the assumption that social reality exists independently of people's talking about it or living in it', and those who would challenge this assumption from within the 'broad body of sociological thought known as social constructionism
' which considers it a mistake to 'reify (regard as a given truth) the processes through which such reality is constructed'. Thus for example 'Peter L. Berger
has argued that the sociology of knowledge must now be concerned with the basic processes of the social construction of reality'.
In similar fashion, post-Sartrians stress that 'once certain fundamental structures of experience are shared, they come to be experienced as objective entities...they take on the force and character of partial autonomous realities, with their own way of life'. Yet at the same time, such a socially real grouping 'can be nothing else than the multiplicity of the points of view and actions of its members...even where, through the interiorization of this multiplicity as synthesized by each, this synthesized multiplicity becomes ubiquitous in space and enduring in time'.
Others would challenge 'the belief that social meanings are generated by the feelings of individual human beings'; and object that 'society is injured by the blanket measurement of social reality in psychological terms'.
Some scholars such as John Searle argue that 'a socially constructed reality presupposes a reality independent of all social constructions', but would at the same time accept that social realities are humanly created, and that 'the secret to understanding the continued existence of institutional facts is simply that the individuals directly involved and a sufficient number of members of the relevant communities must continue to recognize and accept the existence of such facts.
The existence of a social reality independent of individuals or the ecology would seem at odds with the views of perceptual psychology
, including those of J. J. Gibson
, and those of most ecological economics
theories.
and the internalisation of the parents: 'the same figures who continue to operate in the super-ego as the agency we know as conscience...also belong to the real external world. It is from there that they were drawn; their power, behind which lie hidden all the influences of the past and of tradition, was one of the most strongly-felt manifestations of reality'.
Lacan
clarified the point by stressing that this was 'a highly significant moment in the transfer of powers from the subject to the Other, what I call the Capital Other...the field of the Other - which, structly speaking, is the Oedipus complex'. Lacan considered that 'the Oedipus complex...superimposes the kingdom of culture on that of nature', so that 'the superego...marks out the paths that reality will take' in the Symbolic Order
.
Within that order, Lacanians consider that 'institutions, as signifying practices, are much more extensive structures than romantic notions allow and they thus implicate us in ways which narrower definitions cannot recognize...exceed any intersubjective intention or effect'. In similar fashion, Searle asserts that 'institutional power - massive, pervasive, and typically invisible - permeates every nook and cranny of our social lives...the invisble structure of social reality'.
, as Francis Fukuyama
argues, and has deep historical and cultural roots'.
Theories of the measurement of trust in the sociological community are usually called theories of social capital, to emphasize the connection to economics
, and the ability to measure outputs in the same manner.
", which states that an outrageous untruth is easier to convince people of than a less outrageous truth. Many examples from politics
and theology
, e.g. the claim that the Roman Emperor
was in fact a "god", demonstrate that this principle was known by effective propagandists from early times, and continues to be applied to this day, e.g. the propaganda model
of Noam Chomsky
and Edward S. Herman
, which supports the 'big lie' thesis with more specifics.
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
or individual
Individual
An individual is a person or any specific object or thing in a collection. Individuality is the state or quality of being an individual; a person separate from other persons and possessing his or her own needs, goals, and desires. Being self expressive...
cognitive reality
Reality
In philosophy, reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or might be imagined. In a wider definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible...
, and has been defined as 'a level of phenomena that emerges through social interactions and that cannot be reduced to the intentions of individuals'.
'Social reality is created by humans through social interaction...is by nature dialogic';and may be considered as consisting of the accepted social tenets of a community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
, so that it 'encompasses rather stable conceptualizations and laws'.
Searle
John SearleJohn Searle
John Rogers Searle is an American philosopher and currently the Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley.-Biography:...
has used the theory of speech acts to explore the nature of social and 'institutional reality...and to give an account that describes the structure not only of money but also of marriage, property, hiring, firing, war, revolutions, cocktail parties, governments, meetings, unions, parliaments, corporations, laws, restaurants, vacations, lawyers, professors, doctors, medieval knights, and taxes, for example'.
Searle argues that institutional reality includes 'people...objects...and events (elections, weddings, cocktail parties, wars, touchdowns). The people, objects, and events interact in systematic relationships (e.g., governments, marriages, corporations, universities, armies, churches' to create a multi-layered social reality.
He sees language as key to the formation of social reality because 'language is precisely designed to be a self-identifying category of institutional facts' - a system of publicly and widely accepted symbols which ' persist through time independently of the urges and inclinations of the participants ' in the reality.
Schütz, Durkheim, and Spencer
The problem of social reality has been treated exhaustively by philosophers in the phenomenological tradition, particularly Alfred SchützAlfred Schütz
Alfred Schütz was an Austrian social scientist, whose work bridged sociological and phenomenological traditions to form a social phenomenology, and who is gradually achieving recognition as one of the foremost philosophers of social science of the [twentieth] century.-Life:Schütz was born in...
, who used the term "social world" to designate this distinct level of reality. Within the social world Schütz 'distinguishes between directly experienced social reality and a social reality lying beyond the horizon of direct experience. Directly experienced social reality(Umwelt)' consists of my immediate consociates, whom I am directly perceiving'. In his wake, ethnomethodology
Ethnomethodology
Ethnomethodology is an ethnographic approach to sociological inquiry introduced by the American sociologist Harold Garfinkel . Ethnomethodology's research interest is the study of the everyday methods people use for the production of social order...
explored further what might be called 'the naïve intersubjectivity which is the unarticulated structure of our everyday trust in and competence with social reality'.
Previously, the subject had been addressed in sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
as well as other disciplines, Durkheim for example stressing the distinct nature of 'the social kingdom. Here more than anywhere else the idea is the reality'. Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
had coined the term super-organic
Superorganism
A superorganism is an organism consisting of many organisms. This is usually meant to be a social unit of eusocial animals, where division of labour is highly specialised and where individuals are not able to survive by themselves for extended periods of time. Ants are the best-known example of...
to distinguish the social level of reality above the biological and psychological.
Objective/subjective
There is a debate in social theorySocial theory
Social theories are theoretical frameworks which are used to study and interpret social phenomena within a particular school of thought. An essential tool used by social scientists, theories relate to historical debates over the most valid and reliable methodologies , as well as the primacy of...
between those who 'share the assumption that social reality exists independently of people's talking about it or living in it', and those who would challenge this assumption from within the 'broad body of sociological thought known as social constructionism
Social constructionism
Social constructionism and social constructivism are sociological theories of knowledge that consider how social phenomena or objects of consciousness develop in social contexts. A social construction is a concept or practice that is the construct of a particular group...
' which considers it a mistake to 'reify (regard as a given truth) the processes through which such reality is constructed'. Thus for example 'Peter L. Berger
Peter L. Berger
Peter Ludwig Berger is an Austrian-born American sociologist well known for his work, co-authored with Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge .-Biography:...
has argued that the sociology of knowledge must now be concerned with the basic processes of the social construction of reality'.
In similar fashion, post-Sartrians stress that 'once certain fundamental structures of experience are shared, they come to be experienced as objective entities...they take on the force and character of partial autonomous realities, with their own way of life'. Yet at the same time, such a socially real grouping 'can be nothing else than the multiplicity of the points of view and actions of its members...even where, through the interiorization of this multiplicity as synthesized by each, this synthesized multiplicity becomes ubiquitous in space and enduring in time'.
Others would challenge 'the belief that social meanings are generated by the feelings of individual human beings'; and object that 'society is injured by the blanket measurement of social reality in psychological terms'.
Some scholars such as John Searle argue that 'a socially constructed reality presupposes a reality independent of all social constructions', but would at the same time accept that social realities are humanly created, and that 'the secret to understanding the continued existence of institutional facts is simply that the individuals directly involved and a sufficient number of members of the relevant communities must continue to recognize and accept the existence of such facts.
The existence of a social reality independent of individuals or the ecology would seem at odds with the views of perceptual psychology
Perceptual psychology
Perceptual psychology is a subfield of cognitive psychology that is concerned specifically with the pre-conscious innate aspects of the human cognitive system: perception....
, including those of J. J. Gibson
J. J. Gibson
James Jerome Gibson , was an American psychologist, born in McConnelsville, Ohio, who received his Ph.D. from Princeton University's Department of Psychology, and is considered one of the most important 20th century psychologists in the field of visual perception...
, and those of most ecological economics
Ecological economics
Image:Sustainable development.svg|right|The three pillars of sustainability. Clickable.|275px|thumbpoly 138 194 148 219 164 240 182 257 219 277 263 291 261 311 264 331 272 351 283 366 300 383 316 394 287 408 261 417 224 424 182 426 154 423 119 415 87 403 58 385 40 368 24 347 17 328 13 309 16 286 26...
theories.
The Capital Other
Freud saw the child's induction into social reality as only consolidated with the passing of the Oedipus complexOedipus complex
In psychoanalytic theory, the term Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a boy’s desire to sexually possess his mother, and kill his father...
and the internalisation of the parents: 'the same figures who continue to operate in the super-ego as the agency we know as conscience...also belong to the real external world. It is from there that they were drawn; their power, behind which lie hidden all the influences of the past and of tradition, was one of the most strongly-felt manifestations of reality'.
Lacan
Lacan
Lacan is surname of:* Jacques Lacan , French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist** The Seminars of Jacques Lacan** From Bakunin to Lacan: Anti-Authoritarianism and the Dislocation of Power, a book on political philosophy by Saul Newman** Lacan at the Scene* Judith Miller, née Lacan...
clarified the point by stressing that this was 'a highly significant moment in the transfer of powers from the subject to the Other, what I call the Capital Other...the field of the Other - which, structly speaking, is the Oedipus complex'. Lacan considered that 'the Oedipus complex...superimposes the kingdom of culture on that of nature', so that 'the superego...marks out the paths that reality will take' in the Symbolic Order
The Symbolic
The Symbolic is a part of the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan, part of his attempt 'to distinguish between those elementary registers whose grounding I later put forward in these terms: the symbolic, the imaginary, and the real - a distinction never previously made in psychoanalysis'.-The...
.
Within that order, Lacanians consider that 'institutions, as signifying practices, are much more extensive structures than romantic notions allow and they thus implicate us in ways which narrower definitions cannot recognize...exceed any intersubjective intention or effect'. In similar fashion, Searle asserts that 'institutional power - massive, pervasive, and typically invisible - permeates every nook and cranny of our social lives...the invisble structure of social reality'.
Measuring trust
If one accepts the validity of the idea of social reality, scientifically, it must be amenable to measurement, something which has been explored particularly in relation to trust. 'Trust is...part of a community's social capitalSocial capital
Social capital is a sociological concept, which refers to connections within and between social networks. The concept of social capital highlights the value of social relations and the role of cooperation and confidence to get collective or economic results. The term social capital is frequently...
, as Francis Fukuyama
Francis Fukuyama
Yoshihiro Francis Fukuyama is an American political scientist, political economist, and author. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford. Before that he served as a professor and director of the International Development program at the School of...
argues, and has deep historical and cultural roots'.
Theories of the measurement of trust in the sociological community are usually called theories of social capital, to emphasize the connection to economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, and the ability to measure outputs in the same manner.
Propaganda
One aspect of social reality is the principle of "the big lieBig Lie
The Big Lie is a propaganda technique. The expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously." Hitler asserted the technique was...
", which states that an outrageous untruth is easier to convince people of than a less outrageous truth. Many examples from politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, e.g. the claim that the Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
was in fact a "god", demonstrate that this principle was known by effective propagandists from early times, and continues to be applied to this day, e.g. the propaganda model
Propaganda model
The propaganda model is a conceptual model in political economy advanced by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky that states how propaganda, including systemic biases, function in mass media...
of Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
and Edward S. Herman
Edward S. Herman
Edward S. Herman is an American economist and media analyst with a specialty in corporate and regulatory issues as well as political economy and the media. He is Professor Emeritus of Finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He also teaches at Annenberg School for...
, which supports the 'big lie' thesis with more specifics.