Human reality is a human creation that exists internally depending on an individual or group thought. Reality is static and depends on the state of the mind of humanity. To understand and interpret human social behavior, sociologists talk about the social construction of reality because all behaviors are dependent on human thought. But it is important to understand what social construction is from the onset. It is the ability to single out behavior from character and look at how social circumstances shape. W. I. Thomas says, “If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.” Together with other assumptions formed on the basis of the social construction of reality, the statement applies to what human thought is capable of doing and how their thoughts are manifest through their actions as the social construction of reality.
The social construction of reality takes the form of humans creating and shaping their world through their social interaction (Berber & Luckmann 54). Humans have the capability of creating ideas, and they become the realities that are manifested in their behavior. At the same time, language forms an integral part of reality because it helps in the understanding of all social spaces. The language shared by a certain group of people helps them interact and understand each other as well as their environment. It is for that reason that everyday life can be considered a social construction of reality because it is shaped by human thought and the language people use to communicate with each other. Also, people use language to interpret and present their thoughts and that only implies that language is part of the external social construction of reality while a person’s inner thoughts are their internal realities. The two influence each other.
Social reality is unique is unique to every language, and as the Sapir- Whorf hypothesis stipulates, people perceive and interpret their language according to the language they use. Two people who speak two different languages perceive a similar item or situation in two unique ways. The perception that one has of their environment influences how they see reality. The five senses are usually involved in all this but, more importantly, affects inanimate things. Different people perceive reality differently, and they will behave or react accordingly, and their reactions will differ to a huge extent depending on their interpretations (Feinman 121). The perception of a situation, whether good or bad informs the response people will give to that situation. Thus, it is the consequences of their reactions that will determine the reality of a phenomenon.
The social construction of reality is an important aspect to consider when explaining human social behavior because whatever is considered as real varies from one society to another. That is so because whatever is socially acceptable forms what is considered as reality (Koeng 39). Thus, a person’s construction of reality is never a product of their own doing but rather that of their society. That is especially applicable to The Thomas Theorem considering that reality depends on the interpretation one has about a given situation and not the objective reality brought forth by a situation. A wealthy man can spend as much money as they can on buying expensive food most of which ends up in the dustbin, whereas their employee sleeps on an empty stomach because the wealthy man does not pay them enough to sustain their livelihoods. Thus, the consequences of the behavior of the wealthy man make the situation real depending on how either person considers the situation.
The Thomas Theorem is very important in the study of social behavior because it leads to the understanding of why some actions are taken in certain ways at different times. That any outcome of any given situation is dependent on how different individuals perceive it and not necessarily the situation itself! When an armed police officer shoots a person because they think the person looks suspicious, then the assumptions of the police officer are based on their perception of the person and not reality. Looking at the consequences of the actions of the officer, different people will interpret the situation differently according to how or what they feel was right or wrong. Thus, the theorem shows that what might be seen as the reality by one person may not be the reality to another.
Indeed, when a man perceives a situation as real, then the consequences of their actions are real. Many aspects of a person’s life are a consequence of social constructions of reality. Many things people do are dependent on the fact that they are socially acceptable and when they are not, and then the reaction of others will tell. It is for that reason that it becomes easy to understand some reactions of human life such as discrimination and prejudice. Important values of society form the ethics of that society, and sociologists study those ethics in order to explain the relationship between actions that lead to the social construction of reality.
Works Cited
Berger, Peter L. & Luckmann, Thomas. The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. New York: Open Road Media, 2011. Print
Feinman, Saul. Social Referencing and Social Construction of Reality in Infancy. New York: Springer, 1992. Print
Koeng, Bernie. Natural Law, Science, and the Social Construction of Reality. New York: University Press of America, 2004. Print
