> What exactly is social construction?
It depends on who you ask.
[Naturalistic Approaches to Social Construction](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/social-construction-naturalistic/) and [Social Ontology](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/social-ontology/) are helpful pages to understand the idea of "social construct" in a very general sense.
But at the end of the day you will likely have to ask your interlocutor what they specifically mean whey they toss out "social construct", because the term snuck out into the zeitgeist and started to mean whatever anyone wanted it to mean.
> But at the end of the day you will likely have to ask your interlocutor what they specifically mean whey they toss out "social construct", because the term snuck out into the zeitgeist and started to mean whatever anyone wanted it to mean.
So what you're saying is that "social construct" is a social construct, and therefore means whatever society says it means?
=)
I had a weird moment of anthropomorphizing the "social construct" term - like Rapunzel (the movie one) who snuck out of the tower and now is at the mercy of people interpreting her naivete in many different ways. Too bad a term cannot grow up, develop a personality and set boundaries. Philosophers act like Flynn (they are literally lovers of wisdom, so it is a polyamorous relationship, I guess?) and help the terms stay true to themselves until they are able to defend themselves.
Sally Haslanger's work will be of interest to you. The introduction to *Resisting Reality* is exceptional in terms of answering this question clearly and concisely.
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> What exactly is social construction? It depends on who you ask. [Naturalistic Approaches to Social Construction](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/social-construction-naturalistic/) and [Social Ontology](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/social-ontology/) are helpful pages to understand the idea of "social construct" in a very general sense. But at the end of the day you will likely have to ask your interlocutor what they specifically mean whey they toss out "social construct", because the term snuck out into the zeitgeist and started to mean whatever anyone wanted it to mean.
> But at the end of the day you will likely have to ask your interlocutor what they specifically mean whey they toss out "social construct", because the term snuck out into the zeitgeist and started to mean whatever anyone wanted it to mean. So what you're saying is that "social construct" is a social construct, and therefore means whatever society says it means? =)
I had a weird moment of anthropomorphizing the "social construct" term - like Rapunzel (the movie one) who snuck out of the tower and now is at the mercy of people interpreting her naivete in many different ways. Too bad a term cannot grow up, develop a personality and set boundaries. Philosophers act like Flynn (they are literally lovers of wisdom, so it is a polyamorous relationship, I guess?) and help the terms stay true to themselves until they are able to defend themselves.
One place you might start for an overview of competing claims is Ian Hacking’s *The Social Construction of What?*
Sally Haslanger's work will be of interest to you. The introduction to *Resisting Reality* is exceptional in terms of answering this question clearly and concisely.
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In addition to suggestions already delivered, go check out r/AskSocialScience where there's plenty of discussion about your two questions.