Constructivism

Question 1

What is Constructivism?

Answer 1

The world is socially constructed. Construction becomes being. The world depends on actors and what they make of the world. Only those things are important, that states ascribe meaning to (ascribe meaning to a thing, it is your responsibility what is important to you). The actors are embedded in a system which gives them opportunity and limits.

Question 2

What are the unifying tenets of Constructivism?

Answer 2

Unifying tenets:

• The world is socially constructed
• The construction is never carved into stone; it is a becoming rather than a being.
• Thus, what the world is like, ultimately depends on the actors who make the world
• Actors do not act in a social vacuum. They are embedded in a system of meaning (foreground and background) that makes it possible or impossible for them to change the world

Question 3

Conventional (positivist) Constructivism

Answer 3

For Conventional (positivist) Constructivism the key proponents are Wendt (systemic) and Checkel (agential). Conventional positivists analyse the ‘why’ questions, based on norms and identity. It uses conventional tools of social science and has an empiricist research agenda.

Question 4

Interpretivist (hermeneutic) Constructivism

Answer 4

For Interpretivist (hermeneutic) Constructivism the key proponents are Emanuel Adler, Friedrich Kratochwil, John Ruggie. Interpretivist Constructivists analyse the “how possible’ questions, i.e. the questions point to a generative mechanism as opposed to a simple causal relationship. It is based on norms, identities, background knowledge, and practices. It borrows from hermeneutics and uses interpretivist methodologies. Double hermeneutics aims at generating knowledge on how actors come to do what they do and how this knowledge affects these actors in turn.

Question 5

Critical Constructivism

Answer 5

For Critical Constructivism is the practice of searching out alternative discourses and new ways of thinking, while also exposing subjugated knowledge. They share an analytical focus on background ideas and a normative commitment to changing the world.

2 types:
Dialogical
Gramscian

Question 6

Dialogical Constructivism

Answer 6

Knowledge is temporally and culturally situated; therefore knowledge and phenomena are socially constructed in a dialogue between culture, institutions, and historical contexts. The focus on dialog analyses who is included or excluded from dialog and the emancipatory power of dialog, as well as the force of the better argument (Andrew Linklater, John Dryzek).

Question 7

Neogramscian Constructivism

Answer 7

Some critical constructivists criticize the current economic world order, explain why injustices and inequalities persist and argue for a radical departure from it. Neo-Gramscianism perceives state sovereignty as subjugated to a global economic system marked by the emergence of a transnational financial system and a corresponding transnational system of production. The major players of this system exercise a global hegemony which acquires its authority through the tacit consent of the governed population gained through coercive techniques of intellectual and cultural persuasion.

Question 8

Post-structuralism

Answer 8

Post-structuralism (post-modernism) is focused on the taken-for-granted background ideas and is dedicated to unmasking inequality and exploitation by deconstructing hegemonic discourses that constitute these inequalities and exploitations. It is committed not to replace one hegemonic discourse with another, but its epistemological ideal is that multiple voices are heard. There are many methods, but it frequently uses genealogies, i.e. a form of historical critique, designed to overturn our norms by revealing their origins. Poststructuralism borrows from social theories of Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida. There are many different clusters of poststructuralist research, e.g. feminist (Elizabeth Allan, Marysia Zalewski, Maja Zehfuss) and post-colonialist (Sankaran Krishna, Sanjay Seth, Pnina Werbner).
 

Question 9

What are the different strands of Constructivism?

Answer 9

The epistemological disagreements among Constructivists yield four major clusters of Constructivist research:

• Conventional (positivist)
• Interpretivist (hermeneutic)
• Critical
• Post-structuralist (post-modern)