Lecture 4 critical realism and social constructivism

Question 1

Who established sociology as a discipline and stressed that there was a social level of reality, seeing society and social facts as the purpose of sociology which was influential in the conception that nature was out of bounds

Answer 1

Durkheim

Question 2

what did Marx believe about nature and society?

Answer 2

Marx believed the material basis of society is the way humans use labour to transform nature into goods. This is ‘production’ and Marx sees production as the foundation of human societies. So society is a product of the way that humans organise their relationship with nature towards creating things through labour

Question 3

What did Weber argue about social phenomena and natural phenomena?

Answer 3

Weber saw social phenomena as different from natural phenomena. He argued that behaviour is explained in terms of people’s understandings and interpretations and is different from explanations used in natural sciences.

Question 4

What did the classical sociologists take for granted?

Answer 4

that human beings should be central to sociology and researching nature was subsidiary

Question 5

Who argued that sociology has seen a return of nature through sub-disciplines such as in the study of the body, science, human-animal relations and sociology of the environment.

Answer 5

Sutton 2004

Question 6

what fuelled the debate between Social Constructionists and Critical Realists?

Answer 6

the return of nature in sociological thinking

Question 7

Explain why environmental issues are a key site for debate

Answer 7

because: For Realists – they provide a rich source of evidence to support argument that natural forces are irreducible to social constructions.
and for Social constructionists – they provide examples of how environmental ‘facts’ are always constructed in the context of social, political and cultural factors and are not simply ‘objective’

Question 8

what is social constructionism about? and discuss climate change as an example

Answer 8

Social constructionist approaches cast doubt on the ‘objective’ and ‘real’ status of things. They insist that supposedly ‘real’ things can only be known through the ways that we categorise, define and understand them. For example, without social constructions of climate change which make it real we wouldn’t be able to understand climate change. Social factors help to construct ‘climate change’ as a recognisable concept and it is this concept which shapes our perceptions and our actions.
For social constructionists, all knowledge of the world is produced by people in society, therefore all knowledge is socially constructed. So, social constructionism places human society at the centre of its analysis and suggests that the human social is the only reality we can really know.

Question 9

what does Dickens accuse social constructionists of?

Answer 9

Anthropocentrism

Question 10

how did Kant develop the foundations for social constructionism?

Answer 10

by making a distinction between ‘Noumena’ - the world as it really is and ‘Phenomena’ - the world as we perceive and classify it. He argued that we cannot know the noumenal world directly, we can only ever know it through phenomenal forms (i.e. through our social categories and perceptions).

Question 11

what do Burningham and Cooper 199 argue about social constructionism and political action?

Answer 11

they argue it undermines political action because it is saying we don’t know or can’t understand the reality of certain things by undermining science and therefore proof of nature problems, which takes away our capacity to do much about it.

Question 12

how is social constructivism arguably irresponsible? and what does Demeritt 2001 say the theory could be used for?

Answer 12

Arguably social constructivism strengthens climate change scepticism by casting doubt on its reality and how our knowledge of it is shaped by social constructions.
Demeritt 2001 argues social constructivism can be used to make dangerous claims such as to say things such as environmental pollution is socially constructed

Question 13

how could social constructivism actually provide a more sophisticated basis for political action? what does Irwin 2001 say about this and how may a realist be in a weaker position?

Answer 13

since it better understands the rival knowledge claims which shape environmental politics.
Irwin 2001 argues that social constructivism can actually be seen as bringing more reality to the debate since it potentially opens up hidden aspects of environmental issues no matter how messy this process can be. They may then be better armed to take a critical approach to environmental problems because it may require knowledge claims about problems to be critiqued and questioned so that action can be taken.

A realist may be in a weaker position to question the expert knowledge about social problems which could have particular motives in socially constructing environmental problems

Question 14

who argues that social constructivism deepens our understanding and opens up scientific and political issues for wider discussion?

Answer 14

Sutton 2007

Question 15

who argues that social constructivism cannot escape that there is a reality to nature which is what we base our social constructions of it on?

Answer 15

Benton 1991

Question 16

who argues that critical realists argue that human societies are part of the natural environment and both should be studied together using the same method?

Answer 16

Sutton 2007

Question 17

What does Martell argue about realism?

Answer 17

that it is modelled on Marx who saw humans as dependent on nature which becomes part of the human being and following from Marx’s view is the idea we can’t study people if we isolate nature since society is embedded in it

Question 18

what do critical realists argue about social constructionism and what do they argue about reality?

Answer 18

Social constructionism does not provide a solid basis for understanding ‘real world problems’ because it refuses to give due significance to the reality of natural forces.
Instead of dividing reality into noumena and phenomena, critical realists see reality as multi-layered

Question 19

what does Benton 1993 argue realists are able to acknowledge ?

Answer 19

the real natural characteristics of animals – their ‘species being’ which allows that animals all have intrinsic natures and need certain things as we do. Animals aren’t whatever we make of them as Tester argues, they have real natural characteristics. This provides a basis for arguments about animal welfare.

Question 20

Critical realism acknowledges natural forces and natural limits to human intervention, is better able to explain the unintended consequences of human action and offers a less anthropocentric view of the world. what are some criticisms?

Answer 20

it can involve a simplistic view of ‘facts’ which neglects the nature of interpretation, acting as if scientific knowledge transcends society and tends to think of ‘reality’ as separate from the social meanings it involves.
and it is possible to argue that Critical realists aren’t doing proper sociology – people such as Benton are compromised because they are so committed to the green movement that they become propagandists who do their studies to address a certain cause.

Question 21

who argues that social constructionists and critical realists share a lot more ground than they admit ?

Answer 21

Burningham and Cooper 1999

Question 22

what does Sutton 2004 argue about social constructionism? (why it is good and why it is problematic)

Answer 22

that it can show why some environmental issues rise to prominence. It also raises important questions about why some make environmental claims and why some oppose them
However, insisting the importance of knowledge production can be problematic and seen as irrelevant at a time where immediate action against global warming is required and arguing about its construction may seem unnecessary. For environmental campaigners, it is unhelpful and distracting from the real business of saving the planet.

Question 23

who argues there are strict and contextual versions of social constructionism ?

Answer 23

Irwin 2001

Question 24

strict constructionism is..

Answer 24

..the idea that nature does not present itself in any immediate form and is open to analysis with the use of human concepts

Question 25

what does contextual constructionism accept?

Answer 25

Contextual constructivism accepts environmental problems might be real but argues the way that they are discovered and put together can tell us more about them.

Question 26

talk about Tester’s 1991 argument

Answer 26

Tester does not make an ontological claim that the fish doesn’t exist but argues animals are a blank canvas that can only be understood through human knowledge and categories. This is an epistemological claim about how we come to understand the fish’s existence. He eliminates the reality of the fish, reducing it to changing categories of human societies. Fish can be pets, food, decoration, or entities in deserve of rights. In a sense, fish are what humans say they are.

Question 27

what would critics argue about Tester’s 1991 argument?

Answer 27

that no human social constructions of the fish alter its reality, their natural characteristics and capacities remain the same regardless of how they are understood by human’s. Fish are real in a way strict constructivism doesn’t accept.

Question 28

Burningham and Cooper 1999 point out there are very few to go as far as Tester does…

Answer 28

..The majority accept there is a reality external to discourse but that environmental problems cannot be reduced to this reality

Question 29

what does Martell 1994 argue about sociological explanations?

Answer 29

that they can be can be too sociological if they refuse to accept the reality of natural forces. Humans are not free to construct nature as they please

Question 30

why does Demeritt 1988 argue for artefactual constructionism?

Answer 30

as a way of bringing critical realism and social constructivism together. He argues the dualism produces one sided accounts which give us partial knowledge and what is needed is to connect the two within a single framework that would enable a new research programme for sociologists interested in the environment

Question 31

How do Macnaghten and Urry 1988 try to transcend the debate using Elias’ 2000 work?

Answer 31

they try to transcend the debate by suggesting sociologists should instead focus on embedded social practices. The focus on this would open up new questions that social constructivism and critical realism have not yet considered. For example, as Elias 2000 points out, the lake district is now valued because humans now experience nature as positive and life affirming. While at the start of the 18th century the same landscape was wild and frightful and was avoided as Thomas 1983 found, and there was a view that development would be beneficial which is now seen as harmful and something to protest against. Social practices change the way people sensually experience nature – e.g. we now have the practice of dog walking and these spatial experiences shape the meanings people give to the environment. Changing social practices alter meanings.

Question 32

what does Dickens suggest about the dichotomy of social constructionism versus critical realism?

Answer 32

that it is in some respects misleading particularly because realists acknowledge that: all knowledge must in some sense be a social construction. No knowledge has fallen out of the sky with a label attached pronouncing it as absolute truth.

Question 33

environmental sociologists are charged with the responsibility to help manage environmental problems, what do Dunlap and Catton suggest that a social constructionist approach is unable to do?

Answer 33

contribute to this goal and that the increasing popularity of the approach is diverting attention away from this goal within the field as a whole. Furthermore, social constructionism implies treating all claims as equally valid which further disables the sociologist from making a practical contribution to solving environmental problems

Question 34

who suggests that social constructionism will not do since social constructivists do not care about the environment and it is simply unacceptable to ignore the moral imperative of attempting to protect the natural environment?

Answer 34

Martell

Question 35

Who accuses social constructionists of losing sight of the importance of nature?

Answer 35

Murphy 1994

Question 36

what does Carolan 2005 argue?

Answer 36

that critical realism acknowledges that there is a distinction between the way things are and our knowledge claims about those objects.

Question 37

what does Soper say about the existence of nature?

Answer 37

that nature exists in both a realist sense, thereby making room for very real biophysical limits, and in a sociocultural sense, so as to provide conceptual space for social critique and the analysis of power. In this way, can’t the two perspectives come together?

Question 38

what does Wilson 1991 say about our experience of the natural world?

Answer 38

our experience of the natural world is always mediated, shaped and sold to us by institutions such as religion, tourism and education who construct it in a certain way. For example, a fish being native to a certain area - that area has been socially constructed as an area

Question 39

what does Demeritt 2001 say social constructionism challenges and give an example

Answer 39

Social constructivism challenges the apparent self-evidence of nature and the physical environment as pre-given things with physical properties that exist independently and apart from social practices
The land is cultivated and produced by those who inhabit it - people have physically transformed the environment to cater for their needs for eg. farmers weed out pests and what we call weeds or crops is a cultural choice. So our perceptions about nature are culturally constructed and culturally and historically specific

Question 40

who argues that the social constructionism at which realists aim their criticisms is an approach which is said to claim there is no external environmental reality which is capable of affecting human society and very few actually take this view

Answer 40

Murphy 1994

Question 41

who takes up issue with Testers more extreme version of constructionism and why?

Answer 41

Martell 1994 because his claim that a fish can be categorised ‘with any message’ may appear an over- statement, since ‘they cannot be categorised as feathered because they do not have feathers’

Question 42

what does Franklin 2002 suggest about social constructionism and political difference? and whom does he reference as an example and why?

Answer 42

he agues that social constructionism can make a political difference, for example: Hannigan 1995 makes the claim that social constructionist studies have contributed significantly to the knowledge of risk perception and management in understanding the media in relation to environmental outcomes and understanding the role of science in understanding nature problems

Question 43

Sutton 2007 argues sociologists have mainly been interested in human problems rather than dealing with problems of the natural environment. However..

Answer 43

..environmental campaigners made clear that environmental problems were always social problems because they involve the relationship between people and the environment

Question 44

what does Sutton 2007 say about social constructionists view that all environmental problems are partly created or constructed?

Answer 44

He argues that this process can be understood and explained to help understand whether a problem is as important as the claims-makers say it is and why some problems are seen as urgent and others fail to be taken seriously and are ignored
Contextual constructionists argue sociology’s role is to investigate environmental problem claims and whoever makes or denies them

Question 45

what does Sutton 2007 argue is a problem of social constructionism? and give an example

Answer 45

that it is focused more on human beings and what they make of nature than on nature itself. For example, how we perceive the fish rather than what it really is. All social constructionism really tells us is how people use and understand the fish in different societies which is useful in reflecting on how these constructions came into being however we may not learn much about the fish itself in this way or the impact of human activity on it. So at least for studying environmental issues, there are clear limits to social constructivism.

Question 46

who argues there are 3 stages in the construction of environmental problem claims? what are these and use examples.

Answer 46

Hannigan 1995
First claims must be assembled i.e. turned from a potential problem into a real one that people believe in. This stage requires evidence to justify the claim. For example, to justify the problem of acid rain science had to provide understandable evidence to the public. Evidence had been around since 1852 but it wasn’t until the 1950’s that scientists argued it was an environmental issue and so the claim has to be presented to society, which is the second stage – presenting to and persuading people. Thirdly environmental problems are contested by other claims-makers. Governments may not find it easy to face the implications of environmental claims and may try to limit them or deny them. Environmental problems are also in competition with other types of problems such as social problems e.g. what’s more important child abuse or global warming? Acid rain was denied by energy generators and mining companies. Scientific uncertainty and the difficulty of proving acid rain played into their hands.

Question 47

how does Sutton justify critical realisms position in addressing agriculture?

Answer 47

In the process of the industrialisation of agriculture we have seen the natural capacities and abilities of plants and animals pushed to their natural limits beyond e.g. the suffering of cattle due to them being too heavy from modification which puts strain on their bones and the widespread use of pesticides and fertilisers allowing societies to clear the natural obstacles to food production. For realists, agricultural production tells us that animals, plants and the natural environment are more than just the ways that societies use them. They are a reality which has capacities which determine what can be done with them. So, there are limits to human interventions and if these limits are exceeded then consequences can be disastrous. E.g. mad cow disease which arose from exceeding the natural limitations of human manipulation of natural things. So, we need to understand the real nature of cows and their natural capacities.

Question 48

who argues that critical realists are prepared to explore and debate the natural science of environmental issues in ways that social constructionists are not ?

Answer 48

Sutton 2007

Question 49

who argues that if we accept Tester’s classification of animals as being whatever we want them to be then solving marine pollution would be easy and why?

Answer 49

Collier 1994

because ‘we could re-classify lumps of untreated sewage as fish!’