Socially constructed reality

Socially constructed reality forms a concept within the sociology of knowledge and within the social constructionist strand of postmodernism, stressing the on-going mass-building of worldviews by individuals in dialectical interaction with society at any time. The numerous realities so formed comprise, according to this view, the imagined worlds of human social existence and activity, gradually crystallised by habit into institutions propped up by language conventions, given ongoing legitimation by mythology, religion and philosophy, maintained by therapies and socialisation, and subjectively internalised by upbringing and education to become part of the identity of social citizens.

The publication of The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann in 1966 popularised the concept and the terminology of "socially constructed reality".

Socially contructed reality can also mean that portion of reality which consists of social or cultural artifacts, see The Construction of Social Reality, John R. Searle, The Free Press, 1995, hardcover: ISBN 0-02-928045-1 trade paperback: ISBN 0-684-83179-1 The nature of that part of external reality which is a social or cultural product, e.g. money, marriage, government, hula hoops, etc. Also contains few chapters on realism.