Social constructivism is a way of cognition that reveals how people participate in creating the reality they perceive. Christiansen and Fischer (2016) consider sexuality using the theory of constructivism. They believe that each person’s awareness of himself as a straight man or a member of a sexual minority can be an element of constructivism. That is, it can be either real or just a perception of this reality created by people.
According to social constructivism, a social construct is an idea perceived as natural and evident by those who accept it. At the same time, it remains an invention or an artificially created cultural object belonging to a particular culture or community. It is implied that a person is selective concerning social constructs, accepting some and rejecting others. Social constructs, in turn, are not laws sent down from above or laws of nature.
Nevertheless, the authors have different views on the theory of social constructivism. For example, Kinsman (2003) states that everything social has a material basis and is not static. That is, society is changing all the time, and people can see these changes. People construct the world with their own hands, not individually, but through agreements, conversations, and joint efforts. Various world constructions are closely related to an intra-group deal in multiple communities, for example, ethnic, professional, scientific, and religious, about what exists and what is valuable. Summing up, social constructivism is a sociological and psychological theory that studies the processes of socio-psychological construction of social reality in human activity.
References
Christiansen, L., Meeks, C., and Fischer, N. (Eds.). (2016). Introducing the new sexuality studies. Routledge.
Kinsman, G. (2003). Queerness is not in our genes: Biological determinism versus social liberation. In Brock, D., Making Normal: Social Regulation in Canada (pp. 262-284). Harcourt Brace Canada.