400013 SE Von der Interaktion zur Gesellschaft und zurück. Ausgewählte konstruktivistische Theorieansätze (2017W)

The title of the course is both program and overall question for the selected theoretical approaches: do and if yes in which way do they show up with an argumentative structure that takes the individual (perception, intention, action, communication) as well as society (collectives, institutions, discourses, structures) into account and clarifies their interconnections. The theoretical focus lies on constructivism, especially on what has come to be known as Social Constructivism (one part of the theoretical challenge is to not mix up Social Constructivism with Social Constructionism). Social Constructivism has become the label of a widespread way of thinking in the very diverse settings within the social sciences, the humanities as well as in manifold trans-disciplinary settings, such as gender studies and science and technology studies. One mile stone in the development of the underlying thoughts as well as its labeling is the book ‘The Social Construction of Reality’ by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann (published 1966, translated into German in 1969 and later in a variety of different languages). Since the book can be considered as the founding document of what came to be known as social constructivism and the new sociology of knowledge, the seminar will address the scope and relevance of this approach which constitutes one of the most influential social scientific paradigms. However, social constructivism has been subject to severe criticism. As such, it provides the basis for a series of invigorating new ideas and approaches in the broad field of social sciences and humanities. The seminar aims to discuss the critics of social constructivism as well as new developments of the theoretical framework.