SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM. A POSTMODERN APPROACH TO KNOWLEDGE
Keywords:
social constructionism, epistemology, postmodern paradigm, realities, languageAbstract
The article explores the social constructionism seen as part of the postmodern paradigm because of models relativization and reporting reality to negotiation interpreting. Social-constructionist epistemology refers to the emergence of scientific, social and cultural paradigms as the negotiation of interpretations derived from empirical reality or from other areas of knowledge such as theory, models etc. Being a theory with a philosophical frame-work, social constructionism focuses on the processes of understanding and addres¬sing social changes in the postmodern society. This theoretical movement brings an alternative philosophical assumption regarding reality construction and knowledge production. Ac-cording to this approach, meanings are socially constructed and the reality is moved at the level at language experience. Language, a fundamental aspect for the process of knowledge production, is not conceived of as describing and representing the world, but as a way of constructing it, being a form of social action. As a postmodern orientation, constructionism deconstructs the ontic in terms of independent existence. This approach emphasizes the ability to create realities through language, in its varied forms of presentation, stimulating a process of continuous creation.References
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