Social Constructionist Perspective

In chapter two of our book, the topic of social constructionist perspective was introduced. The social constructionist perspective takes a more symbolic view of communication than other definitions. According to this perspective, we “build worlds” through symbolic codes, cultural traditions, cognitive codes, and a set of cultural rules that guide us through the world and guides our actions. I believe that this concept, though it lacks in the ability to be applied in many ways, brings up some interesting points. It proposes that communication is what shapes our interpretation of the world and our surrounding rather than our own experience. To a certain extent, I believe this is so. The communication we have from our family, our culture, and through symbolic communication like actions of our ancestors and expectations from our culture. This definitely has an impact on people, and it definitely had an impact on me. I believe that I am barely seeing the whole world as it is and not just the small part of the world that was shown to me by my parents. I am 26 and my world was very minimized, full of rules and expectations and the belief that certain things just don’t happen or aren’t possible. This truth that I lived with was constrictive and did not let me live up to my full potential or step out of the box that my culture set up for me. I definitely believe that not only the happiness of those in certain cultures is limited but also the ability to succeed is incomplete.