Social Construction VS. Essentialism
Social Construction is a philosophy within which any concept may be created as a result of knowledge and language which is shared between different individuals who are part of a society (Gergen). While Essentialism is a philosophy which allows for the description of any phenomenon, this is done according to the characteristics or property of the thing being considered (Moore). It is through the definition of these traits and characteristics that all the phenomena in the world can be precisely defined. In essentialism there are certain universal properties which are shared between certain object, which despite any additional properties, allows them to be identified as that very object.
An example of essentialism may be considered by taking the example of trees. Whether trees are off a certain colour, size, shape, have leaves, do not have leaves, etc. All trees have certain characteristics which allow them to be placed and identified within the same group. Thus a huge red oak and an apple tree will be both seen as trees despite their differences in size (Moore). Alternatively, in the case of Social Construction such knowledge cannot be taken for granted. The way knowledge is presented, the way thing are seen are not dependent upon any set characteristics. Rather they are dependent upon the cumulative reflections of individuals who live within the society. Thus, the only way a tree may be seen as a tree is if all the members of a community agree it is a tree (Gergen).
The difference between the two is that essentialism depends on a pre determined set of concepts which allow a direct perception of reality to be formed. While Social Construction rejects any form of direct perception and questions everything. It allows a person to create his own reality by use of language and social interaction while essentialism creates a perception which is universal to all individuals.
When we speak of deviance, we are considering actions which maybe outside the norms of society. Aspects of deviance may be considered anything from promiscuity, adultery to criminal behaviour. Under the Social Construction principle however such definitions of deviance would be excluded. Instead it would be based upon the ideas of how a community perceives deviant behaviour. Such ideas would be contingent in determining the values of a people within society and in turn provide concepts of behaviour to allow control over them. However, by extension this principle also allows individuals to perceive what they wish regarding people’s behaviour. Certain behaviours may not be considered to be immoral by certain individuals, but may be considered as such due to a consensus among the community. Thus, in this principle it becomes a question of not moral and immoral acts rather what the community objects to as such.
In the case of essentialism however, the concepts of moral and immoral actions are based upon certain unchangeable principles.
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