Social Construction Theory

The movement of the gay and lesbian population in the United States is one that has been in progress since the early 1900s, and is still facing overwhelming controversy and backlash today. The push for gay liberation in a country founded on Christian morals and beliefs has subsequently led to struggles over equality of marriage, adoption, jobs, and healthcare. One side of the controversy argues that every individual deserves the same rights, while the opposing mindset argues that being homosexual puts you into a group of people that is different, and will therefore be treated as such.

Activist and professor Dean Spade, in his book Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law, condemns current law policies surrounding discrimination and hate crimes against transgender and gender non-conforming populations. Spade proposes a critical trans politics that is superior to the equal rights efforts of gay and lesbian activists up to this point in United States history. Instead of desiring to be included in a law enforcement system that oppresses the people it claims to protect, proponents of Spade’s critical trans politics argue that the entire system, along with all related systems of policing and regulation, need to be either fundamentally

The social construction theory is based on the reality that the society has created that may seem obvious to a person who agrees to it. In other words, our life experiences and interaction towards others is the way we create our reality through social interaction. This means that we were not born with this sense of knowledge, but was taught through social interaction and our life experiences (Orem 2001a, 7). Social construction is based on the categories of difference which are race, gender, and social class (Ore, 2011a: 8).

The connection between immigration policy and social construction is very motivating and worthwhile because social construction has an influence on immigration policy and the numerous factors in social construction also play a part in forming immigration policies. Immigration is the process of permanently entering a country. Social construction is the most common question that is debated is “what makes a person American or who gets to be called an America” (lecture). Immigration is the process of permanently entering a country. During the 18th and 19th century, America wanted to attract skilled immigrant workers so entrance to the United States was very encouraged.

The struggles not only happen by outsiders for African Americans LGBTQ individuals, but within their own communities. Yet the LGBT movement’s lack of substantive work on issues most relevant to people of color leaves the movement vulnerable to irrelevance and division—and leaves fully one-third of the members of the LGBT community underserved.

The LGBTQ community has struggled for decades to receive equal treatment but despite many advancements, this group of people is still not treated justly. The prevalent discrimination and prejudice enacted against the LGBTQ community can be witnessed on accounts of the Stonewall Riots and laws that affect the community such as not allowing gay men to donate blood, sexual orientation in connection to the military, et cetera. The gay rights movement has united to eradicate these issues through support of the LBGTQ community and to help people understand the process, timing, advantages, dangers, and pitfalls of coming out, as well as recent local and international rulings of the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage and the methods, laws, and attitudes of having children.

It is often a misconception that the Stonewall Riots marked the beginning of the gay rights movement. In actuality, the riots served as a vital catalyst for the birth of widespread activism in the LGBT community, but did not mark the movement’s birth. Before Stonewall, there were leftist lobbyists in the Mattachine Society pushing for law reform and there was the lesbian organization, Daughters of Bilitis, who published The Ladder in order to garner acceptance in society.9 This homophile movement was conservative in its actions, working within the system’s rules in effort to gain societal acceptance.9

There were many strategies mentioned in the first chapter of Van Wormer’s (2016) text that the power elites in our society use to manipulate working class people to vote with them on economic issues. One of the strategies that was mentioned in the text is, policy practice. This strategy is one associated with policy changes in large systems (2016). Certain groups of individuals have been more vulnerable to things like poverty, and social exclusion than other groups because they may not have had equal access to services or other things in their environment. Their locations also play a role in being more vulnerable, if there is no transportation or financial stability to provide transportation then different social groups of individuals may be

The macrosystem is describing the cultural world along with ethnicity and the economic status. (Hutchison, 2016) Considering how I had a very wide range of diverse friends it helped me to develop and grow within my macrosystem. In my opinion, I feel that my macrosystem really needed to have a diverse background seeing as how when in the social work field, I will be working with all types of people, from different religious views and cultural background. I also feel the social constructionist perspective can go along with this system as well. According to Hutchison, social constructionist perspective helps see human understanding as the product and the driving force of social interaction. (Hutchison, 2016) During my junior leading up to my graduation

Heric and Glunt (1988:886) explain how individuals suffering from the AIDs epidemic experienced “intensely negative public reactions” since it was found to be a “deadly disease” and the gay men it was associated with were heavily stigmatised for their sexuality. What is more, before ACTUP was established the government 's funding for AIDs was short and efforts were made to segregate AIDs inflicted people. However by 1985 gay and lesbian newspapers were bursting of reports of oppressive AIDs legislation suggesting that gay communities had taken confrontational activism years before the emergence of ACTUP, and according to Collins (2013) when ACTUP was established in 1987 “more than forty thousand people had already died in the US and five

The history of the United States tends to be understood through analysis of periods of conflict. From the Revolutionary War, to the Civil War, both World Wars, the Cold War (and its affiliate proxy incidents), and finally modern day. What this skeletal description misses are the individual struggles of people who spent their lives marginalized due to societal stereotypes and discriminatory legislation. Groups have been affected due to identities that include but are not limited to: race, religion, ethnicity, immigration status, and sexual orientation. Of course this history of identity politics is not limited to the US, but the exploration of the LGBT movement within these borders can offer an important perspective on the tumultuous

Social Construction of Race, Class, Gender and other forms of Social Difference This paper explains how race, class and gender are referred to as aspects of social construction, and how they can impact the society. Social construction is basically a theory of knowledge that scrutinizes the advance of mutually created understandings of the world forming the basis for collective suppositions about reality. The theory asserts the fact that human beings justify their experience by forming representations of the societal world and share these representations through language (Greco, 2013). It concerns the meanings placed on objects or events by the society, which are latter embraced by the occupants of that society with special considerations on

At the age of eight, I started to become the parent of my household. I was responsible for cooking, packing lunches, taking care of my family, and cleaning the house. Growing up with these responsibilities influenced how I interacted with my peers and how I managed my relationships with others. The environmentally influence being a parent in my house has shaped me into the person I am today and has taught me many life lessons. I became the parental influence of the household because my mother got severely sick and could not handle the roles as a mother or wife.

Making or studying public policy looks like an ocean when being compared with other social sciences because it contains a combination of regulations and laws (Stanford University). Making public policy is very important because the rules and regulations should work for people’s benefits, otherwise, the policies will be considered old or insufficient to fulfill their aims or duties, but, in my opinion, not all public policies are beneficial to people because public policies do not reflect people’s or individual’s ideas, and they are initiated with maybe a sense of humor or feelings of persons, who would like to make that public policy. We study this because it focuses on how to analyze and know the ingredients of it, if it is useful to people, if it is still valid to use, and if people have got the benefits from it.

Here in the United States, disputes about the axiological restructuring of American social policy and social change are at the forefront of our policymaking, and one can assume it will remain so for the anticipated future. The belief that change is necessary is evident to all Americans, but which path to take is immensely different. Abramovitz states that, "Ideology is more that abstract ideas. It has raised hopes, inspired fear, and drawn blood for millions of human beings” (2008). Americans stand to make their ideologies on platforms when they elect politicians who share in their beliefs, ideologies, and cultural norms into positions of power. When this occurs, Americans look to their politicians to adhere to their beliefs and take the path to change they see fit. Throughout history, there is a persistent power struggle between American political parties, primarily Republican and Democrat, and the ideologies they harbor. When one party has a more dominant omnipresence, the overall ideology of the country tends to shift. In 2007, Karger & Stoesz state that, “Ideological trends influence social welfare when adherents of one orientation hold sway in decision- making capacities” (p.5). According to Gil, “Choices in social welfare policy are heavily influenced by the dominant beliefs, values, ideologies, customs, and traditions of the cultural and political elites recruited mainly from among the more powerful and privileged strata” (1981, p.32). During this current election