An Invitation to Social Construction

This new edition of Kenneth Gergen′s landmark Invitation to Social Construction offers readers a clear and more thorough introduction to the theory and practice of social constructionism.

Reflecting the significant developments in constructionist thought and practice over the past decade, this edition has been revised and updated with material on new areas such as discourse analysis, action research, the body, and environmentalism. It also assesses social construction′s impact since the first edition was published as well as its practical relevance in the world today, especially for those implementing its ideas in practice for e.g. educators, therapists, social workers, and others involved in effecting social change.

The text is now even more accessible for students. Particular to this new edition is a writing style more directed to the undergraduate, a larger more student-friendly format as well as textboxes/visual material employed throughout to lift concepts to a more relevant state of meaning. All the while, however, the author maintains the same degree of depth and breadth found in the first edition, taking the reader through the myriad of complex ideas that have given rise to this profound way of thinking about the world.

An Invitation to Social Construction, Second Edition should be perfect for all social science students, academics and practitioners needing to learn about the ideas of social constructionism, and wishing to put them in to practice.

Kenneth J. Gergen is a Senior Research Professor in Psychology at Swarthmore College, and the President of the Taos Institute. He is internationally known for his contributions to social constructionist theory, technology and cultural change, the self, aging, education, and relational theory and practices. His major writings include, Realities and Relationships: Soundings in Social Construction, The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life, and Relational Being: Beyond Self and Community. His most recent work Beyond the Tyranny of Testing: Relational Evaluation in Education (with Scherto Gill) offers a relational constructionist alternative to the destructive practices of testing and grading in education. Gergen lectures throughout the world, and has received numerous awards for his work, including honorary degrees in both the U.S. and Europe.