Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge
    The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge
    The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge

    Written by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann

    Narrated by David Colacci

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Called the "fifth-most important sociological book of the 20th century" by the International Sociological Association, this groundbreaking study of knowledge introduces the concept of "social construction" into the social sciences for the first time. In it, Berger and Luckmann reformulate the task of the sociological subdiscipline that, since Max Scheler, has been known as the sociology of knowledge.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateDec 26, 2017
    ISBN9781541487819
    Author

    Peter L. Berger

    Award-winning scholar and author Peter L. Berger (b. 1929) has been hailed as one of the most important modern American sociologists. Berger graduated from Wagner College in New York in 1949 before receiving his master’s degree and doctorate from The New School in New York in 1950 and 1954, respectively. Today, Berger is a professor emeritus of religion, sociology, and theology at the University of Boston and director of the Institute for the Study of Economic Culture, which studies relationships between economic development and sociocultural change. Berger’s works include Invitation to Sociology (1963), The Social Construction of Reality (1966) with Thomas Luckmann, The Sacred Canopy (1967), and A Rumor of Angels (1969).

    More audiobooks from Peter L. Berger

    Related to The Social Construction of Reality

    Related audiobooks

    Philosophy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Herbert Spencer’s Principle of Equal Freedom: Is It Well Grounded?

      Sep 1, 2020

      During the mid-to late nineteenth century, Herbert Spencer was the most widely read philosopher in the world. A large part of his appeal was owing to his ambition of providing a complete and comprehensive account of human reality based on scientific

      38 min read

    • Article

      Change

      Oct 28, 2019

      Why should a change of paradigm be called a revolution? In the face of the vast and essential differences between political and scientific development, what parallelism can justify the metaphor that finds revolutions in both? One aspect of the parall

      3 min read

    • Article

      Why History Must Take A Stance

      Feb 18, 2021

      Why History Must Take A Stance
      9 min read

    • Article

      A Perception Of Something

      Nov 7, 2020

      A Perception Of Something
      9 min read

    • Article

      ‘Public Intellectuals’ Challenge Dogma

      Mar 20, 2021

      THIS is an extract from The Fabric of Dissent: Public Intellectuals in South Africa, which focuses on how key figures throughout South Africa’s history have shaped our approaches to matters, including poverty, religious conflict and war. HOW WE rela

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Crisis Of Truths

      Jan 27, 2022

      A Crisis Of Truths
      9 min read

    • Article

      City Hall

      Dec 30, 2020

      City Hall
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Search For Answers

      Apr 30, 2020

      The Search For Answers
      12 min read

    • Article

      The Personality Crisis

      Nov 1, 2018

      The Personality Crisis
      6 min read

    • Article

      Turning Students Into Weapons

      Aug 26, 2021

      UNIVERSITY AUTHORITIES sometimes disinvite visiting speakers, and more frequently control what their own staff and students say, not (or not only) so as not to disturb the rest of us with new facts but also, or instead, to protect our feelings. For i

      6 min read

    • Article

      What’s Philosophy For?

      Aug 10, 2020

      What’s Philosophy For?
      4 min read

    • Article

      Uncertainty

      Jun 6, 2022

      Until philosophers are Kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Social Construction of Reality

    4/5

    169 ratings7 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Excellent book! I'm already determined to read it again. Loaded with substance
    • 3/5
      Fascinating topic. I learned a lot - and asked myself even more.
    • 5/5
      One of the deepest books I've ever read, but it's not without it's humorous moments (the examples Berger gives to illustrate his points are sometimes hilarious). This is incredibly meta and multi-layered. A must-read for anyone into world building.
    • 4/5
      This is quite an interesting book. Its main thesis is an attempt to tie together epistemology and sociology. TO SUMMARIZE: Thought is a social construct. Our ways of thinking are influenced by our ancestors and traditions. There's also Wittgenstein's baby - how language affects thought.

      Of course, after watching both political conventions over the past two weeks, it is necessary to discuss the political role of this idea. One could see it being discussed by reformers/radicals, who want to change society and assist oppressed peoples by changing the long-held societal misconceptions which lead to their oppression. Another possibility involves a certain long-gone form of conservatism, which remarks on the fragility of society, and that any reform attempts must be undertaken with great care. This conservatism, of course, is not the naked imperial greed which calls itself 'conservative' today.

      One example of social constructs is race. Compare America and Western Europe. In the former, 'white people' are a monolithic bloc, in the latter, there are still hazy distinctions drawn up between North and South European, Germanic and Slav. I know the feeling of race directly - I have been mistaken, at various times in my life, for being Russian, Mexican, and half-Chinese or half-Vietnamese. My mother is also mistaken for Chinese, despite being Filipino. Other possibilities about social construction include sexuality, political beliefs, professions, and others.

      Such an idea has its charms, but also its detractors. I wonder how a biological approach to ideas, such as neuroscience or evolutionary psychology (as flawed as the latter is) might make an approach to such similar topics. For a book on sociology, it does raise the question of if we can truly attempt to understand the point of view of a person who's lived in a completely different society than we have.
    • 5/5
      A wonderfully compelling, lucid, and witty sociological theory work. This book deals with two main connected topics: how we construct our reality (and hence our knowledge) in society, and how our reality constructs our identities. However, laid out like this, these topics seem perhaps too academic or too abstract. It may be better to say simply that Berger and Luckmann wrote a brilliant account of the essence of our lives.
    • 4/5
      A very difficult read, but worth the effort to understand how human beings do in fact construct realities that deny their very essence.
    • 4/5
      EN ESPAÑOL: No puedo creer que nadie más haya intentado hacer una reseña de este libro estando en tantas de nuestras bibliotecas.Personalmente quedé fascinado con el alcance de este libro, sobre todo en tan corta extensión: 230 páginas aproximadamente. Lo tomo como todo un tratado en epistemología social, que alcanza a abarcar tanto sus procesos macrosociales como microsociales. Con tantos nuevos conceptos, me hubiera ayudado encontrar palabras en itálicas y negrilla, al igual que diagramas, para facilitarme su comprensión.Supongo que el texto no es más extenso al evitar una mirada reflexiva hacia su propia propuesta: ¿si cualquier teoría tiene una base social tan innegable, como es descrita por los autores, cómo entienden ellos esto en el desarrollo de su propia teoría? Me hubiera encantado haber también encontrado eso en el libro.En resumen, leerlo fue INMENSAMENTE estimulante tanto a nivel personal como intelectual.----IN ENGLISH: I can’t believe no one else has tried making a review of this book being in so many of our libraries.Personally I was fascinated with the reach of the book, especially in such short extension: approximately 230 pages. I take it as a treatise in social epistemology, which manages to include its macrosocial processes as well as its microsocial ones. With so many new concepts, it would’ve helped me find words in italics and bold letters, as well as diagrams, to help me with its comprehension.I guess the book isn’t any longer as it avoids a reflexive perspective towards its one proposal: if any theory has such an undeniable social base, as it’s described by the authors, how do they understand this in the development of their own theory? I would’ve loved finding this also in the book.In short, reading it was IMMENSELY stimulating at a personal as well as an intellectual level.