Transcript Social Constructivism - St. Pius X High School | Kansas

Social Constructivism
Introduction
• Social Constructivist
– Last of the four major theories in IR
• Born when the Cold War died
• Gaining momentum and popularity
– Defined
• Studies how ideas and social movements impact and
change international relations
• Studies International Structure
– Structure is some thing that exist independently of an actor
(ie. Class structure), but is an important determinant in the
actions of the actor (ie. Class Revolution)
» Shapes identities, interest, and foreign/domestic polices
of states
» How states and non-states shape and reshape world
What is a Social Theory?
• Social Constructivism
– Substantive Theory
• Offers specific claims and hypotheses about patterns in
world politics
– Realism, Liberalism, Marxism, etc…
» Offers absolute/precise analysis and evaluations
– Not Constructivism
– Social Theory
• Broadly concerned with how to conceptualize the
relationship between agents and structures
– Constructivism
» Offers overall interpretations of existing system
– Not Realism, Liberalism, Marxism, etc…
Core Elements
• Idealism
– Holds that ideas have important causal effect on
events in international politics, and that ideas can
change
• Social consciousness = fundamental feature of society
• People = shaped by ideas = knowledge, symbols, language
and rules.
• Meaning and construction of material reality is dependent
on ideas and interpretations
• Holism
– Structures cannot be broken down to the individual
units, and the interactions between the individual
parts, because structures are more than the sum of
their parts and, as a result, cannot be reduced
Main Constructivist Tenets
• Social Construction of Reality
– Actors are produced and created by their cultural
environment
– Indicates how knowledge, symbols, rules, concepts,
etc… shapes how individuals construct and interpret
their world
• Social Facts
– Things whose existence is dependent on human
agreement
• Existence defines shapes how we categorize the world and
what we do
– Money, treaties, human rights, laws, etc…
– Opposite Brute Facts = exist independent of human
agreement and will continue to exist even if humans
disappear or deny their existence
• Oceans, gravity, the sun, a rock, etc…
Continue
• Logic of Consequences
– Attributes action to the anticipated costs and
benefits, mindful that other actors are doing just
the same
• Realism, Marxism, Liberalism, etc…
• Logic of Appropriateness
– Highlights how actors are rule-following, worrying
about whether their actions are legitimate
• Constructivism
• Meaning
– Value actors place on their action and the objects
they construct
Continue
• Culture
– Provides the meaning that people give their action
• Society (international and domestic) is diverse, then
there are multiple meanings that can be interpreted by
an action
– Politics Today = liberals vs. conservatives or state and nonstate actors
• Power
– Adds to traditional definition of power
• Forces of power go beyond material (economic or
military), can be ideational (forming/entertaining Ideas)
– Legitimacy = sought by states = more legitimate an action the
more international approval received
» States alter action to receive legitimacy
Continue
– Knowledge is Power
• How knowledge, the fixing of meanings, and the
construction of identities allocate different rewards and
capacities
• Reject Unity of Science Thesis
– Methods of studying the natural world are not
appropriate for understanding the social world
• Humans reflect on their experience and use these
experiences to change their behavior, the natural world
does not
Continue
• Causality and Explanation
– Insist that structures can have a causal impact
because they make possible (or limit) certain kinds
of behavior and thus generate certain tendencies
in the international system
Rational Choice
• Social Theory that offers a framework for
understanding how actors operate with fixed
preferences which they attempt to maximize
under a set of constraints
– Conflicts with SC, Demonstrates not all social
theories are similar
• Treats interest as fixed, SC treats as constructed by
environment and interactions
• Favors Logic of consequences, SC favors logic of
appropriateness
• SC studies normative structure and RC focuses on
strategic behavior
Global Change
• Social Constructivism
– Useful in explaining global change
– Non-Social Theories have difficult time explaining
change because of their fixed absolute
interpretations of world affairs
• Homogenization of World Politics
– Is there a World Order?
• Diffusion
– How particular models, practices, norms, strategies, or beliefs
spread within a population (domestic or international)
Continue
– Two important diffusion issues
• Institutional Isomorphism = Why diffusion takes place
» Those organizations that the same environment will, over
time, resemble each other
» Diversity yields to conformity and convergence around a
single model
– International System
» Composed of Nation States
• Democracy and Free Market dominate IS
• Globalization creating liberal democracies
• Assimilation because states want acceptance,
legitimacy, and status
• Institutions and norms promote liberal
democracies
• Many States only look like liberal democracies to
gain benefits of IS (viewed as modern world),
though in practice they are not
Continue
• How do states diffuse?
– Coercion
» Forced to do so by a stronger power
• Iraq (military) or Cuba (economic)
– Strategic Competition
» If they don’t diffuse they will not receive the benefits of
modern society
• Technologies, weapons, health care, etc…
– Why does coercion or competition take place?
» Doing so will bring them needed resources
• Being part of the modern “club” will open resources
to a state
• Countries outside the “Club” will have a hard time
convincing the IS to give up needed resources
Continue
– Countries are likely to adopt those models that are seen as
successful or legitimate
» Especially in times of uncertainty
• War, famine, drought, climate change, etc…
» Especially if the model is symbolic
• Nuclear proliferation in Iran or North Korea
– Professional associations and expert communities diffuse
organizational models
» Have established techniques, codes of conduct,
methodologies, norms, institutions, ect… within their
area of expertise
» Communicate established practices to professionals
within field, as a result diffusion takes place
• Globalization of professional organizations
» Use professional networks to diffuse information
• Institutions, collaboration, journals, etc…
Continue
• Diffusion and Norms
– Diffusion leads to international recognized norms
= Internationalization of norms
• Provide world with established standards of behavior
– States follow norms because of sense of community or fear of
retribution
– Life Cycle of Norms
• Norm emergence
– Norm promoted by group or issues and adopted by state
• Norm Cascade
– Norm crusaders socialize to other states through coercions or
competition
• Norm Internationalization
– accepted by all an no longer debated in IS
Continue
• Three consequences of Institutional
Isomorphism and Internationalization of
Norms
– Diversity has slowly yielded to conformity
• Not al conformity is altruistic
– Deepening sense of an International Community
• Globalization and advancement in technology
– Replacing Anarchy as boarders become obsolete
– Socialization
• States/societies take on identities and interest of
dominate peer group
– Diffusion Flow = First to Third World