The Social Construction of What?

The Social Construction of What? by Ian Hacking. Harvard University Press, 261 pp., $29.95. In this lucid book, the author shows with great care the complexity of the popular idea of "social construction." He notes the many meanings of the term, and the "looping" effect of its use. That is, saying something is "socially constructed,", i.e., not "given," has an effect on people to whom it is applied. Using a remarkable range of examples, Hacking differentiates among six "grades" of social construction, that is, degrees of commitment to the idea by authors using the term: historic, ironic, reformist/unmasking, rebellious, revolutionary.

Here are the examples he treats and illuminates, devoting a chapter to each: Quarks, Madness, Child Abuse, Weapons Research, Rocks, the End of Captain Cook. Each has been the subject of arguments over "social construction," over how to understand the phenomena in question. The examples range from physics to historic reconstruction in anthropology. Quarks and Captain Cook may seem esoteric to most people, but madness, child abuse, weapons research, and even rocks involve political issues with considerable public interest.

The issue, in the case of madness, is whether it is biological. From this flow consequences for dealing with the mad, for research and therapy. With child abuse, the issue, as Hacking shows clearly, is not whether it is "real," but when it was named and what the term covers. Here, as elsewhere, he is excellent at tracing the history of the terminology, and along the way he shows how interests and passions shift and terms change their meanings.

A distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, Hacking has a special talent for clarity, and the skill to disentangle what often seem hopelessly muddled arguments. Required reading for anyone interested in the current spate of "wars:" "science wars," "culture wars," and related matters.