Age Candee. “Age Divisions Are Socially Constructed.” From a Sociological Perspective, 4 Apr. 2013, http://sociologywithcandee.blogspot.com/search?q=age
Your first body paragraph should explain what types of scientific or historical underpinnings have been used to bolster your topic as “real” rather than socially constructed.
This is also where you explain how you know this concept is a social construct (Does its meaning change over time and/or across cultures? How?) For race, these scientific and historical underpinnings are things like the idea that race is based on important genetic differences. It’s not, but the idea has been used to add credibility to making distinctions and categorizations (like slavery) based on race.
We can also tell that race is a social construct because what people think about race has changed over time and is different from culture to culture. Very similar phenomenon have happened for ideas like “gender” and “nation.”
This is where you talk about that. This is also where your extra source will come in handy.
Your second body paragraph should explain some of the basic characteristics that make up your topic (for race, this would be things like skin color, nose shape, eye shape, hair color and texture, dialect, etc) and why these things are a result of social construction rather than the previously mentioned scientific or historical underpinnings. I
n this paragraph, you will basically offer a definition of your topic in terms of social construction.
You will also explain who this social construct benefits and who it harms within its society (for race, the social construct tends to benefit White people and those with lighter skin tones. It tends to disadvantage everyone else) and why. You will explain how the socially constructed category you are treating impacts and shapes how people experience, behave in, and interpret reality.
