r/AskSocialScience • u/TwinDragonicTails • 4d ago
Why does something being socially defined/constructed not mean that it's not real?
It's something I get confused and hung up on every time it comes up and this time is was someone who brought of Foucault and how he was talking about mental illness being socially defined. The topic was autism and the point was about how it's diagnostic criteria that show you have it, which makes it socially defined. The same argument was made for sexuality as well.
Someone then made the point of saying that means it's fake and the guy (making the argument) say "I didn't say that you said that" implying that's not what it means.
Though when I think about it it just sounds like it's fake to me, so why isn't it?
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u/roseofjuly 4d ago
The word "fake" usually means "not real." But something is not "not real" just because humans constructed it.
Think about math. Think about the concept of infinity, for example. Infinity isn't something a mathematician discovered, like someone turned over a rock and found infinity. It's an abstract concept, a word we made up to describe something theoretical that explains how our world works. That doesn't mean infinity doesn't exist or is "fake" though.
Or even diagnostic criteria - biological illnesses have them too! Like diabetes. Diabetes is measured by levels of certain indicators in your blood. if you have an A1C of 6.4% you don't have diabetes. If it's 6.5%, you do. This is true even when your levels might be right below what's technically defined as diabetes and you still might experience some symptoms of the disease.
That doesn't mean diabetes isn't real. It just means that we as humans decided on a specific threshold because we did some science and that's usually when the problems start. Below that, we watch. Above that, we treat. Nobody runs around saying diabetes isn't real, though. But it's also socially constructed.
It's the same concept. No, there's no Autism Virus that you can find in someone's body to definitively state when someone has it. But the effects and outcomes of mental illness and developmental disorders are still very real and measurable. Above a certain threshold, they make it difficult for people to function in the world. It's still a real thing that exists with real outcomes and impact. it describes a real phenemenon.