Social construction of reality

Harry Collins

pp. 161-165

in: The social construction of reality, Human Studies 39 (1), 2016.

Abstract

I remember Berger and Luckmann’s book—its dustcover with its orange-red title on an olive-green background—because it was always there on my shelf, in 1970–1971, when I was doing my Master’s degree at the University of Essex. Of course, it was still on my shelf for years after that, but it is from that time that I have clear visual recall. It was the title written on the spine of the book that I remember—The Social Construction of Reality—because, to tell the truth, I never got much from reading it. Indeed I can’t remember what was in it. The book certainly provided inspiration but for me the direct inspiration came from what was written on it not in it. There was also, of course, an indirect inspiration: this is what the book did for the thinking of the community that set the standards for my work and helped me to talk freely of the social construction of scientific knowledge without ridicule.

Cited authors

Berger Peter L

Luckmann Thomas