The cultural construct of gender changed across these historical cultures within the same country-from an idea of women being stay-at-home mothers to the idea that women can be prime ministers.Īnother example is the cultural construction of communication across different generations. Therefore, we have to distinguish between ethnic, national, historical, socioeconomic, and generational types of cultural constructs.įor example, the culture of Victorian era England was different from 21st century England. Therefore, their definitions can change across cultures.įor example, the North American understanding of being healthy is not the same as the definition of healthy in Chinese or Turkish cultures (Gaines, 1992).Ĭulture does not only refer to ethnic or national values and traditions, but also historical and social surroundings.
When a concept is culturally constructed, its definition is shaped by the culture surrounding it, instead of objective and physical truths. A concept which is the subject of the process of cultural construction is called a cultural construct. These concepts can be as fundamental as nationality, health, race as a social construct, or gender, which we often take for granted. Cultural Construction DefinitionĬultural construction is the formation of our definitions of social concepts based on our cultures rather than objective realities. This article was written by Dr Dave Cornell and peer reviewed by Dr Chris Drew. Meet the Peer Reviewer: The review process on Helpful Professor involves having a PhD level expert fact check, edit, and contribute to articles. While in Western secularism, the moon is seen as simply an orb in the sky, if we turn to Astrological traditions in India, we see that the moon’s phases can reveal insights about people’s personalities! Through this process, different meanings and values are attributed to social trends, attitudes, and behaviors (Palmer & Ponsonby, 2002). This is because social concepts often go through a process of cultural construction. Rather, it means recognizing how the concept’s meaning differs across cultures and societies (Palmer & Ponsonby, 2002). Saying that a concept is a cultural construct does not mean that it does not actually exist. “To describe the moon as a cultural construct might sound slightly ridiculous, Surely it is a natural satellite in synchronous roation with the earth? Yes, it is, but from the beginning of human history people have looked up at the moon and inscribed meaning on it and in this way it has also become a cultural object, represented in, for example, songs, poety, stories, paintings, mythologies” (Storey, 2018, p. John Storey (2018) provdes what I consider to be one of the best explanations of cultural construction when exploring the idea that the moon (yes, even the moon!) is culturally constructed: In other words, gender is culturally constructed. The term ‘cultural construct’ is used to explain how cultures ascribe meaning to ideas and concepts (Palmer & Ponsonby, 2002).įor example, the traditional ideas that men are leaders and women are passive come from cultural beliefs about gender norms.
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