INTL 3200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Intersubjectivity, Sociology, Social Reality
5 Feb 2019
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Document Summary
Ir social constructivism theories ideas and intersubjectivity. Social reality is not objective or external to the observer. Constituted by ideas not by material forces. A set of ideas, body of thought, system of norms. Created by particular people in a particular place. So it can change at any time. A system which can be changed by new ideas. Social constructivism in ir follows idealist social constructivist approaches. Structures (or rules and conditions) do not mechanically determine what actors do. Relationship between structures and actors involve intersubjective understanding and meaning. But actors can transform structures by thinking about them and acting on them in new ways. Kant our knowledge of world is always subjective in sense filtered through human consciousness and human language. Liberalism"s concern with advance of liberal democratic ideals - though constructivism has interest in role of ideas in general. International society approach (popular in european ir) included concern for ideas and social interaction between states.
