This presentation provides additional information about "constructs," and gives practical advice for choosing one for the Paper 1 assignment in our Comp II course.

1. Questions to Ask Yourself
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS

2. CULTURAL HEGEMONY
• Def: The dominant culture. Leadership or dominance, esp. by one social group
over another.
Marxist philosophy defines it as: “the ruling class can manipulate the value system
and mores of a society, so their view becomes the world view.” It isn’t authoritarian.
Eagleton states: cultural hegemony is “hegemonic only if those affected by it also
consent to and struggle over its common sense.”
The status quo is seen as “natural, inevitable, perpetual, and beneficial for everyone,
rather than as artificial social constructs that benefit the ruling class.”

3. IAN HACKING’S LIST OF CLAIMS ABOUT SOCIAL
CONSTRUCTION
• (0) In the present state of affairs, X is taken for granted; X appears
to be inevitable.[14]:12
• (1) X need not have existed, or need not be at all as it is. X, or X as
it is at present, is not determined by the nature of things; it is not
inevitable.[14]:6
Hacking adds that the following claims are also often, though not
always, implied by the use of the phrase "social construction":
• (2) X is quite bad as it is. (OR: Is X bad as it is?)
• (3) We would be much better off if X were done away with, or at
least radically transformed. (Or would we be better off?)
Source: Wikipedia articles: Cultural Hegemony & Social Constructionism

4. FOR OUR PAPER:
• Narrow your focus: Look for academic constructs.
• How many can you find? Common examples include “good writing,”
“good student,” “bad student,” “intelligent,” “successful,” “a good
education,” “a good major,” “a useful degree,” etc.
• Make a list. Maybe look back at the answers to your questions from
the “Step 1” assignment (from Week 2) to help you identify some
constructs that relate to you.
• Choose a few that you might like to write about. Freewrite a bit about
each one, trying to imagine all the different ways that different people
might understand these constructs.
• Choose a construct to write about for your Literacy Critique paper.