The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge

by Peter L. Berger & Thomas Luckmann

A watershed event in the field of sociology, this text introduced "a major breakthrough in the sociology of knowledge and sociological theory generally" (George Simpson, American Sociological Review).

In The Social Construction of Reality Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann examine how knowledge forms and how it is preserved and altered within a society.

Unlike earlier theorists and philosophers, Berger and Luckmann go beyond intellectual history and focus on commonsense. Surgically focusing on everyday knowledge-the proverbs, morals, values, and beliefs shared among ordinary people.

When first published in 1966, this systematic, theoretical treatise introduced the term social construction, effectively creating a new thought and transforming Western philosophy

Summary:

Called the "fifth-most important sociological book of the 20th century" by the International Sociological Association, this groundbreaking study of knowledge introduces the concept of "social construction" into the social sciences for the first time. In it, Berger and Luckmann reformulate the task of the sociological subdiscipline that, since Max Scheler, has been known as the sociology of knowledge.