I don’t understand how so many people seem to understand the concept just fine. It sounds oddly complicated to me. The concept to me sounds like collectively concluded delusion or like if society collectively concludes something to be objectively real, that means it’s objectively real. Maybe I’m not understanding correctly?
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I’ll throw another example of a social construct: Pink is for girls, blue is for boys. If you were around in the 90s, you might remember that one. That has lessened a lot in 2023.
Pink wasn’t always considered a feminine color: https://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/08/pink-wasnt-always-girly/278535/
Fashion as a whole is a social construct. What is considered acceptable in the workplace for example has changed. Jeans and a sweater or a business suit serve the same basic functional purpose, but there was a time when wearing jeans to work was a “faux pas” in certain environments. That was 100% a social construct, the fact that jeans are now acceptable where they weren’t before is also a social construct.
EDIT: Once you go down that rabbit hole, it can really mess with you and feel like nothing is objectively real anymore. Lots of things are social constructs, but are by now so ingrained in a society, that for a member of that society they “just are”.
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