social construct

American  

[soh-shuhl kon-struhkt] / ˈsoʊ ʃəl ˈkɒn strʌkt /

noun

1. a complex concept or practice shared by a society or group, not arising from any natural or innate source but built on the assumptions upheld, usually tacitly, by its members.

   The Green Party supports the EU in viewing disability as a social construct and recognizes the well-established link between poverty and disability.

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Etymology

Origin of social construct

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

A social construct that we created to inventory passing days in a way that would best make sense to us when time, in and of itself, is more fluid.

From Salon • Nov. 16, 2024

We have this social construct that you have to walk a certain way, you have to express yourself in a certain way.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 14, 2023

That kind of points to something that was unmeasured—something about being in this social construct, of being categorized as Black or Hispanic in the U.S., that is contributing to this difference.

From Scientific American • Jun. 29, 2023

While researchers say sex generally refers to physiological characteristics and gender is more a social construct, when it comes to federal civil rights law, they are essentially the same.

From Reuters • May 19, 2023

Science, as a method and practice, is a social construct.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton