Psychology, science and constructionisms: making sense of self / Psicologia, ciência e construcionismos: dando sentido ao self

Abstract

Social constructionism has been proposed as a set of answers for the scientific paradigmatic crisis of last decades. The complexity and richness of its statements make difficult a unitary and consensual description of what is social constructionism among its proponents. Our objective in this article is to explore in more details Kenneth J. Gergen and Rom Harré's view of social constructionism, its assumptions and view of science, thus favoring an understanding about the way these authors describe and understand the self. Although it is possible to identify many similarities in their proposals, some differences clearly separate their positions, and help to map this field of tensions in which other constructionist authors try to position themselves.