Representing Reality: Discourse, Rhetoric and Social Construction

By Jonathan Potter

Book Overview

How is reality really manufactured? The idea of social construction has become a commonplace part of much social research, yet precisely what is constructed, how it is constructed, and what constructionism means are often left unclear or taken for granted. In this major work, Jonathan Potter explores the central themes raised by these questions. Representing Reality explores the different traditions in constructivist thought--including sociology of scientific knowledge; conversation analysis and ethnomethodology; and semiotics, poststructuralism, and postmodernism--to provide a lucid introduction to several key strands of work that have overturned the way we think about facts and descriptions. Potter illustrates his points throughout with varied and engaging examples taken from newspaper stories, relationship counseling sessions, accounts of paranormal events, social workers′ assessments of violent parents, informal talk between program organizers, political arguments, and everyday conversations. Representing Reality offers the student and scholar in social psychology, rhetoric and discourse, and related fields a critical introduction to constructivism.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803984111
• ISBN13: 9780803984110
• Release Date: August 1996
• Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Phenomenal Book

Jonathan Potter's "Representing Reality" is a masterwork on the creation of 'facts' in social life. His work draws from and integrates several areas of related literature including discursive social psychology, rhetoric, discourse analysis, sociology, and ethnomethodology. I was particularly interested in how Potter showed that different assertions of what reality 'is' are often voiced in a competitive, contested climate and how those asserted realities implicitly are created to forestall challenges from other versions of 'what the facts are'. . I would recommend that readers interested in this area also examine (1) John Searle's (1995) book "The construction of social reality", (2)Stephen Toulmin's work on data, warrants, and claims, and (3) Bernard Guerin's paper in the _Review of General Psychology_ in 2003 ("Language Use as Social Strategy: A Review and an Analytic Framework for the Social Sciences") that features an interesting take on creating and disputing 'readings' or 'versions' of reality based on what are proposed as 'factual data'. These are, of course, recommended in addition to Berger and Luckmann's (1967) seminal book on the social construction of reality in everyday life. Potter's book is truly a remarkable work. ANY person interested in how different versions of reality are socially constructed should get this book.

An insightful contribution by a leading discourse analyst

This is one of my all-time favorite discourse analytic books. Jonathan Potter, a professor in the U.K., illustrates how rhetoric and discourse analysis can come together in provocative ways. The initial two or three chapters are, in my opinion, a bit tedious in their set-up of later chapters, but the analytic sections in the latter half of the book have no equal in this area. Potter's writing is fun to read, and the examples he uses are sometimes humorous. Fans of Potter's other work will not be disappointed