THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY
by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann
Condition: Good. Light rubbing to cover; binding square and strong; interior lightly toned.
About the Book
First published in 1966, The Social Construction of Reality remains one of the defining texts in modern sociology. Berger and Luckmann advance the argument that reality itself is socially producedthat what we take to be the world is in fact the cumulative outcome of shared meanings, institutional frameworks, and everyday interactions.
Drawing on phenomenology, symbolic interactionism, and the sociology of knowledge, the authors explore how knowledge becomes objective, how roles and institutions stabilize social order, and how individual consciousness internalizes the collective fabric of meaning. The books central thesis that society is a dialectical process of externalisation, objectivation, and internalisation profoundly influenced not only sociology, but anthropology, psychology, education, and philosophy of science.
Accessible yet intellectually rigorous, this work laid the foundation for later discourse on postmodernism, identity, and the sociology of everyday life.
About the Authors
Peter L. Berger (19292017) was an Austrian-born American sociologist, theologian, and public intellectual, celebrated for his writings on religion, modernity, and the sociology of knowledge.
Thomas Luckmann (19272016) was a Slovene-Austrian sociologist who taught for many years at the University of Konstanz, known for his work on the structures of everyday life and communicative processes. Together, they produced a concise and enduring synthesis that bridges philosophy and empirical sociology.