The Social Construction of Reality by Peter L. Berger (1966, Paperback)

I read this book as a graduate student writing on the socializing factors of education. Unfortunately, my book budget was low when I decided to read it, and so I used the library copy. I promised myself that I would buy it as soon as I graduated and had more book money.

The book opened up new avenues of thinking for me along the lines of how what is 'known' is social-location dependent, and changing knowledge changes one's communal-social identity and location. Leaving a certain pattern of thinking also leaves, in some profound ways, the communities which still adhere to that knowledge. This is why the quest for knowledge can be isolating. Berger-Luckman also explain in logical and intuitive terms how new knowledge becomes codified into 'matter-of-fact' knowledge. This is helpful for thinking about social change - and why change works best incrementally.

It has some limitations, of course. First among them, the authors do not look at competing social-location identities, and how one might belong to varying 'symbolic universes.' Secondly, there is a sense in which only the academic elite are capable of rising above symbolic universes that cohere the rest of a community/society. Everyone else seems stuck in the mire of their own way of thinking. This criticism is not as well supported as the first, but I think it is still legitimate. Their point may also be true - only those who leave and encounter a new, secondary, symbolic universe can adequately question the assumptions of their primary symbolic universe.

At any rate, as an academic and a pastor, this book is deeply helpful for thinking about the education and formation of society. It does not seek to assess the truth claims of different symbolic universes, and this is part of its great utility. I think it is a must read for anyone concerned about the clash of cultures along the faith-line in the coming century, and also anyone interested in social transformation of their own community.