Reflections: Van Der Ree and Social Constructivism

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The video from Gerard Van Der Ree from the University College Utrecht on social constructivism gives us a really good synopsis of the theory. 

He begins with a critique of rationalism, he says that both realism and liberalism claim that decision-making is rational. He goes on to say that sociology and anthropology tells us a different story. Decision-making is not rational but is influenced by our social systems. 

To help us understand, I shared with you in class a scenario. I asked if you could on one sunny or hot day decide to walk into the DWU student dinning hall with your swim wear. All of you said no with a capital 'N'. So I asked why? You all gave various reasons why this type of dressing is not appropriate. 

Some of you said that you have dressing codes for different venues. You are required to wear something decent to class or to the student dinning area. If you wear your swim wear then you will attract negative comments.

Some of you said that; culturally, such dressing is not allowed in a public venue like the student dinning hall. You would accept if someone wore something similar in a public swimming place like at the Madang Star hotel pool, Jais Aben Resort beach or Masin Gun Beach.

According to Van Der Ree, since we are part of a social system which does not accept such a dressing, all of us are of the opinion that it is not right to dress in such a manner. We either consciously or unconsciously wear clothing that is acceptable or inline with the norm of 'appropriate dressing'.   

He also said that rationalism blinds us from the importance of norms and values. I demonstrated this by asking you about the political ideology that we as a nation believe in. I said, PNG is a democratic country and under Section 32 of our Constitution we have a right to freedom. We are free to wear whatever we like to the student dinning hall. 

Does wearing your swim wear on a sunny or hot day to the student dinner hall injure or interfere with the rights and freedoms of others? Does the dressing code in the student dinning hall outline clearly that swim wears are in the list of clothing deemed inappropriate?


Do we have a similar law in PNG banning the wearing of swim wear in any public space, including walking down the street, taking a bus, at a bank, library or shop, in a cinema or theater? No! Therefore, you as a citizen of PNG has the right to dress freely.

But we all know that, none of you will walk into the student dinning hall with your swim wear, because of the socially constructed understanding that such a dressing is inappropriate even on a sunny or hot day when the temperature is 99 degrees.

This understanding helps use to understand Martha Finnemore's variant of social constructivism. Finnemore and scholars in the norms analysis school focus on studying how norms develop and evolve according to Van Der Ree. They take norms as the object of analysis.

We look at the fresh case of Syria. The norms of 'war crimes' and 'crimes against humanity' which are two core international crimes according to Gevers influenced the United States, France and Britain to launch military strikes to punish President Bashar Assad.   

They deem the use of chemical weapons as inappropriate or not in tune to the spirit of international law. As stated by Gevers, it is a war crime because the regime or whoever that was responsible used a prohibited means of warfare to harm civilians during the armed conflict.

Just like you know that it is not appropriate to wear your swim wear to the student dinning hall. The United States, France and Britain know that it is not appropriate to use chemical weapons on civilians during armed conflicts.

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