Constructivism

Constructivism is a framework for sociological and psychological study of politics.

Description

Constructivism is defined by a resistance to assuming incentive and preference structures. As a result, most constructivist study is determining what individuals, organizations, states, etc., do want. This is generally done following sociological or psychological methodology. Instrumentalism is similar but assumes that social constructs are a means to some end, effectively inserting a rationality assumption.

The term 'constructivism' is largely only used in the context of international relations, where it is in stark contrast to realism, institutionalism, and rationalism.

Other constructivist studies look at ethnic cleavages as a source of civil conflict; at creation of identities for states, parties, and movements; and at the role of norms in lawmaking and policymaking. These are very general concepts, and have a great deal of overlap with other theories. There likely won't be any reading notes like this listed below.

Instrumentalism is a closely related framework. Both view study social constructs, but instrumentalism assumes that .

Reading Notes

• How "Us" and "Them" Relates to Voting Behavior--Social Structure, Social Identities, and Electoral Choice; Simon Bornschier, Silja Häusermann, Delia Zollinger, and Céline Colombo; 2021

• Level Up! Priming Hobbyist Political Identity Using Survey Experiment, Pavel Bačovský, 2024

• Rally Around the Winner--A Two-Wave Panel Survey on the Impact of the U.S. Election on Foreign Policy Stances, Eyal Rubinson and Gal Bitton-Alayof, 2025

• Venturing Beyond the Vote: Routes to Feeling Represented through Unelected Representation; Andrea Vik, Pieter de Wilde, Oliver Treib, and Lene Aarøe; 2025

• Far-right against green: the re-emergence of geographically defined voting patterns and the new environment cleavage in Western Europe; Daphne Halikiopoulou, Christos Vrakopoulos, and Christoph Arndt; 2026

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