= 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 [[PoliticalScience/Realism|realism]], [[PoliticalScience/Institutionalism|institutionalism]], and [[PoliticalScience/Rationalism|rationalism]]. In political science, it can be difficult to disambiguate constructivism from comparative politics. Consider it as such: did the presence of an ethnic cleavage make some structure inevitable in a manner that is inherently transferable to other countries? Or did ethnic conflict cause people to develop norms around structures that are uniquely localized? ---- == Reading Notes == * [[HowUsAndThemRelatesToVotingBehavior|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 * [[LevelUp|Level Up! Priming Hobbyist Political Identity Using Survey Experiment]], Pavel Bačovský, 2024 * [[TheFutureIsHistory|The Future Is History: Restorative Nationalism and Conflict in Post-Napoleonic Europe]]; Lars-Erik Cederman, Yannick I. Pengl, Luc Girardin, and Carl Müller-Crepon; 2024 * [[RallyAroundTheWinner|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 * [[VenturingBeyondTheVote|Venturing Beyond the Vote: Routes to Feeling Represented through Unelected Representation]]; Andrea Vik, Pieter de Wilde, Oliver Treib, and Lene Aarøe; 2025 * [[FarRightAgainstGreen|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 ---- CategoryRicottone