week 4

The term social constructivism relates to the ideal of how social constructs develop in a social world. They can form by a certain group of people who use them enough until they eventually become accepted and social norms. An instance of this was with the famous Bjiker created a simple enough 2 wheeled, metal framed man powered vehicle currently known as the bicycle. The problem with the bicycle was that it was created almost exclusively for men, and not for women. The early bicycle proved to be impractical for women as the wheels would expose women who commonly wore dresses back then, and the seats were just positioned so high up that this was almost certain to happen. It was also seen as a very dangerous device, much to the pleasure of men and dismay of women.. Another major social construct was the development of the car. The car, much like the bicycle, was also predominately designed for a certain group of people and not everyone. However the car, like Rome, was not built in a day. It took many years, man power, and prototypes to piece it together. The end result was a simple yet complicated buggy sans the horses. This vehicle certainly was not built for poor people, as it was the design of the wealthy, engineers, prominent scientists, and high working government officials. The car has proven to be a great example of social constructivism. The term “reverse salient” refers to a certain group in the front is falling behind in the advance. This term can currently be applied to the car situation of today, as American companies are falling behind that of the Asian motor vehicle companies. Not only are American companies falling behind economically and production wise, they’re also being beat in many areas such as technological advancements and the ever important hybrid capabilities. Recently however, American car companies are learning from the Asian car companies and starting to catch up as far as the technological advancements are concerned. Until recently, the American car companies were simply unable to compete with the cheap production and advanced technology of their Asian counterparts. Now however, they have learned from the Asian car companies technology and production techniques and are applying it themselves, which is leading to much greater success than they’ve ever had. Will American car companies ever catch up to that of the Asian car companies? Only time will answer that.