Different societies across the globe have different ways of assigning meanings and reality to different aspects of life. In this regard, what make sense in one society may not necessarily make sense in a different society. This is to imply that shared meanings and realities within different societies from different regions around the world significantly differ. Speaking from this perspective, social construction is defined as a way in which the society assigns meaning or connotation on different aspects of life or objects within its sphere of influence (Lock & Strong 2010). In this regard, through social construction, the society is able to create shared connotation, notions or meaning concerning a particular element of their lives, thus accepting it as reality. Moreover, social construction occurs within a particular context. For example, whereas an ideology such as collectivism thrives in Asian societies, such an ideology cannot survive in North America where individualism has already been established as the dominant ideology. In reference to Leeds-Hurwitz (2009), the construction of meaning, notions and connotations within a society occurs jointly in cooperation within others rather than individually. This implies that an individual cannot drive the social construction process. On the contrary, such a process occurs when people within such a society work together.
世界上不同的社会有不同的方式将意义和现实赋予生活的不同方面。在这方面，在一个社会中有意义的东西在另一个社会中未必有意义。这意味着世界各地不同地区的不同社会的共同意义和现实存在显著差异。从这个角度讲，社会建构是指社会在其影响范围内对生活或物体的不同方面赋予意义或内涵的一种方式（Lock&Strong，2010）。在这方面，通过社会建设，社会能够创造关于他们生活中某一特定元素的共同内涵、观念或意义，从而将其视为现实。此外，社会建构发生在特定的语境中。例如，集体主义等意识形态在亚洲社会蓬勃发展，但这种意识形态无法在北美生存，因为在北美，个人主义已经被确立为主导意识形态。参考Leeds-Hurwitz（2009），在一个社会中，意义、概念和内涵的构建是在其他人的合作中共同进行的，而不是单独进行的。这意味着个人无法推动社会建设进程。相反，当这样一个社会中的人们一起工作时，这种过程就会发生。
Importantly, Leeds-Hurwitz (2009) argues that there are three critical elements of social construction: the social, construction, and reality. With regard to the social, Leeds-Hurwitz (2009) observes that meaning in society is constructed through the interaction of people within a particular society. Furthermore, the construction of such meaning involves its construction, maintenance, repair, and change. In this case, after it has been created, it has to be maintained, occasionally updated and finally changed as time goes by. For example, whereas women who worked in the formal sector in the 1950s were perceived as rebellious, this is not the case in the 21st century where women are being encouraged to acquire education and take formal role in society. With regard to reality, Leeds-Hurwitz (2009) observes that social construction involves adding meaning to the physical world and developing social world to form a certain aspect of reality, thus making human creations or inventions appear natural.
重要的是，Leeds Hurwitz（2009）认为社会建构有三个关键要素：社会、建构和现实。关于社会意义，Leeds Hurwitz（2009）观察到，社会意义是通过特定社会中的人的互动构建的。此外，此类含义的构建涉及其构建、维护、维修和变更。在这种情况下，在创建之后，必须对其进行维护，偶尔进行更新，最后随着时间的推移进行更改。例如，20世纪50年代在正规部门工作的妇女被认为是叛逆的，而在21世纪，妇女被鼓励接受教育并在社会中扮演正规角色的情况就不是这样了。关于现实，Leeds Hurwitz（2009）观察到，社会建构包括给物理世界增加意义，发展社会世界以形成现实的某个方面，从而使人类的创造或发明看起来自然。
One of the aspects the play a significant role in social construction is socialisation. In reference to Frønes (2015), socialisation is defined as the process through which individuals interact and learn the beliefs, norms, customs and ideologies of the society in which they live in and are part of. This implies that socialisation is a continuous process that occurs in the life of a person considering the fact that the societal norms, beliefs, customs and ideologies are dynamic in nature and as such, continuously change as the society evolves. For instance, whereas before 1960s women roles involved mostly domestic chores, this has since changed and as such, there are more women in the 21st century who have taken formal roles in businesses and organisations. Importantly, in social construction, socialisation creates a platform for individuals within the society to learn the shared meanings and connotations within a particular society. For example, for one to behave appropriately as far as socially constructed gender roles are concerned in society, one has to go through the socialisation process to learn the values, norms and beliefs of his or her particular society regarding the definition of gender roles therein. Moreover, since social construction process is not founded on individual decisions but rather on collective decisions within the society, socialisation plays a critical role in promoting the interaction of people, thus creating a platform for development of meaning with respect to specific elements in society. For instance, through interaction, men and women in society are not only able to learn their respective genders roles, but also define new roles as their society develops.
在社会建设中发挥重要作用的一个方面是社会化。参照Frønes（2015），社会化被定义为个人互动并学习其所生活和所属社会的信仰、规范、习俗和意识形态的过程。这意味着社会化是一个持续的过程，发生在一个人的生活中，考虑到社会规范、信仰、习俗和意识形态本质上是动态的，因此随着社会的发展而不断变化。例如，在20世纪60年代之前，妇女的角色主要涉及家务，但这一点后来发生了变化，因此，21世纪有更多的妇女在企业和组织中担任正式角色。重要的是，在社会建设中，社会化为社会中的个人创造了一个平台，学习特定社会中的共同含义和内涵。例如，就社会建构的性别角色而言，要想在社会中表现得体，就必须经历社会化过程，以了解他或她特定社会中关于性别角色定义的价值观、规范和信仰。此外，由于社会建构过程不是基于个人决定，而是基于社会内部的集体决定，社会化在促进人与人之间的互动方面发挥着关键作用，从而为社会中特定元素的意义发展创造了一个平台。例如，通过互动，社会中的男性和女性不仅能够了解各自的性别角色，而且能够随着社会的发展确定新的角色。