The Construction of `Social Constructionism: A Case Study in the Rhetoric of Debate

There is a dimension to the ongoing debate on `constructionism' that deserves closer scrutiny. In this paper I wish to draw attention to some features of the debate as movements in opposition, illustrated with examples comparing the articles in Theory & Psychology, 11(3), with literature outside psychology. One unfortunate consequence of this type of debate is that it works against the best of what `constructionism' has to offer to psychology. I also draw attention to a wider literature on some of the background historical and philosophical issues. What is substantively of the most value to the discipline of psychology is being lost in the parochial focus on one kind of `postmodern' theory developed in other disciplines.