Irony and Origami

Unfolding Social Constructionism is a book that stands as a testimony to the growing influence of social constructionism right across the social sciences. Gone are the days when it was just a voice from the margins—now it is a force to be reckoned with. Here Hibberd locks horns with social constructionism’s most pivotal character: Kenneth Gergen. In a careful review of his work, she dissects the key components of constructionism’s meta-theory, and she also considers (and dismisses) some of the more common lines of critique. Yet for all her sophistication, Hibberd misses (or refuses?) something very simple—that her own critique is a view from somewhere. She simply asserts realist epistemology as the truth, without for one moment seeing the irony of this assertion (from a social constructionist perspective, that is). I put her straight...