ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the notion of "thinking sociologically" before exploring the central concept of "social construction". It outlines how sociological thinking can be of practical value in tackling a wide range of social issues and concerns. An important theme of sociological thought is that of continuity and change. There was a great deal of development in sociological thinking in the 1960s, including the publication of what has turned out to be a seminal text, namely The Social Construction of Reality. The chapter discusses ideology and discourse which are concepts that have developed from different theoretical roots, but they have much in common. Ideology refers to how sets of ideas become used in ways that sustain and serve to justify relations of power. The chapter explains the notion of certain things being deemed "natural" is very significant in terms of how ideology works.
