ABSTRACT
In chapter 1, I made a case for the view that the person is socially constructed. In this chapter I shall present the view that this construction process is rooted in language. The terms ‘structuralism’ and ‘poststructuralism’ will be introduced here, together with a brief explanation of them in the context of language. In the introduction, I talked about how structuralist and poststructuralist ideas had been appropriated by some social constructionists. In particular, postructuralism is an anti-humanist and anti-essentialist theoretical approach which is therefore in sympathy with much social constructionism, and because the ‘centre of gravity’ of both structuralism and poststructuralism is in the humanities and linguistics, they have much to offer a social constructionist understanding of language and its role in social and psychological life.
