Necessary or Arbitrary: Where does the sentiment of “social construct” come from?

It is drawing on election time, and so it is a worthwhile endeavor to dwell on the idea that reality is socially constructed.  The cry to "normalize" behavior and to define one's own reality unintentionally demonstrates two principles of the created order.  Firstly, we see that intellectual thought is not a private matter: error occurs within the public sphere.  Secondly, the reading illustrates that humanity lives in a community, in a societal relationship with itself through the ages.  Together, these two principles testify to Man’s intrinsic social nature as more than mere increased chance of survival.  Put simply, to not live in a society is not an option: Man lives in society, whether he wants to or not.

Often, I find myself defending Philosophy as a discipline against the charges of its “uselessness”.  Why burden yourself with such an abstract credential when there are proximate trades that both contribute in a “real” way to society and are increasingly financial successes?  Though philosophy is definitely not a great financial career, it can in no way be regarded as not contributing to society.  The pervasive influence of the social contractors on our communal mindset demonstrates this in a negative light.  

In a gross oversimplification of their work, thinkers like Hobbes and Locke recognize the different forms government can take through the lens of autonomous thought (courtesy of the enlightenment).  They expound upon this to posit that all society is simply an arbitrary construct imposed on nature.  Brought to its conclusion, this premise states that any sort of union can be reduced to a contract between consenting adults.  Since all unions are arbitrary constructs anyhow, Man is free to overcome his radical isolation define any and every way he sees fit - as long as it does not interfere with another person’s attempts at the same.  

No inference is required to see this in play in our own time.  Language itself reflects the sentiment that our societies and families are arbitrary constructs “that can be created, variously reshaped, or dissolved according to transient circumstances (Hittinger, Russell, The Three Necessary Societies.https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/06/the-three-necessary-societies.  Accessed 08/22/2024).”  How often do we hear the exhortation to “normalize” something, to convince the masses that a behavior or attitude will hereafter be considered new social construct?  I hear this phrase often, especially in regards to all things regarding marriage and the family.  Here, pertaining to the smallest unit of larger society, the general push is that “there be no (recognized) matrimonial form or ends.  It would seem to follow that there are plural forms of matrimony that can be determined by private contract (Hittinger).”  

There is a reason the natural end of the social contractors thought progression is the dissolution of the family into arbitrary constructs.  Put simply, the family is the prime occurring society, out of which the larger societies stem.  Though the three necessary societies - domestic, polity, and Church - are harmoniously combined such that “should [they] wither, we would have social problems.  A demise of the necessary societies would mark a social calamity (Hittinger),” the first occurring of these is the family.  There can be no Church or polity if man is not born, and he is necessarily born into a family.  The very fabric of the world is based on this.  Thus, in order to really claim that reality and society is a social construct, the family as natural must become a casualty.

Man is born into a community, whether he wants to be or not.  In fact, he is born into three communities which share a common goal of instructing and forming the human person to live a flourishing life: “All three of the necessary societies are, in their own way, nurseries of formation (Hittinger).”  Man cannot escape inheriting the thought and theories of those who have come before him, and he uses these inherited traits to interact with his neighbor: Man is born into a polity.  Man is further cognizant of his supernatural powers and nature, and is oriented towards God.  He worships God according to the way he is taught to worship, and is accompanied by his faith: Man is born into the Church.  Most primally, though, Man is born: he first encounters other humans as an infant, and is influenced in his interactions by this first encounter with humanity.