Civil Society and Construction of Knowledge Systems

Abstract

The first premise of this paper is that knowledge is socially constructed. There is no truth which is universally applicable for all times to come in all periods of history, in all communities and societies. Knowledge is an understanding of reality: understanding the way people live, the way groups and organisations function, the way in which the society and economy is organised, etc. At different levels of social reality and at different periods of human history, knowledge has been changing, just as understanding of reality has been changing. Social construction of knowledge is particularly so for knowledge about social reality. While physical sciences have enough evidence to demonstrate the relativity of knowledge in physical sciences, there is hardly any dispute with respect to social knowledge or knowledge about social realities.