Often I will hear something referred to as a "social construct". Most commonly I will hear this said in regards to race, gender, marriage, but there are of course others. When people state that something is a social construct they frequently imply, if not outright state that because it is a social construct it is somehow less real or less valid than something that is not. This is completely untrue though. Just because something is a social construct does not make it any less real or any less valid than other things.
There is only one example needed to disprove this notion that social constructs are somehow less real than other things. The example I will use is the law. The law is a social construct because a group of people agree that it exists and people act in accordance to the belief that it does exist. One cannot hold the law in their hands because it is not a physical object. Although, there are in fact physical objects that do represent the law. In America one example of this is the Constitution. If someone burned the Constitution then the US would not cease to exist and the laws of the US would not cease to be enforced.
