Critical Approach
View of social reality
1. Social reality is multi-layered.
2. Social reality presents us with a façade. There are more dimensions to social reality than initially appear to us. It is crucial to move from the surface structures (external appearance) to the underlying mechanisms by which social reality is maintained
3. We need to penetrate the layers of social reality and uncover the underlying relationships that determine the real characteristics of society
4. These relationships are the mechanisms that result in inequality and exploitation within a society, but they are frequently masked by external appearances
5. We do not ordinarily see the real, exploitative nature of society because we perceive it through a framework constructed for us by institutions such as the mass media, serving the interests of the wealthy and powerful in society
6. Our attention becomes diverted from the real problems of society towards a focus on entertainment and frivolous fixation on the doings of movie stars etc
7. We are lead to believe that the inequalities of the world are natural, and there is nothing we can do about them
8. A false consciousness is created when people accept the situation as being natural and therefore unconsciously reproduce the social structures that govern them
9. Only when the illusion of the social reality as it presents itself is exposed and the underlying tensions and contradictions become apparent that the full potential of human creativity and agency can be unleashed
10. The awareness created by exposing the false consciousness enables people to reflect on how they are both products and creators of social reality
11. Social reality therefore becomes a human construction with more than one possibility
12. Once this awareness is created, the transformation of social reality is possible
13. Although human beings have