system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Does language define reality or not? (Sapir-Worf)

Hey all, its going to take me a moment to set this up so bear with me :)

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I was in my class last night and the subject that was on the board was about the **social construction of reality**, which is listed as the process of people shaping reality through social interaction. Really neat! I am particularly fascinated with this subject as I think that language does determine reality.  


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In my textbook a couple weeks back I also remember us going over the **Sapir-Worf** thesis *really* vaguely. The definition of the thesis in the book says that people see and understand the world through the cultural lens of language, and goes on to say later that "evidence supports the claim that language does **not** determine reality".  The book did not mention what *evidence* supported that claim, also didn't go into why sapir-worf isn't correct.


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 so which is it?  


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I'm confused as these ideas seem to contradict one another, people use language to communicate, then that shapes reality.. but it doesnt? (when I asked the teacher said "that's very interesting...and went on about his day... probably to be expected in the SOCIO 101 class in community college.. probably didn't want to take the time to answer me and waste everyone's time)  


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any light that you could shed on this question would be most appreciated. Thanks!
gpt
I think the important thing to remember about Sapir-Whorf is that it's not absolute. So when sociologists say that we construct our reality through through language or discourse, what they are saying is that the language we use reinforces values, norms and inequalities and our belief systems. Early proponents of Sapir-Whorf would say that people who didn't have words for certain concepts could never understand those concepts. That's where you hear stories about peoples who can see more or fewer colors or who can only count to three (supposedly the Piraha people of Brazil). But modern research has been skeptical of these findings. I'd encourage you to read Berger and Luckmann's The Social Construction of Reality if this is something that you are actually interested in. The book is challenging but very interesting. 

Edit: Levinson, Stephen C. (2000). Yeli Dnye and the Theory of Basic Color Terms, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 10:1 (pp. 3–55).