ABSTRACT
It was suggested in the previous chapter that the process of ‘social construction’ is a process of support-bargaining, and that rather than constructing ‘reality’ we construct an information interface. Support-bargaining involves the pursuit of interests, and accordingly the information interface is constructed in the pursuit of interest. Whether it has connections with any ‘truth’ or ‘reality’, social or material, is a separate question. Being concerned with interest, the construction of the information interface is necessarily forward looking, rather than strictly confined to what is actually present. It involves construction of concepts of present situation, but that is done with an eye to their effect in advancing interest in the future. Concepts of present situation necessarily involve concepts of the past, both immediate and with all degrees of remoteness, selected and interpreted in accordance with their perceived relevance to the advance of current interest. The whole information interface is actively shaped for the purpose of influencing the evolution of societies. We do not ‘say it as it is’; we say it with a view to the assembly of support for how we want it to be. This chapter considers some of the methods employed by agents of bargaining systems to ensure that the information interface is conducive to their interests.
