# Quote — Peter Berger, The Social Construction of Reality

> The social distribution of knowledge thus begins with the simple fact that I do not know everything known to my fellowmen, and vice versa, and culminates in exceedingly complex and esoteric systems of expertise. Knowledge of how the socially available stock of knowledge is distributed, at least in outline, is an important element of that same stock of knowledge.

- Author: [Peter Berger](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-berger.md)
- Book: [The Social Construction of Reality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-berger/the-social-construction-of-reality.md)
- Page: 46
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_L._Berger#The_Social_Construction_of_Reality,_1966) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-berger/the-social-construction-of-reality/the-social-distribution

## More from this book

> A society’s stock of knowledge is structured in terms of what is generally relevant and what is relevant only to specific roles… the social distribution of knowledge entails a dichotomization in terms of general and role-specific relevance… because of the division of labor, role-specific knowledge will grow at a faster rate than generally relevant and accessible knowledge… The increasing number and complexity of [the resulting] sub universes [of specialized knowledge] make them increasingly inaccessible to outsiders.

p. 77 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-berger/the-social-construction-of-reality/a-societys-stock.md)

> Specific procedures of universe-maintenance become necessary when the symbolic universe has become a problem. As long as this is not the case, the symbolic universe is self-maintaining, that is, self-legitimating by the sheer facticity of its objective existence in the society in question.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-berger/the-social-construction-of-reality/specific-procedures-of-universe-maintenance.md)

> Modern science is an extreme step in this development, and in the secularization and sophistication of universe-maintenance.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/peter-berger/the-social-construction-of-reality/modern-science-is-an-extreme.md)