Basically, what you're looking at is a bunch of critical theorists who argue that most of our social/cultural formations - at both the level of society and the individual - are constructed through reiterative cultural practices which are related to the economic base (Grundrisse) but go beyond it.
Generally, that it's ideas & concepts which structure our society and protect power - that we (or our position in the system or power structure) are constructed discursively, as much as materially.
They're Marxist thinkers who find Marx & Engels' insistence on seeing society as purely an economic construct as rather a blunt sociological instrument.
They're also interested in modernity - Habermas argues that the emergence of modern society - thus capitalism - happened in the 18C via public discourse in the public sphere - the coffee houses, the newspapers.
Of course, he completely overlooks the fact that this was only 50% of the population ... there's been a bit of feminist work on counter-publics.
People who are more expert than I in this material will recognise my summaries as bastardised, but I hope they help you with a starting point for your teaching: that in looking at these social constructionist theories, we're looking at ideas about how society is structured via discourse, as opposed to materialist aspects.
And in my own [feminist] work I'm often really interested in the ways that discourse can have material effects. Tell a young girl often enough that she's "no good" at woodwork, and lo and behold! she'll likely be rubbish at it ...