The reality of the neighborhood is socially constructed because a persons position of power in the neighborhood directly relates to theirs friend group and occupation. It can be seen through out the movie that C's father was below Sonny's class level because he was a bus driver and didn't make near the money Sonny made. On a social level C's father was also below Sonny because he controlled the neighborhood. His words also thus ring louder to the intermediate public, and when he says, "the working man is a chump", and he himself doesn't work, people tend to believe him. Now because everyone takes his word for true the social status he has decided now becomes reality to everyone in the neighborhood. This correlates to the fact that Sonny's word always goes because the position of power he is in. Sonny runs the bar's illegal gambling scene and is the head man in charge of the localized mafia.
Sonny says in the movie that he'd rather be feared than loved, but since he doesn't trust anyone he relies completely on the fact that people fear him. This fear forces the other people in the neighborhood to follow the game as Sonny plays it. For instance, when the biker gang came into their town Sonny took care of them by locking them in the bar after they disrespected him and proceeded by beating all the bikers up and then making sure that they would never forget who did that to them. This was force being used to enforce Sonny's rules. Basically everyone tried to stay out of Sonny's way because in turn Sonny kept the neighborhood safe from out of towner's looking for trouble. He would also crack down on anyone in the neighborhood that acted poorly by disrespecting them and or threating to hurt them. Over time the neighborhood probably let Sonny take over generally because there was no one to protect them, and in return they wouldn't rat on anyone that "rolled" with Sonny.
The racism in the story was also a social construct because the group of friends C hung out with all hated the black people only a couple blocks down. At the time most people were racist ( on both sides, white and black), and C's friends would act out to harm them. Since it was acceptable in the neighborhood to not like black people it is a social construct. Luckily in most situations C didn't do the damage his friends would, so in a way he was defying the social construct, but he did so covertly. An example of this is when he was supposed to be beating up the bike rider, who unknowingly was Jane's brother, he was just "acting" and wasn't doing any harm. If a person would have gone to the black side of town the same views vice versa would have been present. This can be seen after the big fire and all the black people are yelling and taunting C before he runs back home.
