By focusing on how language and rhetoric are used to construct the social reality of the international system, constructivists are often seen as more optimistic about progress in international relations than versions of realism loyal to a purely materialist ontology, but a growing number of constructivists question the "liberal" character of constructivist thought and express greater sympathy for realist pessimism concerning the possibility of emancipation from power politics. Constructivists may fail to recognize that their focus on describing the emergence of shared norms not only vitiates the predictive value of their theory but also that it ignores the important role of deception in international relations.