Is That True? Critical Thinking for Sociologists

Cover
Is That True?
Title
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgments
1. What Is Critical Thinking?
2. The Basics: Arguments and Assumptions
3. Everyday Arguments
	Anecdotes
	Ad Hominem Arguments
	Myths
	Folk Wisdom and Metaphors
	Facts
	Everyday Reasoning
4. The Logic of Social Science
	Patterns
	Causality
	Judging Social Scientific Claims
	The Importance of Evidence
5. Authority and Social Science Arguments
	Challenges for Social Science
	The Case of Sociology
	Thinking about Sociology and Critical Thinking
6. Sociology as a Social World
	Camps
	Envy
	Sociology’s Subdivisions
7. Orientations
	Optimism and Pessimism
	Team Culture and Team Structure
	Insiders and Outsiders
	Tragedy and Comedy
	The Importance of Orientations
8. Words
	Jargon
	Word Fads
	Definitions
	Concept Creep
9. Questions and Measurements
	Sociological Questions
	Empirical Questions
	Measurement
	What Is Being Measured?
	Questioning Measurements
10. Variables and Comparison
	Variables
	Issues with Comparison
	Varieties of Comparative Findings
	Replication
	Comparison in Qualitative Research
	Questioning Comparisons
11. Tendencies
	Patterned Tendencies
	The Ecological Fallacy
	The Modesty of Sociological Explanations
	Thinking about Tendencies
12. Evidence
	Effective Evidence
	Not-So-Effective Evidence
	Questioning Evidence Choices
	Questions about Research
13. Echo Chambers
	Recognizing and Addressing One’s Own Biases
	Expectations and Sociologists
	The Complications of Ideological Homogeneity
	The Importance of Self-Criticism
14. Tough Topics
	Cultural Waves
	Good Guys and Bad Guys
	Taboos
	Thinking about What’s Difficult
Afterword: Why Critical Thinking Is Important
Notes
References
Index