This document discusses critical thinking in relation to A-Level sociology. It argues that critical thinking is an essential skill taught separately but should be integrated into the teaching of sociology as it is a critical way of thinking. It outlines the Enlightenment roots of critical thinking in doubting established norms and institutions. Key sociological thinkers like Marx and Weber practiced critical thinking to deconstruct common sense. The document advocates teaching sociological concepts like habitus through critically analyzing reality TV shows, and provides Bourdieu's framework as an example for understanding them as forms of cultural domination.

1. BSA Teaching Group
Conference
Critical Thinking
and
A-Level Sociology
Charlie Masquelier

2. Context
 Sociology and skills development –
key!
 Critical thinking taught as separate
discipline at A-level
 BUT sociology is also a way of
thinking – a critical form of thinking
essential of a healthy democratic
society

3. Critical thinking: a modernist
ideal
 Kant, Descartes etc. as
precursors of sociology
 Strong emphasis on
doubt and independent
thinking – calling into
question pre-existing
institutions, norms,
values
 Rational-critical thinking
as motor of progress:
from the traditional to the
modern
Enlightenment is man’s
leaving his self-caused
immaturity. Immaturity is
the incapacity to use one's
intelligence [through
reason] without the
guidance of another
Kant, ‘What is
Enlightenment?’

4. Two classics and critical
thinking
 Marx – evident and
well-known critical
thinker BUT Weber
a critical thinker too!
 Critical thinking
ultimately aimed at
de-naturalising pre-
existing norms,
values and
institutions –
breaking with
common sense
‘A man does not ‘by
nature’ wish to earn
more and more
money, but simply to
live as he is
accustomed to live
and earn as much
money as is
necessary for that
purpose.’
(Weber, 2007: 236-
7)

5. Critical thinking in contemporary
social theory
 Critical thinking runs through
contemporary social theories too!
 Bauman (2010) and the call for a
sociology that does NOT have
‘conservative impact upon the society it
helps people to explain and understand’
(Bauman 2010, 32), but seeks to
problematise this social world
 BUT also others, e.g. Foucault and
Bourdieu

6. Bourdieu and sociology as
‘martial art’
The construction of scientific objects requires first
and foremost a break with common sense, that
is, with the representations shared by all,
whether they be the mere commonplaces of
ordinary existence or official representations,
often inscribed in institutions and thus present
both in the objectivity of social organizations
and in the minds of their participants. The
preconstructed is everywhere... The sociologist is
thus saddled with the task of knowing an object –
the social world – of which he is the product, in a
way such that the problems he raises about it
and the concepts he uses have every chance of
being the product of this object itself. (Bourdieu
and Wacquant, 1992: 235)

9. Critical thinking in practice
 Concepts/ideas can easily be taught separately from the sociological
thinking they belong to, e.g. cultural capital, habitus
How could they be taught along critical thinking?
 Programmes such as ‘From Ladette to Lady’ or ‘Snog, Mary, Avoid’
 Watching them without thinking critically: values, tastes, preferences
displayed in the programmes NOT called into question, e.g. ‘she
looks a lot better now’ – common sense
 BUT critical thinking, e.g. Bourdieu’s, encourages us to break with
this common sense – what is really happening there?
 Bourdieu can help us understand that this is a form of cultural
domination – a class antagonism (McRobbie (2004) ‘Notes on What
Not To Wear’)

10. Conclusion
 Critical thinking not only serves
individuals in their quest for independent
thinking – itself a valuable skill…
 It can also turn concepts/theory into lived
experience
BUT what about your own
experiences?