Order DescriptionSocial science can be loosely defined as the critique of commonsense. Commonsense (one word) refers to our ‘taken for granted assumptions’ about the world – in other words, things that we often assume to be true about society, but that we never really test out. The critique of such assumptions means scrutinising them more carefully, and attempting to generate alternative points of view. Of course, what is commonsense for one group of people may be problematic or even offensive for another.

What follows is a list of commonsense statements, according to the above definition of commonsense.

Your assignment is to choose TWO of them and explain (in 500-600 words for each statement – making a total of 1000-1200 words) why they may not necessarily be true.

Australia is a democracy.
Political correctness is stupid.
Today’s society is more enlightened than societies of the past.
Indigenous people are closer to nature.
We should pay more attention to scientists.