Decision-making is critical in everyday life for personal and professional success. Decisions have a significant impact on one’s quality of life. For better life choices, critical thinking must be integrated into decision-making. According to Dill and Zambrano (2020), critical thinking involves scrutinizing provided facts to make the best decision to address challenging issues. Individuals want to make deliberate decisions to live the most meaningful, prosperous, and happy lives possible. This is only achievable when people can make rational decisions and choices that are informed and capable of producing positive results (Albanese & Paturas, 2018). As such, to live happily and without stress, it is, therefore, that one develops critical thinking and a mindset to make rational choices. Through critical examination, people distinguish between conflicting claims to be true and identify which explanations and points of view they can trust and which they should be skeptical of.
Furthermore, critical analysis in social sciences is essential for understanding individual situations and how to help the common good better. Speaking with people from various cultural and religious backgrounds has forced me to critically evaluate my colleagues and friends with whom I spent most of my time. Throughout my school life, I have met people from different communities and cultures and realized that people face different challenges and issues (Spector & Ma, 2019). As a result, I have learned that I should not treat one person the same way I treat another.
However, biases about issues in our society can be blinding, and many people follow them without question. Critically analyzing and attempting to comprehend the origin and spread of such biases reveals a completely different story. I have discovered that many biases in an individual or an ethnically and religiously diverse community are usually based on a small group. The biases then spread to the rest of the community, where people assume that people from a typical community share the same characteristics. Unfortunately, this is often false and can have far-reaching consequences for the underprivileged community. After critically examining my biases regarding social science issues, I recognize the importance of policies and legal frameworks to combat myths and stereotypes about minority and diverse communities. Legal and policy frameworks ensure that situations encountered in various communities are not viewed as discriminatory terms but rather critically examined to identify a source and a remedy for better social living. People would continue to condemn individuals to stereotypes that are simply false if they did not critically evaluate their biases.
In any workplace or organization, diversity is essential. A diverse workforce represents different ethnicities and cultures while adding insights, skills, and knowledge to the organization (Gomez & Bernet, 2019). Dealing with social science issues necessitates conversing with people of various genders and from various social, cultural, and religious backgrounds. Professionals will be better equipped to present issues and develop viable solutions by ensuring that diversity is well implemented in social science practices. For example, the gender pay gap must be addressed by someone who has critically examined how diversity affects the issue. Different cultures have different ideas about how women should be paid and how they should work. As a result, critical analysis of diversity in societal issues is critical to developing appropriate policies for a better world.
Critical thinking is necessary in human life in order to better understand our surroundings. It would be unjust to oneself not to question why things are the way they are. Without critical thinking, there would be no progress because people would accept the status quo at the expense of equality and innovation. Before jumping to conclusions in the field of social science, I must think critically and analyze the individual situation. Putting one’s biases aside and focusing on understanding situations can mean the difference between success and failure. Diversity is essential for any profession’s success. Diverse people bring new perspectives and insights to existing problems. Success can be achieved by critically analyzing situations and involving diverse minds.
References
Albanese, J., & Paturas, J. (2018). The importance of critical thinking skills in disaster management. Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, 11(4), 326-334.
Dill, B. T., & Zambrana, R. E. (2020). Critical thinking about inequality: An emerging lens. In Feminist Theory Reader (pp. 108-116). Routledge.
Gomez, L. E., & Bernet, P. (2019). Diversity improves performance and outcomes. Journal of the National Medical Association, 111(4), 383–392. Web.
Spector, J. M., & Ma, S. (2019). Inquiry and critical thinking skills for the next generation: from artificial intelligence back to human intelligence. Smart Learning Environments, 6(1), 1-11.