ABSTRACT
A real downer for any science, sociology in particular, comes from the epistemology of solipsism, the belief that denies any reality outside the mind. The rationale for denying objective reality is amazingly simple. For all but the determinedly obtuse or, paradoxically, the extremely informed skeptic, evidence of objective reality is abundant. The strengths and weaknesses of survey research have long been recognized and refined. Drawing on those recognitions and refinements, since 1972 the General Social Survey has been monitoring societal change and studying the increasing complexity of American society, the product being a virtual mountain of publications. The paucity of theories on gender and race/ethnicity is regrettable, but there is a positive side to the growing focus in sociology on something. There are numerous sociologists who evidently believe that causation among sociological variables is readily demonstrable. That belief is dangerous in that it encourages indifference to a host of issues and problems concerning causal evidence.
