SOCIAL SCIENCES

Social Sciences

Scientific study of society: how people behave, interact and influence institutions, economies, culture and politics.

Anthropology

Study of ancient societies, culture, traditions, language, values, technology, cultural change.

Herodotus

Father of History, early ethnographic accounts

mentioned as a precursor to anthropology.

Demography

Study of human population size & characteristics (age, sex, marital status, religion, nationality) and factors affecting population change.

Economics

Allocation of scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants

from Greek oikos (home) + nomos (management).

Adam Smith

Scottish economist

Wealth of Nations

division of labour, invisible hand

mentioned as founder of modern economics.

Thomas Malthus

English scholar

Essay on the Principle of Population

warned of overpopulation

mentioned for demographic

economics link.

David Ricardo

British economist

Principles of Political Economy and Taxation

theory of comparative advantage

mentioned to show classical economics.

Geography

Interaction between environment and people

spatial variation (where/why things are located).

Eratosthenes

Greek scholar

coined 'geography,' measured Earth's circumference

mentioned as 'Father of Geography.'

Strabo

Greek geographer

wrote Geographika

mentioned for early geographic thought.

History

Systematic study of the past using sources and critique.

Thucydides

Greek historian

History of the Peloponnesian War

mentioned for rigorous evidence use.

Linguistics

Study of language, grammar, and acquisition.

Friedrich von Schlegel, Franz Bopp, Rasmus Rask

Pioneers of comparative linguistics

mentioned for Proto

Indo

Ferdinand de Saussure

Swiss linguist

Cours de Linguistique Générale

structuralism

mentioned as founder of modern linguistics.

Political Science

Study of politics, power, government, institutions.

Aristotle

Greek philosopher

Politics

'man is by nature a political animal'

mentioned as founder of political science.

John Locke

English philosopher

Two Treatises on Government

social contract, natural rights

mentioned as liberal influence.

John Stuart Mill

English philosopher

On Liberty

Considerations on Representative Government

mentioned for liberal democratic thought.

Psychology

Scientific study of behavior & mental processes.

Wilhelm Wundt

German psychologist

first psychology lab

structuralism

mentioned as father of psychology.

William James

American philosopher

functionalism

mentioned for adapting psychology to environment.

Sigmund Freud

Austrian neurologist

unconscious and psychoanalysis

mentioned for depth psychology.

Sociology

Study of social relationships, norms, institutions.

Auguste Comte

French philosopher

coined 'sociology'

positivism. Mentioned as founder of sociology.

Structural

Functionalism

institutions maintain stability and equilibrium.

Émile Durkheim

Division of Labour in Society, Suicide

showed how social facts maintain order.

Herbert Spencer

Organic analogy of society

'survival of the fittest.'

Robert K. Merton

Manifest vs latent functions

dysfunctions.

Marxism / Conflict Perspective

Society characterized by inequality and conflict over scarce resources

class struggle drives change.

Karl Marx

Historical materialism

critique of capitalism.

Friedrich Engels

Co

working

class conditions.

Symbolic Interactionism

Human behavior shaped by meanings created through symbolic interaction

reality constructed in everyday life.

Symbolic Interactionism Level

Micro

George Herbert Mead

Social self

role

taking.

Herbert Blumer

Coined term

three premises.

Charles Horton Cooley

Looking

Erving Goffman

Dramaturgical model

front/back stage.

Psychoanalysis

Theory of mind and therapy

behavior driven by unconscious conflicts and childhood experiences.

Id

Instinctual drives.

Superego

Moral conscience

produces pride or guilt.

Ego

Mediator

reality principle.

Defense mechanisms

Psychological strategies used to cope with reality and maintain self

Repression

Burying a painful feeling or thought from your awareness though it may resurface in symbolic form. Sometimes considered a basis of other defense mechanisms

Denial

Insisting addiction doesn't exist.