Disciplines and Ideas in the Social Sciences - Quarter 1 Module 1: Introduction to Social Sciences

What I Need to Know

  • This module is designed to help students master how social sciences emerge and link to natural sciences.

  • The module can be used in various learning situations and is arranged to follow the course sequence, but the reading order can be adjusted.

  • The module focuses on defining social sciences as the study of society and differentiating them from natural sciences and humanities.

  • After completing this module, students should be able to:

    • Define Social Sciences as the study of society.

    • Distinguish Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Humanities.

    • Differentiate Social Sciences from Natural Sciences and Humanities.

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What I Know

  • Social Sciences: The study of society and how people behave and influence the world.

  • Natural Sciences: Include biological science and chemistry, but not political science.

  • Social sciences can be traced back to Greek Civilization.

  • Scientific revolution: Historical changes in thought and belief initiated by Nicolaus Copernicus.

  • Language: The backbone of humanities.

  • Humanities: Encompasses the study of human culture, philosophic self-expressions, and cultural implications of sciences and professions.

  • Natural Sciences: Deals exclusively with natural events using scientific methods.

  • Aim of Natural Science: Discovers the laws ruling the world, describes physical reality, and utilizes scientific principles for human benefit.

  • Reasons for needing social science:

    • Helps in understanding finances.

    • Broadens horizons.

    • Helps imagine alternative futures.

  • Economics: A social science dealing with the optimum allocation of scarce resources to satisfy human wants and needs.

  • Linguistics: The science of language, understanding why human language is the way it is.

  • Political Science: Focuses on the theory and practice of government and politics at various levels.

  • Psychology: The science of mind, brain, and behavior.

  • Demography: Studies human populations in relation to changes brought about by births, deaths, and migration.

  • Dialectology: The oldest branch of sociolinguistics, studying regional differences in language.

Lesson 1: Defining Social Sciences as the Study of Society

  • The scientific study of organized human groups is a relatively recent development.

  • A vast amount of information about the social life of human beings has been accumulated.

  • This information is used to build a system of knowledge called Social Sciences, concerning the nature, growth, and functioning of human societies.

What is It

  • The history of the social sciences began in ancient philosophy.

  • Initially, there was no distinction between mathematics, history, poetry, or politics.

  • The development of mathematical proof led to a perceived difference between "scientific" disciplines and others like the "humanities" or "liberal arts."

  • The Age of Enlightenment brought a revolution in natural philosophy.

  • This revolution changed how people understood what was "scientific."

  • Mathematical studies presumed a reality independent of the observer.

  • Social sciences emerged from moral philosophy and were influenced by the Age of Revolution, including the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution.

  • Social Sciences developed from sciences (experimental and applied) and systematic knowledge bases related to social improvement.

Historical Context (1760s)

  • Efforts were made to study man and society.

  • Key publications included:

    • Hobbes’ Leviathan

    • Locke’s Two Treatises on Government

    • Vico’s New Science

    • Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws

  • The revival of interest in social science occurred in the mid-18th century.

  • Capitalism began to outgrow its early stages.

  • It gradually became the dominant socio-economic system in western and northern Europe.

  • Urbanization and population growth accelerated.

  • This period saw the development of slums, alcoholism, and brutality, which became targets for social reforms.

  • The second half of the 18th century saw a multiplication of works with a scientific character in response to these issues.

Key Figures and Developments

  • Auguste Comte (1798-1853) invented the term sociology and systematized the principles of social sciences.

  • Montesquieu and Voltaire pioneered new paths for politics and history.

  • By the 19th century. social science attained a firm and respectable position in leading European countries.

  • The 20th century saw recurrent proposals for a generalized social science.

  • Émile Durkheim and other sociologists were influenced by Auguste Comte.

  • Karl Marx developed the first general theory of social science.

20th Century Development

  • The social science disciplines followed a pattern similar to that of the older natural sciences.

  • Social science became highly institutionalized and a subject of research.

  • Lawrence A. Kempton noted that social science is young and has confusion regarding its limits and boundaries.

  • History moves into the humanities, economics becomes mathematics, anthropology and psychology align with biology, and geography aligns with physical science.

  • Initially, social science was the domain of semi-amateurs, philosophers, practical men in business and government, or gentlemen of leisure.

  • It has now become a subject of research by academic specialists.

  • In the most mature stage, debates over method subside, and theoretical rivalries are submerged in efforts to elaborate propositions bridging differences and contributing to the discipline's progress.

Definitions of Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Humanities

Social Sciences (Denhardt et al., 2009)

  • A branch of science devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies.

  • Mental or cultural sciences dealing with the activities of individuals as members of a group.

  • Encompasses all subjects dealing with the relationship of man to society.

Natural Sciences

  • A major branch of science that deals with the description, prediction, and understanding of natural phenomena, based on observational and empirical evidence.

  • Two Main Branches:

    • Life Science/Biological Science: Studies life in all its forms, past and present, including plants, animals, viruses, bacteria, single-celled organisms, and cells.

    • Physical Science: The systematic study of the inorganic world, distinct from the organic world.

      • Physics: Studies matter and energy separately and in combination.

      • Astronomy: Studies celestial objects and phenomena originating outside Earth's atmosphere.

      • Chemistry: Studies matter and its transformations, developing methods to manipulate those transformations.

      • Earth Science: Studies the Earth and its neighbors in space, with many interesting and practical applications.

Humanities

  • Refers to the study of the ways in which the human experience is processed and documented.

  • Encompasses philosophy, literature, religion, art, music, history, and language.

Social Sciences and Natural Sciences

Things in Common

  • Both employ the scientific model to gain information.

  • Both use empirical and measured data evidence discerned by the senses.

  • Both sciences' theories can be tested to yield theoretical statements and general positions.

Differences

Social Science

Natural Science

Time of Origin

Arose 300 years later

Started during the 16th and 17th century.

Subject Matter

Deals with subject (human being)

Deals with object.

Nature

Spontaneous, unpredictable, and uncontrollable, dealing with human emotions and behavior.

Characterized by exactness, controlled variables, and predictability.

Data

Experiential Data

Experimental Data

Method

Involves alternative methods of observation and interaction with people within community.

The typical method of science is doing repetitive and conventional laboratory experiments.

System (Open/Closed)

Open system

Closed System

Social Science and Humanities

Things in Common

  • Both are concerned with human aspects like law, politics, linguistics, economics, and psychology, as well as human lives and nature.

Differences

Social Science

Humanities

Origin

Influenced by and developed after the French Revolution and the Industrial revolution.

Emerged in the 15th century.

Approach

Deals with more scientific approach.

Involved more of a scientific approach.

Methodology

Involves application of an empirical, rational, and objective methodology (such as validity and reliability tests) to present facts.

Deemed to be more philosophical and concerned with heritage and the question of what makes us human. Comprises the application of an interpretative methodology.

Functions

Social Science

Humanities

Primary Goal

To analyze, explain, and possibly predict and produce new knowledge of factual information.

To better appreciate the meaning and purpose of the human experience - both broadly in the nature of the human condition, as well as within each individual.

Objectives

To generate and produce new knowledge or factual information

What I Have Learned

  1. The history of the social sciences begins in the roots of ancient philosophy.

  2. Social sciences came forth from the moral philosophy of the time and were influenced by the Age of Revolution, such as the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution.

  3. In the period of 1760 some effort was exerted on the study of man and society. Hobbes Leviathan; Lock's Two Treatises on Government; Vico's New Science; and Montesquieu Spirit of Laws were all published in this period.

  4. By the middle of the 18th century, capitalism had begun to outgrow its early state and gradually it became the dominant socio-economic system in western and northern Europe.

  5. Auguste comte (1798-1853) invented the term sociology. He was the first to systematize and give a complete analysis of the principles of the positive character of social sciences.

  6. Montesquieu and Voltaire broke a new path for politics and history.

  7. At the beginning of the 19th century, social science had attained in all the leading European countries a firm and respectable position.

  8. 20th Century Development. At this stage the social science has become institutionalized to a high degree. It has now become a subject of research.

  9. Social Sciences: Mental or cultural sciences dealing with the activities of the individual as member of the group.

  10. Natural Sciences: A major branch of science that deals with the description, prediction, and understanding of natural phenomena, basically based on observational and empirical evidence.

  11. Humanities: The study of the ways in which the human experience is processed and documented.

  12. The two main branches of Natural Science are life sciences/biological sciences and physical sciences.