Social Sciences in the Real World

• Cultural Anthropology explains how people in other societies live and the effects of their environments on their respective lifestyles.
• Physical anthropology studies human biological nature, particularly its beginning, evolution,and variation in prehistory.
• Archaeology studies human life in the past through the examination of things left behind by the people from the past.
• Anthropological linguistics studies language and their relationship to the cultures in which they are used.
• Historians study past human events to understand the meaning, dynamics, and relationship of the causes and effects of events as they happen through time.
• Historians rely on primary and secondary sources to study past events.
• Primary sources refer to eyewitness accounts or contemporaneous accounts about the event. Examples include interview transcripts, statistical data, and works of art.
• A primary source gives you direct access to the subject of your research.
• Secondary sources or evidence that is not-eye-witness accounts and is based on the primary sources. Examples include journal articles, reviews, and academic books.
• A secondary source describes, interprets, or synthesizes primary sources.
• Political scientists study the different forms and processes of government and the concepts of state, power, ideology, and politics and the effects of these concepts on individuals and groups in society.
• Political scientists examine as well the relationship between people and policy at all elves from the individuals to the national and international levels.
• Domestic politics studies opinion, elections, national, and local governments.
• Comparative politics studies politics within countries and analyzes the similarities and differences between and among countries.
• International relations focus on the political relationship and interaction between and among countries.
• Political theory studies classical political philosophy and contemporary theories.
• Public administration studies national and local governance and bureaucracy.
• Public law examines legal systems, civil rights, and criminal justice.
• Psychologists study how the human mind works in consonance with the body to produce thoughts that lead to individual actions.
• A psychologist tries to understand how people and groups experience the world through various emotions, ideas, and diverse conscious states.
• Experimental psychology studies the behavior of humans and animals and examines how and why learning takes place.
• Developmental psychology studies the ways people change and behave as they go through their life.
• Personality psychology studies human nature and differences among people.
• Social psychology looks into the behavior of people in groups.
• Environmental psychology studies the effects of surroundings on a person's attitude and behavior.
• Sociologists study people's behavior in groups rather than the individual.
• Sociologists investigate why and how people interact with each other and how they function as a society or sub-groups.
• Sociologists study social structures, collective human action, social relationships, culture, and even the impact of social contexts on individual behavior.
• Sociologists use a variety of methods to study group behavior.
• Applied sociology focuses on the use and proper application of sociological theories, methods, and skills to examine data, solve problems, and communicate research to the public.
• Urban sociology studies societal life and interactions in urban areas through the application. of sociological methods like statistical analysis and ethnographies.
• Cultural sociology analyzes the development of social institutions, norms, and practices.
• Rural sociology studies the social life of people in rural areas.
• Medical sociology examines the societal aspects of health and medicine of people.
• Sociology of education analyzes how social forces and institutions like politics, economic systems, and culture affect schools and educational systems.
• Political sociology examines how social structure affects and influences politics.
• Military sociology is a sociological study of the military organization, the different civilian and military relationships, war experiences, and the use and control of force.
• Geographers study the interaction between people and their environment.
• Geographers probe into both the physical properties of Earth's surface and their relationship with human societies.
• Geographers also examine how human culture interacts with the natural environment and the impact of locations and places on people.