diss lesson 1

• Social Science

  • study of phenomena
  • study of society
  • tells us about the world beyond our immediate experience
• social science two important contexts:

  • Involves Scientific Process
  • Inquires about the social space
• Plato

  • Human Nature or the soul is a reflection of society
  • Argue that the systematic use of our reason can show us the best way to live
  • if we truly understand human nature (psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind,) we can find “individual happiness and social stability.”
• Aristotle

  • Human beings have a Natural Desire
  • Also discussed how different types of governments
• Herodotus

  • How different cultures of different societies converged and diverged
• Al-Biruni

  • Islamic Medieval Scholar
  • Father of Comparative Religion
  • Founder of Indology
  • Documented the lives of early populations in the Middle East
  • The remaining Signs of the Past Century - is a comparative study of the different calendars of cultures
• Ibn Khaldun

  • North African Muslim Scholar
  • One of the key founders of several disciplines in Social Sciences
• THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

  • How societies originated, how they functioned and how they were governed
• Thomas Hobbes

  • Monarchs are essential to enforce the will of the people
  • Monarchs’ power came from the people
• John Locke

  • power of the state to govern is a power given by the people
• Montesquieu

  • One of the great political philosophers of the Enlightenment
  • Government having a system of checks and balances, and called for the separation of government
• 3 Branches of Government:

  1. Legislative - authority to make, change, and revoke laws
  2. Executive - implements and enforces law
  3. Judicial - interprets the meaning of laws
• Jean Jacques Rousseau

  • Philosopher from Geneva
  • Social contract exist, which enables a society to function
• The French Revolution 1789-1799

  • bloodiest in modern history
  • Caused by economic, social and political problems that plagued France
• King Louis XVI (16th)

  • Louis-Auguste, duc de Berry
  • Last king of France (1774–92)
• Marie-Antoinette

  Austrian queen consort
• 1. Clergy - priests
  2. Nobility - royals
  3. Masses - working class
• consequences of the Revolution:

  • Empowerment of working class
  • Weakening of the ecclesiastical and monarchial power
• The Industrial Revolution

  • nonviolent source of social change
  • technological advancements
• Thomas Robert Malthus

  Population growth unless checked
• Adam Smith

  Intensification of production
• John Stuart Mill

  Most influential English language philosopher of the nineteenth century
• The Rise of Capitalism

  dominant form of economy
• Migrations

  1. Slums - highly populated urban
  2. Congestion - place is too blocked or crowded
  3. Poor Working Conditions - poses a hazard to employees, costumers, and visitors
• William Thompson

  • His book: An Inquiry into the Principles of the Distribution of Wealth most Conductive to Human Happiness.
  • Social Science was first appeared in his book in the year 1824
• Karl Marx

  Unjust treatment of the working class
• positivism - adheres to the view that only “factual” knowledge gained through observation
• Auguste Comte

  • 3 stages in the development of reason:

  1. Theological- based on assumptions
  2. Philosophical – based on critical thinking
  3. Scientific - came from positive observation;most accurate
• Emile Durkheim

  Strengthen the positivist method and argued in his work The Rules of Sociological Method
• Post-Positivism Approach

  • any social phenomenon is understood using combination of logical reasoning and empirical observation
  • ventured into the concept of subjectivity
• Inductive Research

  • aims to understand theoretical concepts
• Deductive Research

  aims to test theories using new observed data’s
• Qualitative Research

  non numerical data such as texts and spoken words
• Quantitative Research

  • relies heavily on numerical data’s
• Interdisciplinary Approach

  • allows for a constant sharing of theories and methodologies
• Natural Science

  • 3 primary fields of inquiry: Chemistry, Biology and Physics
  • highly empirical stance that it aims to discover laws
• Social Science

  • regarded as the Soft Science compared to natural science that is considered as the real science / hard science.
• Humanities

  • aim of Humanities is to produce wisdom by understanding social realities through reflection
• Social Science

  reflective understanding of social reality
• inductive research

  • gather, pattern/analyze, theory