Diss

• What do we study in Social Sciences

  • How people organize and govern themselves
  • How wealth is generated, economies develop and economic futures are modeled
  • How to achieve a sustainable future
  • The ways in which populations are changing
  • Issues of unemployment, deprivation and inequality
  • How these social, cultural and economic dynamics vary in different places, with different outcomes
• The political and social atmosphere of ancient Greece, Rome, and India favored the growth of intellectual exercises

  Ancient Greece
• Known thinkers of this period include Herodotus, the “Father of History” and Aristotle, the “Father of Political Science”
• The tradition of reasoning established by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle was continued during the age of renaissance and enlightenment

  17th-18th Century
• Social science had attained in all the leading European countries a firm and respectable position

  19th Century
• The social sciences developed from the sciences (experimental and applied), or the systematic, knowledge-bases or prescriptive relating to the social improvement of a group of interacting entities
• 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
• In the second half of the 18th century, urbanization and population growth became accelerated, and during this period, slums, alcoholism, brutality of manners etc. developed which were to become the targets of social reforms
• 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 the Social Sciences. He used the term "science sociale" and social physics to describe the field
• The term 'social science' may refer either to the specific science of society established by 19th-century thinkers such as Comte, Durkheim, Marx, and Weber, or more generally to all disciplines outside of "noble science” and arts
• Lawrence A. Kempton: 'Social science as science is very young and there is confusion with regard to its'
• Thinkers


  • Comte
  • Durkheim
  • Marx
  • Weber
• Social science as science is very young and there is confusion with regards to its limits and boundaries
• Lawrence A. Kempton: 'Social science as science is very young and there is confusion with regards to its limits and boundaries'
• In the third and the most mature stage of discipline, the battles over method have subsided, and the theoretical rivalries tend to be submerged in the efforts to elaborate propositions bridging the differences and contributing towards the further progress of the discipline
• Development

  20th century
• Society in focus

  • A large group of people who live together in an organized way, making decisions about how to do things and sharing the work that needs to be done
  • All the people in a country, or in several similar countries, can be referred to as a society
• Society in focus

  • Society refers to 'a system of interrelationships which connects individuals together' (Giddens, 1990)
  • A 'common habitat' or environment within which members of a society depend on one another for survival and well-being (Harris, 1983)
  • Society refers to a group of people who share a culture and a territory
• What are the prominent social problems that we have been/ are facing these days?
• Differentiating the sciences and humanities

  • Natural Sciences
  • Social Sciences
  • Humanities
• Science is defined as an endeavor to understand, explain, and predict the world using distinctive methods of enquiry in an attempt to construct theories
• Natural and social sciences are both real sciences, as opposed to formal sciences which solve imaginary problems such as Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science
• Both natural and social sciences study the society and human relationships and are engaged in studies or researches with results that can help in the growth and development of the society
• Comparing the sciences

  • Natural Sciences
  • Social Sciences
  • Humanities
• Both natural and social sciences employ the scientific model, use measured data evidence, and can be tested to yield theoretical statements and general positions
• Natural sciences deal with objects, are characterized by exactness, controlled variables, and predictability, while social sciences deal with subjects, are spontaneous, unpredictable, and uncontrollable as they deal with human behavior and emotions
• Natural sciences involve experimental data and methods include repetitive and conventional laboratory experiments in a closed system, while social sciences involve experiential data and involve alternative methods of observation and interaction with people in the community in an open system
• Fields of study in Natural Sciences

  • Chemistry
  • Biology
  • Physics
  • Engineering
  • Robotics and Bionics
• Fields of study in Social Sciences

  • Psychology
  • Anthropology
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Linguistics
  • Demography
  • Geography
  • History
  • Criminology
• Fields of study in Humanities

  • Arts
  • Fashion
  • Dance
  • Music
  • Theater
  • Philosophy
  • Religion
  • Languages
  • Literature
• Methods in Natural Sciences

  1. Scientific investigation

  2. Systematic observation

  3. Measurement

  4. Experiment
• Methods in Social Sciences

  1. Observation

  2. Interviews

  3. Survey

  4. Case studies
• Methods in Humanities

  1. Observation

  2. Historical method

  3. Conceptual analysis

  4. Phenomenology

  5. Textual Criticism

  6. Synoptic method
• James High: '“Bodies of learning and study which recognizes the simultaneous and mutual action of physical and non-physical stimuli which produce social relation”'
• Bining & Bining: '“The subject that relate to the origin, organization, and development of human society, especially to man in his association with other men”'
• Ledoux, 2002: '“Disciplines that deal only with natural events (i.e. independent and dependent variables in nature) using scientific methods”'
• Natural Sciences

  A systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe
• Social Sciences


  Disciplines that deal with human culture or critical and analytic inquiry based on man’s unique ability to express himself
• Humanities


  A branch of science concerned with human culture or critical and analytic inquiry based on man’s unique ability to express himself. This studies heritage and answers the question as what makes us human
• Humanities and Social Sciences

  Both studies the society and human relationships