Social science disciplines

• Economics


  The study of rational human behavior in fulfilling needs and wants, focusing on scarcity, production, pricing, consumption, and resource allocation. It is derived from the Greek word oikanamiya meaning household management
• Linguistics


  The scientific study of human language, focusing on language and how human societies and social structures are organized and understood
• Political Science


  The systematic study of state and government, concerned with the association of human beings into a body politic or a political community organized under government and law
• Psychology


  The scientific study of human behavior and mental processes, rooted in ancient Greek philosophy and focusing on consciousness and conduct
• History


  The systematic inquiry of man's recorded past for establishing causal relationships, validating historical facts, and reconstructing chronological events
• Sociology


  The study of human social relationships and institutions, aiming to understand how human action and consciousness shape and are shaped by surrounding cultural and social structures
• Demography


  The study of statistics relating to the changing structure of human populations
• Demography


  The study of population focusing on size, geographic distribution, composition, components of change (births, deaths, migration), and determinants and consequences of population change
• Subfields of geography


  • Physical geography
  • Human geography
• Methods of observing social sciences

  1. Observation

  2. Defining the problem

  3. Reviewing the literature

  4. Observing more

  5. Developing a theoretical framework and formulating a hypothesis

  6. Choosing a research design

  7. Collecting the necessary data

  8. Analyzing the results

  9. Drawing conclusions
• Alternative methods used by social scientists

  1. Historical method

  2. Case study

  3. Comparative method

  4. Cross-cultural methods
• Contributions of social sciences

  • Imagining alternative futures
  • Making sense of finances
  • Analyzing and critiquing current events
  • Contributing to health and well-being
  • Acting as public intellectuals
  • Working towards social and economic advancement of humanity
• Social scientists influence decision makers in all aspects

  They are concerned with the social and economic advancement of humanity at large
• Icons of social sciences

  • August Comte
  • Max Weber
  • Karl Marx
  • Harriet Martineau
  • Herbert Spencer
  • Emile Durkheim
  • George Herbert Mead
• Max Weber was a German sociologist and political economist who studied methodological anti-positivism
• Harriet Martineau wrote a series of stories titled "Illustrations of Political Economy" to educate ordinary people about the principles of economics
• Herbert Spencer favored a form of government that allowed market forces to control capitalism
• Emile Durkheim helped establish sociology as a formal academic discipline by establishing the first European department of sociology at the University of Bourdeu in 1895
• Study of social sciences

  • Focuses on the study of society and the relationship among individuals within society
• Disciplines within social sciences

  • Anthropology
  • Demography
  • Economics
  • Geography
  • History
  • Linguistics
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  • Sociology
• Methods used by social scientists

  • Historical method
  • Case method
  • Comparative method
• Social sciences have made many contributions in society, including connecting people to the real world
• Social science can help us make sense of our finances
• Social scientists contribute to our health and well-being
• Structural functionalism


  Can be understood in the related terms structure and functions
• Function of a family


  Raise and nurture future generations to replace the old generation
• Function of the government


  Serve its countrymen, defend its land from enemies, and develop shared ideas of morality to its followers
• August Comte and Herbert Spencer: 'Viewed the society as a kind of living organism'
• Stratification

  A functional necessity, a system of positions with different degrees of prestige of individuals
• Parsons' four functional characteristics for all systems

  • Adaptation, goal attainment, integration, and latency
• Manifest function


  Intended to help some part of a system
• Latent function


  Unintended consequences that help a system adjust
• Robert Merton's view on functionalism


  • Society is a whole composed of parts that work together, functions help keep a group, class, structure, or system in balance
• Latent function example


  People adjust their way of living during quarantine, leading to unintended consequences
• Marxism


  Is a method of socio-economic analysis
• Functionalism


  • Society is a functioning unit with parts related to the whole, examining each smaller part to investigate its functions and dysfunctions to see the larger unit
• Marxism


  • Method of socio-economic analysis using a materialist interpretation of historical development to understand class relations and social conflict, with a dialectical perspective on social transformation
• Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto, showing the basic struggle between classes and recommending action against capitalism
• Capital by Karl Marx shows how the capitalist system is exploitative, transferring the majority's work fruit to a minority
• Friedrich Engels was a German social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory