Emergence of Social Sciences

• Sacred

  • Dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity or considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion.
  • Something connected with God/god or dedicated to a religious purpose.

  Can be referred to as “religious”
• Secular

  • Refers to the declining influence of religion and religious values within a given culture. 
  • Means a belief in human self-sufficiency.

  About engaging in a variety of activities that are understood as this-worldly and to identify with or be a member of non-religious grouping or association.
• Age of Enlightenment 

  • Age of Reason
  • The triumph of “reason” and “science” over dogma and religious authority began with the Reformation.
  • There is the secularization of learning and education.

  Covers largely a cultural movement, emphasizing rationalism as well as political and economic theories.
• Industrial Revolution

  • The period of major mechanization and innovation that began in Great Britain during the 18th and 19th century, and later spread all over the world. 
  • The movement of the production of goods from homes to big industries and factories. 
  • This led to the invention of the assembly line, telegraph, steam engine, sewing machine, and internal combustion engine (Investopedia, 2023).
• Main Changes Brought by the Industrial Revolution

  • Cultural Changes
  • Transportation System
  • People’s Working Condition
• French Revolution

  • The period of social and political upheaval in France and its colonies that took 10 years (1789- 1799). 
  • Inspired by liberal and radical ideas that overthrow the monarchy. 

  Caused by a lot of factors including the enlightenment ideals, unfair taxation, corruption, government debt, financial crisis, civil wars, corrupt leadership, rigid social class structure, poor harvest, inflation, failure to make reform by King Louis XVI, and among others.
• SOCIAL SCIENCE 

  • The response to social, political and economic turmoil.

  The result of the development of the modern society.
• Modernity

  • A concept that deals not only with the shift in the physical and material conditions of the society but also with the mental and behavioral shifts among people.

  Characterized by the presence of urbanism and capitalism, imperialism, globalization, political and cultural expansion.
• Philosophy

  Based on the analytic understanding of the nature of truth asserted about specific topics of issues.
• Science

  Based on empirical data, tested theories and contrived observations. Seeking to discover truth about specific causes of events and happenings in the natural world.
• Social Sciences

  • A study that is centered on society and its development. 
  • Anthropology, education, economics, international relations, political science, history, geography, psychology, law, criminology, etc
• Social Sciences

  • Deals with a more scientific approach.

  Social Sciences

  • Involves a more critical and analytical approach.

  More philosophical than social science.
• August Comte (1798-1857)

  • He is known as the Father of Sociology.
  • One of his great works is Positive Philosophy (which studies society in a higher level); committed in his idea of positivism.
  • He divided his subject matter into two: social statics (study of the structure of the society) and social dynamics (concentrates with social evolution and change)
  • He first used the term sociology a.k.a social physics.
• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

  • France’s first Sociology Professor.
  • “Suicide” is his most notable contribution (1897)
  • “The Division of Labor in Society” (1893), “The Elementary Forms of Religious Life” (1917)
  • He focuses on “solidarity in the society”
  • Religion is one of his lifelong interests.
• Karl Marx (1818-1883)

  • His work is concentrated on “social conflict.”
  • He wrote “The Communist Manifesto” (1848) (a pamphlet dealing with class struggle) together with Friedrich Engels.
  • “Social change is brought about through the process of conflict between two opposing classes”
  • “Structure of the economy determines all other aspects in the society.”
  • Pessimistic about the future of capitalist industrial societies; had a utopian view about workers’ revolution; an advocate of classless society.
• Max Weber (1864-1920)

  • Taught Economics in the University of Heidelberg until his academic career was cut short by mental illness.
  • His first book “The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism” (1906) examines how belief systems might affect people’s actions and in turn the economic system of their society.
  • He hypothesized that the Protestant Ethics (admonishments to achieve salvation through hard work) influences the development of capitalism. 
  • Introduced the “Verstehen method” or the sympathetic understanding to the different social conditions.