Philippine Nautical and Technological Colleges

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Social Science:
Social Science, Epistemology, Overview, History, and Branches of Social Science
(WEEK 1)

Social science has been concerned to understand:

1. the concept of sociality;
• People have been interacting with one another creating norms and values,
influencing cultural ideals and practices, and using different languages to
communicate, applying rules and regulations to organize, developing socio-cultural,
socio-economical and socio-political systems to maintain social condition.
2. the structure of social consciousness;
• People have been interpreting their experiences to understand one another and to
construct meaning from these experiences.
3. the reality of the social world.
• People have been evaluating the structure of social condition to solve social problems
and issues, thus to improve social ideologies promote liberal approaches that lead to
social emancipation.

These domains of social understanding developed into theories and principles to speculate the
society. Thus, philosophy provides these theories and principles to have a better understanding of
the social world.

A. Social Science: Definition and Domains of Social Sciences

Social sciences refer to the scientific study of society – methods of science have been applied to
understand social behavior and social phenomena (Gordon, 1991).
▪ This scientific approach has organized information about social behaviors, human
experiences, and social conflicts to which social sciences disciplines and ideas have focused
its perspectives and methods.
▪ Predominantly, sociology is the study and analysis of patterned social relationships in modern
societies. The term sociology was coined by Auguste Comte to apply natural science
methodological approaches to study the society (Doda, 2005, Rosenberg, 2008).
▪ The aim is to understand laws that governs social phenomena such as custom and traditions,
culture and language, norms and values, institutions and systems of power – which includes
conflicts and deviances. These social events and occurrences have been centered to the
dominant approaches in the social sciences, namely positivism, interpretivism, and critical
theory as postmodernism approach.
▪ Social scientists have used appropriate theoretical paradigm to analyze and predict social
phenomena. They are cautious to their choices of theories; to guide them to conceptualize
their social research (Rosenberg, 2008).
▪ A theoretical paradigm refers to sets of theories or principles that defines a way of seeing or
thinking about social reality.
▪ A theoretical framework are sets of philosophical, social and behavioral theories applied for
establishing scientific knowledge about the social reality. If the methods of scientific
investigation formulated concepts about these social laws, then objective knowledge has
achieved to understand social reality.
▪ Searching for social laws could have explained social behavior and social phenomena which
led social scientists to test their choices of theories; to validate their methods of investigation,
and to verify their analysis of data interpretation.
▪ Social science is considered as science of people. The challenge is on how to investigate,
conceptualize and theorize the issues and problems that is being studied by social sciences.
This challenge has raised questions to methodological approaches used by social scientist to
investigate social world; and theories which have been conceptualized to understand social
consciousness. These compelled methods and approaches have been dependent to the
nature of social reality to determine what social explanation and interpretation should have
observed in the social sciences (Schatzki, 1988).
Social Reality
▪ Social reality has been comprehended whether “society is objective” or “society is subjective”
realities. Choices between these realities could have determined social inquiries to have
epistemic value of social knowledge, and the ontological nature of social consciousness
(Bergson, 1966).
▪ The word “reality” and “knowledge” has been constructed based on the meanings and
interpretations on the level of social understanding. Thus, the epistemic value of social
knowledge pertains to whether the validity or invalidity of knowledge existing in the society
has contributed to the construction of this social reality.
▪ Social consciousness, on the other hand, could possibly provide the structure of interpretation
which applied knowledge about the society had existed to explain social reality (Scheler, as
mentioned by Berger, 1966). Therefore, social reality has been constructed to understand the
social character of knowledge and its constituents to the social world of human experiences,
cultures, politics, economics, governments and interrelated affairs among others.

B. Branches of Social Sciences

a) Sociology is a field of study that deals with the systematic study of patterns of human
interactions. The concepts “society” and “culture” are central in sociology (Doda, 2005).
▪ Society is a group of people who live within some type of bounded territory and who
share a common way of life.
▪ Culture is a common way of life shared by a society or a group.
b) Anthropology is the study of the relationship between biological traits and socially acquired
characteristics (www.pearsonhighered.com). It is also called the study of humans. It consists
of two broad fields:
▪ Physical anthropology is the study of the influence of evolution of natural environment
on the physical characteristics of humans.
▪ Cultural anthropology is the study of human evolution; how homo sapiens evolved
from earlier species.
❖ Ethnography is the method of research used for comparative studies of many cultures.
It accounts stories that describe a culture. An ethnographer conducts a fieldwork
study usually staying or living together with the people in six months or more to gain
insider’s perspective of the group and to have experiences similar to the group
members (Allan, 2017).
c) Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior (Henriques, 2011). It studies why and
how humans think, feel and behave. This field of study explains human behavior through
biological, psychodynamics, behavioral, humanistic, and cognitive approaches
(www.betterhelp.com).
▪ Biological Approach has focused on the human biological features on how it affects
the human mind, personality, and emotions.
▪ Psychodynamics has focused to Freudian psychological concepts that human’s
essential nature is driven by sexual desires. This explains that human behavior is
determined based on childhood’s unconscious experiences. All behavior is manifested
in the level of personality traits which are affected by the id, the ego, and the
superego.
▪ Behavioral Approach has focused on how one’s environment and how external stimuli
affects mental states and development. This helps to evaluate mental and behavioral
disorders.
▪ Humanistic Approach has emphasized subjective experiences to motivate individuals
to improve themselves. It has been insisted that individual’s free will is inherently good
in nature, thus humans are natural to do good.
▪ Cognitive Approach has viewed the mind to which can process information. Thus,
human behaviors and perspectives are solely based on cognitive abilities.
d) History is a branch of knowledge that attempt to ascertain, record, and explain facts and
events that happened in the past. It also narrates the development of consciousness over a
period of time. This helps historians to examine critical sources about the past events and
happenings. Historiography is the method used to have a critical examination of sources
selection of particular from authentic materials, and the synthesis of particulars into a narrative
that will stand the test of critical methods.
e) Economics is the scientific study of the ways in which humans make choices about
production, consumption and wealth. Economists study how to utilize scarce resources to
produce valuable goods and services to distribute and allocate these sources to the people.
▪ Macroeconomics analyzes how the economy functions as a whole such as the
government or business sectors.
▪ Microeconomics focuses on the behavior of individual agents like households,
industries, and firms.
f) Political Science is the study of social arrangements to maintain peace and order within a
given society. It deals with both theory and practice of politics including analysis of public
 policies. This also studies government structures and systems to understand how it affects the
people.
g) Geography is the scientific study of earth’s lands, its features, its inhabitants and the
phenomena surrounding the earth. It is an all-round discipline that explains the earth and its
human, physical and environmental complexities (Ayson, 2016).
▪ Population geography studies the demographic distribution of the people. It includes
the study of population distribution, migration, origin and growth in a region.
▪ Economic geography studies the way different products and services are produced
and distributed in the various niche market. It also examines the way wealth is
distributed over various regions across the planet.
▪ Political geography studies and investigates politics within the boundaries of countries,
the development strategies put in place and the voting patterns and behaviors within
each jurisdiction.
h) Demography is the science and statistical study of human populations. It attempts to
comprehend the mechanisms behind human population. Demographers investigates the
processes of birth, migration and aging including deaths.
i) Linguistics is the study of human speech including the units, nature, structure, and
modification of language.
▪ Syntax is the study of the rules that govern the structure of sentences.
▪ Semantics is the study of meaning.
▪ Morphology is the study of the structure of words.
▪ Phonetics is the study of speech sounds.
▪ Phonology is the study of the abstract sound system of a particular language.

C. Dominant Approaches in the Social Sciences

▪ Positivism is commonly known as positive philosophy or naturalism – which have attached to

the scientific study of society. The term “positive” have been used to describe social world
under a governing social law – which eventually adopted by social sciences as a science of
social, cultural, political, economical, and historical affairs of humans. This approach has
transpired from radical empiricism, which ideas and observations are the sole criteria to
scientific knowledge. This is to avoid the metaphysical speculation negated from pure
philosophy, the ontological perspectives.
➢ Auguste Comte, who is the father of positivism, apprehends that society should have
understood using the scientific methods to have an objective truth about the society.

▪ Interpretivism deals with the study of interpretation of human subjective experiences. It is

“associated with the philosophical position of idealism, and is used to group together diverse
approaches, including social constructivism, phenomenology and hermeneutics;
approaches that reject the objectivist view that meaning resides within the world
independently of consciousness” (Collins, 2010).
❖ Social Constructivism believes that society has been constructed through human
interaction within their social and cultural context. Social reality and knowledge are
product of human interactions which provide their own conception of social
knowledge (Derry, 1999 and McMahon, 1997, as cited by Kim, 2001).
❖ Phenomenology is the study of lived experiences. These experiences are interpreted
based on the methods of phenomenological reductionism. Human experiences have
interpreted based on the meaning attached by individual. By understanding this
meaning, the patterns of interpretation described the structure of human
consciousness.
❖ Edmund Husserl, who is the father of phenomenology, believes that subjective
experiences have structured consciousness that provides meaning to human
experiences which includes ascribed interpretation about the social world. The state of
awareness about these experiences could have provided information about how
knowledge was acquired and interpreted. This sense of awareness to subjective
experiences are comprehended in terms of human intentionality.
❖ Hermeneutics is the study of the process of interpretation that provide understanding
about social behavior. Historicity plays an important role in the process of interpretation
(Heidegger, as mentioned by Bem and de Jong, 2013). The interpreter has
contextualized the object of interpretation emerging to the context of object being
interpreted. These two contexts have created a “fusion of horizon” that describes the
world of interpretation (Gademer, as mentioned by Bem and de Jong, 2013).

▪ Critical theory also known as postmodernism provides a multidisciplinary approach to the

study of society. This approach aims to have an assessment to the socio-economic system to
reveal the power structure of the society, and its impact to human labor. The term “critical”
has grounded to Karl Marx’s criticism about social structures and its effect to human nature.
Thus, postmodernism captures an analysis to know the multiplicity of knowledge to which the
social world has been interpreted. Wherein everything can be possibly comprehended due
 to extreme skepticism, relativism, subjectivism to maintain a favorable socio-economic-
political condition in the society.
➢ Karl Marx, whose philosophical thoughts considered as foundation of critical theory,
analyses the epistemic value of knowledge and the nature of human person during
industrial revolution. His analysis onto the social reality is understood as “historical
materialism” that provides critical approach to examine society in modern times.

Social sciences’ ultimate goal is to liberate people’s mind from construed ideology towards an
emancipated social condition. Wherein everybody could live with peace and harmony, and people
could possibly solve social problems and to have progressive studies to technological advancement.

D. History of Social Science

Social science has begun from different body of knowledge which developed into sub-
disciplines and approaches to establish a scientific study of society. Human knowledge has
been developed over a period of time as well as to human consciousness. As human
knowledge has been developed the context of human consciousness has also been
reflected, applied, and evolved over periods. By discussing these developments, social
science has also been recognized alongside.
▪ Greek civilization is the cradle of knowledge and Western civilization wherein a
systematic understanding of human knowledge, reality and being, ethics and morals,
politics and economics was established both in philosophical knowledge and
scientific knowledge.
▪ Renaissance has rediscovered the classical philosophy and literature from ancient
Greece and Rome, which focus to humanism, which emphasized the development of
human potential in politics, literature, art and science.
▪ Enlightenment Period has highlighted three central concepts: the use of reason, the
scientific method, and progress. Reason alone is the primary source of authority and
legitimacy, which led to the separation of church and state, and gave birth to
secularism.
▪ French Revolution was a period of social upheaval that sought to completely change
the status quo and the nature of political power.
▪ Industrial Revolution has given more time for society to invent and to create
technological productivity which led to extreme capitalism and exploitation of human
labor, and massive production and excessive consumption.

E. Nature of Social Sciences

▪ Social science is considered as the “soft sciences” that inquiry the “human person, his
internal world (embodied subjectivity) and his social world (intersubjectivity)” (Ong,
2016, and Demetrio, 2001). Considerably, social science has applied scientific method
to acquire knowledge about society in a qualitative approach.
▪ This acquired social knowledge has supported by philosophical theories and principles
to interpret human behavior, and aid to describe social phenomena.
▪ The nature of social science is highly speculative. It speculates the relationship of
human existence to his natural world, internal world, and his social world; to gain the
objective and subjective truth about these worlds to whom human beings have
existed.

F. Social Epistemology
▪ The mainstream epistemology deals with the study of the validity of human knowledge.
The central question of epistemology is to know how knowledge is acquired by
individual. There are two school of thoughts that explain knowledge acquisition
namely, realism and empiricism. This epistemic value of knowledge justifies the nature
of human knowledge.
▪ On the other hand, social epistemology has validated the value of knowledge by
consulting other individual’s acquired knowledge to justify the truth. This consolidated
knowledge could have structured how social scientist have constructed their scientific
investigation of the society (plato.stanford.edu).
▪ Eventually, social sciences have analyzed, synthesized, and harmonized disciplines
and ideas into an interdisciplinary approach, and compared and tested with other
social science perspectives into a multidisciplinary approach, as well as into a
transdisciplinary approach to integrate social science interests.

References

Allen, M. (2017). The sage encyclopedia of communication research methods (Vols. 1-4). Thousand
Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc doi: 10.4135/9781483381411

Ayson, R. (2016). The Importance of Geography. In Geography, Power, Strategy and Defence Policy:
Essays in Honour of Paul Dibb. Ball., D. & Lee, S. (ed.). Canberra, Australia: ANU Press.
Bem, S. & de Jong, H.L. (2013). Theoretical Issues in Psychology. (3rd ed.). London. Sage.

Collins, H. (2010) “Creative Research: The Theory and Practice of Research for the Creative Industries”
AVA Publications

Demeterio III. F.P.A. (2001). Speculations on the Dis/Junction Point Between Philosophy and the Social
Sciences. In Diwatao (1)1. Retrieved from
http://www.geocities.ws/philodept/diwatao/philosophy_and_social_sciences.htm
Gordon, S. (1991). Philosophy and History of Social Sciences. New York: Routledge.

Kim, Beaumie. (2001). Social constructivism. Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261287220_Social_constructivism

Ong, J. (2016). Disciplines and Ideas in the Social Sciences. Quezon: Vibal.

Rosenberg, A. (2008). Philosophy of Social Science. (3rd ed.). USA: Westview Press.

https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/behavior/the-behavioral-approach-to-psychology-an-
overview-of-behaviorism/

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epistemology-social/