DISCIPLINES AND IDEAS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Quarter 3- Week 2- Lesson 2

Nature and Functions of Social Sciences Disciplines

Grade Level Standard: The learners demonstrate an understanding of:

 The emergence of the Social Sciences and the different disciplines
Most Essential Learning Competency: Differentiate the nature and functions of Social Science
disciplines with the natural sciences and humanities
Learning Outcomes:
 Define the nine disciplines of Social Sciences; and
 Identify the natures and functions of each disciplines.

Social sciences consist of a variety of disciplines, subject areas, and methods, and there is no reason to
expect that these disciplines will eventually add up to a single unified theory of society. Political science,
sociology, history, anthropology, economics, geography, and area studies all provide their own, largely
independent, definitions of scope, research agenda, and research methods. Furthermore, there is no
grand plan according to which the disciplinary definitions jointly capture all that is of scientific interest
about the social.
Anthropology, Demography, Economics, Geography, History, Linguistics, Political Science, Psychology,
and Sociology are the nine social science disciplines.

Table 1: Etymologies of Social Science Disciplines and Definitions

Discipline Etymologies Definitions Fields Current

Application
Anthropology “anthopos” (human), Scientific  Biological/  Applied
“logos” (study of) study of man physical anthropology
or human anthopology (forensic
being and  Linguistic anthropology
their anthropology and medical
societies in  Cultural anthropology)
the anthropology
past and
present
Economics “oikanomia” Study of the  Microeconomics  Economics of
(household allocation of and Education
management) resources Macroeconomics  Encvironmental
 Mainstream and economics
Heterodox  Welfare
Economics economics
 Economic Theory
and Applied
Economics
 Positive and
Normative
Economics
Geography “geo” (Earth), Deals with  Physical  Urban,
“graphein” the study of Geography Regional, and
(description) the  Human Spatial
relationship Geography Planning
between the  Integrated  Regional
earth and geography Science
people  Geomatics  Planetary
 Regional Science
geography

1
 History “histoire” (recorded and The study of the  Cultural history  Museum
documented events) past and its  Social history studies
records about  Historic
 Intellectual
events.
history preservation
Linguistics “lingua” (tongue, Study of  Historical  Computational
language) languages and Linguistics Linguistics
focuses on the  Sociolinguistics  Lexicography
three aspects of
language  Developmental
linguistics
 Neurolinguistics
Political Science “politika,” “polis” (affairs of Deals with  Comparative  Public
the cities) the system politics Administration
of  Political  International
governance philosophy Relations
 Public law
Psychology “psyche” (mind), Scientific  Biological  Controlled
“logos” (study of) study of the psychology experiments
mind and  Behavioral  Quantitative
behavior psychology/ and qualitative
Behaviorism Psychological
 Cognitive research
psychology  Computer
 Social simulation
psychology
 Psychoanalysis
 Humanistic
psychology
Sociology “socius” (people Study of  Human ecology  Clinical
together, groups - how  Penology or Sociology
associate), “logos” they are penal science  Social
(study of) formed, how  Sociology of Engineering
they change, work  Public sociology
and how the
group
impacts
individual
behavior
Demography “demos” (people), Study of  Historical  Biodemography
“graphein”(description human demography  Population
) population  Social geography
and demography
dynamics

Denhardt, Robert B. & Denhardt, Janet Vinzent (2009). Public Administration: An Action Orientation (pp.2). Belmont
A:Thomson Wadsworth.