DIASS (2ND SEM)
Business Economics –
DEFINING THE SOCIAL
SCIENCES
The social sciences are vast fields of
scientific studies that investigate human
societies and different forces that work
within them.
These diverse fields examine how
people interact and develop culture.
The social sciences provide diverse set
of lenses that help us to understand and
explain the different facets of human
society.
Each field of the social sciences uses a
unique set of lens comprised of a body of
concepts, theories, frameworks, and
methodologies that help to understand and
study the multivarious forces that affect
human society.
BRANCHES OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
Economics
- Studies the allocation of scarce
and resources and the production
and exchange of goods and
services in society.
- Analyze the supply and demand
principles, economic fluctuations,
savings and investments and costs
and prices.
Subfields of Economics
1. Environmental Economics –
Studies the allocation of
natural resources.
2. Labor Economics – Focuses
on the study of the decision-
making and behaviors of the
employees.
3.
Examine the behavior of
companies and firms by
studying the factors that
result in profit, maximization,
price setting, production
goals and the role of
incentives.
4. Monetary Economics –
Studies the nation’s
production, inflation, income,
interest rates, and monetary
goals.
Anthropology
- The scientific study of humans
and their culture in the past and
present time.
- A major concern of anthropology
is the application of knowledge to
help solve problems through the
study of culture.
Subfields of Anthropology
1. Cultural Anthropology –
Studies the development of
human culture based on
ethnologic, linguistic, social, and
psychological data of analysis. It
explain how people in other
societies live and the effects of
their environments of their
respective lives.
2. Physical Anthropology – Studies
human biological nature
particularly the beginning,
evolution, and variation in
prehistory.
3. Archaeology – Studies human
life in the past through the
examination of things left behind
the people.
 4. Anthropological Linguistics –
Studies language and their
relationship to the cultures which
they are used.
History
- Systematic study of human past
events in order to understand the
meaning, dynamics, and
relationship of the causes and
effects of events in the
development of the societies.
- Derived from the Greek word
‘Historia’ which means “Inquiry”
or “Investigation”.
Political Science
- Focuses on the reconstruction and
recreation of past events as they
actually happened through the use
of primary sources and secondary
sources.
Primary sources – Eyewitness
accounts or contemporaneous
accounts about the event.
Subfields of Political Science
Secondary sources – Evidences
that are not eye-witness accounts.
Subfields of History
1. Political History – Studies the
history of political institutions.
2. Economic History – Studies the
development of economic
institutions and other economic
factors.
3. Social History – Studies the
history of ordinary lives of people
like women, children, ethnic
group, and the different sectors of
society from historical point of
view.
4. Environmental History –
History of the interaction of
humans with the environment.
5. History of Public Health and
Medicine – Examines the history
of public health and medicines.
6. Business History – Study the
history of the development of
businesses, companies, and
industries.
7. Biographies – Studies the history
of great person is history.
- Studies human behavior in
relation to political systems,
government, laws, and
international relations.
- Examines the relationship
between people and policy at all
levels from individual to national.
1. Domestic Politics – Studies the
public opinion, elections,
national, and local government.
2. Comparative Politics – Studies
politics within countries and
analyzes the similarities and
differences between and among
countries.
3. International Relations –
Focuses on the study of political
relationship and interaction
between and among countries.
 4. Political Theory – Studies the Sociology
classical political philosophy and
- A systematic study of people’s
contemporary theories.
behavior in groups.
5. Public Administration – Studies
- Derived from the Latin word
national and local governance and
‘Socio’ means “People together”
the bureaucracy.
and Greek word ‘Logos’ means
“The study of.”
6. Public Law – Examines legal
systems, civil rights, and criminal
- Attempts to understand why and
justice.
how people interact with each
other and how they function as a
society or social subgroups.
Psychology
- Looks into general and regular
- Studies how the human mind
pattern of human behavior and it
works in consonance with the
examines social structures,
body to produce thoughts that
collective human actions, social
lead to individual actions.
relationships and norms, and its
impact on individual behavior.
- Analyzes how people and groups
experience the world through
- One of the most diverse fields of
various emotions, ideas, and in
social science.
different conscious state.
Subfields of Sociology
Subfields of Psychology
1. Applied Sociology – Focus on
1. Experimental Psychology –
the use and proper application of
Studies behavior of humans and
sociological theories, methods
animals and examines how and
and skills to examine data, solve
why learning takes place.
problems, and communicate
research to the public.
2. Developmental Psychology –
Studies the ways people change
2. Urban Sociology – Studies
and behave they go through their
societal life and interaction in
life.
urban areas through the
application of sociological
3. Personality Psychology –
methods like statistical analysis
Studies human nature and
and ethnographies.
differences among people.
3. Cultural Sociology – Analyzes
4. Social Psychology – Looks into
the development of social
behavior of people in groups.
institutions, norms, and practices.
5. Environmental Psychology –
4. Rural Sociology – Examines the
Studies the effects of
societal life of people in rural
surroundings on person’s attitude
areas.
and behavior.

5. Medical Sociology – Examines
the societal aspects of health and
medicine of people.
6. Sociology of Education –
Analyzes how social forces and
institutions like politics,
economic systems, and culture
affects schools and educational
systems.
7. Political Sociology – Examines
how structure affects influences
politics.
8. Military Sociology – A study of
military organizations, the
different civilian and military
relationships, war experiences
and the use and the control of
force.
Geography
- Study of the interaction between
people and their environment.
- Derived from the Greek words
‘Geo’ meaning “Earth” and
‘Graphos’ meaning “Charting” or
“Mapping”.
- Explores both the physical
properties of earth’s surface and
their relationship with human
societies.
- Studies how human culture
interacts with the natural
environment and the impact of
locations and places on people.
Subfields of Geography
1. Physical Geography – Studies
the natural features of the earth
including land, water, and
atmosphere.
2. Human Geography – Studies
how people create cultures in
their natural environment.
Demography
- Scientific study of human
populations across time. (Max
Planck, 2016)
- Examines the changes in
population growth through the
analysis of statistics on birth,
human movement, morbidity,
agedness and mortality.
- Population studies or social
demography is one important of
subfield of demography.
- Social demographers analyze
demographic data to define,
explain, and foresee social
phenomena.
- Studies social-status composition
and population distribution.
DEFINING THE APPLIED SOCIAL
SCIENCES
Introduced as a reaction to the highly
segmented and compartmentalized
division of social science disciplines that
dominated western research training
during the late 1990s.
Different fields of social sciences must
effectively work together in addressing
the issues.
The multidisciplinary approach to the
study of different issues in society became
the main focus and beginnings of the
applied social sciences.
Applied sciences focus on the use of
application on the different concepts,
theoretical models, and the theories of
social science disciplines to help
understand society and different problems
and issues.
Applied social sciences provide
alternative solutions to the diverse
problems of society (Gouldner, 1989)
Applied social scientist can use his/her
training in different real-life work setting.
THREE MAIN CAREER TRACKS
FOR APPLIED SOCIAL SCINTISTS
1. Counseling – guidance
counselors, life coaches, career
counselors, and personal growth
counselors.
- Counseling provides guidance,
help, and support to the
individuals who are distraught by
a diverse set of problems in their
lives.
- Applying psychological methods
like collection of case history
data, personal interviews, and
aptitude tests.
- Guidance counseling and life
coaching give help to individuals
who needed guidance or advice to
their business, success, general
conditions and personal life
transitions, relationships and
careers.
Life Coaching – Analyzes the
present condition of the client,
discovers different obstacles or
challenges that a client faces and
provides a certain course of
action to make the client’s life
better.
Career Counseling – Needed by
people who are in the process of
entering the job market, searching
for possible career change, or
those wanting career
advancements.
Personal Growth Counseling –
Concentrates on the evaluation of
the different aspects of a client’s
life. A good personal growth
counselor takes time to integrates
the client’s past and present to
develop one’s future plans and
goals in life.
2. Social Work – Practitioners, help
individuals, families, groups, and
communities to improve their
individual and collective well-
being.
- Through social work, people
enhance their skills and ability to
resolve social problems.
- Social work also addresses social
issues such as poverty,
unemployment, and domestic
violence.
- Social workers play different
roles and duties in society.
3. Communication Studies –
Provide adequate training for
careers in the communication
industry.
- Practitioners have enough
training in this area because they
were equipped with theories and
 concepts about communication
that allows them to understand
the public about the social,
politics, cultural, and economic
realities.

- Communication practitioners are

equipped with skills to write,
produce, and deliver news
accurately and creatively to the
viewing public.

- In the entertainment industry,

there’s a great need to understand
the needs and consumption of the
viewing public.

- It is necessary to cope with the

changing demands of the viewers
in order to get the audience’s
attention and product choices and
preferences.

- The applied social sciences

proved to be important in these
aspects of the communication
industry because a strong
foundation in the study of the
people‘s viewing and consuming
behavior and patterns emphasized
in the multidisciplinary field
through the application of
knowledge and methodologies
learned from the field of
economics, sociology,
anthropology, and psychology.