Discipline and ideas in Social Sciences week 2 hand out

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

Social Science
Etymologies Definitions
Disciplines
“anthopos” (human), Scientific study of man or human being and their societies in the
Anthropology “logos” (study of) past and present
“demos” (people), Study of human population and dynamics
Demography “graphein”(description)
“oikanomia” (household Study of what constitutes rational human behavior in the
Economics management) endeavor to fulfill needs and wants
“geo” (Earth), Deals with the study of the relationship between the earth and
Geography “graphein”(description) people
“lingua” (tongue, Study of languages and focuses on the three aspects of language
Linguistics
language)
“histoire” (recorded and The study of the past and its records about events.
History
documented events)
“politika,” “polis” (affairs Deals with the system of
Political Science of the cities) governance
“psyche” (mind), Scientific study of the mind and behavior
Psychology “logos” (study of)
“socius” (people Study of groups - how they are formed, how they change, and
together, how the group impacts individual behavior
associate), “logos” (study
Sociology of)

Table 2: Function of Social Science Disciplines

Disciplines Function
Anthropology Essentially to understand as many aspects of human life as can possibly be
studied, to record its findings, and contribute to both historical
understanding as well as to ascertain current states of the human condition
in an attempt to better understand and/or act upon those findings. (Fethe,
2017)
To understand basic physical systems that affect everyday life (e.g. earth-
sun relationships, water cycles, wind and ocean currents). To learn the
Geography location of places and the physical and cultural characteristics of those
places in order to function more effectively in our increasingly
interdependent world. (Bonnett, 2008)
A useful for work. Its study helps create good businesspeople, professionals,
and political leaders. The number of explicit professional jobs for historians
History
is considerable, but most people who study history do not become
professional historians. (Evans, 2001)
Sociology Can study society with a wide variety of focuses. From studying the power
elite, to the interaction of the economy, society and the environment, to
the examination of various rights movements, Sociology examines the way
 different aspects of society behave and function. (San Juan, 2011)
A social study concerning the allocation and transfer of power in decision
making, the roles and systems of governance including governments and
Political Science
international organizations, political behavior and public policies. (Mortel et
al. 2003)
The three most important functions of economics are as follows: Just as
feeding, digestion and growth are the vital processes of living beings;
Economics
similarly production, consumption and growth are the essentials of
economies. (Leaňo, 2012)
Refer to the general social uses of language, such as requesting objects and
activities, initiating social interactions, expressing personal feelings,
Linguistics
describing aspects of the world, requesting information, and pretending.
(Bernardez, 2013)
To know the population of a particular area;
To ascertain as to which factors are influencing the
Demography population of that particular area;
To explain the factors relating to changes in population; and To study the
population trends on the basis of the above three factors.
According to earlier psychologists, the function of psychology was to study
the nature, origin and destiny of the human soul. But soul is something
Psychology
metaphysical. It cannot be seen, observed and touched and we cannot
make scientific experiments in soul. (Kendra, 2020)

Table 3: Nature of Social Science Disciplines

Disciplines Nature
Anthropology (Ramos, 2014)  The aim of modern social anthropology is just not to study human
society but also to understand the complex issues of modern human
life.
 As primitive people have been the focus of anthropological study, the
problems faced by these people in the process of development in
modern days become very important for the anthropologists to study.
 Anthropologists not only deal with the study of these problems but
also try to find out a solution for this.
 Developmental anthropology and Action anthropology etc. are the
specialized fields within social anthropology which deal with such
problems.
 Therefore, we can say that the scope and aim of social anthropology go
together; one influences the other. As much as the scope increases a
new aim comes out of it.
Geography  Geography is concerned to provide an accurate, orderly, and rational
(Semple, 2004) description of the variable character of the earth's surface"
(Hartshorne, p. 21).
 Understandably this characterization has not been universally
accepted, and others have suggested terms such as "areal
differentiation," and "spatial interaction" as better expressing the core
of geography.
 It has been seen as more akin to history than to the systematic
sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, geology, meteorology, etc.) in
that it has no body of material peculiar to itself, but rather adopts a
point of view.
 But subjects studied by some geographers, such as map
projections, are highly "scientific."
History  A study of the present in the light of the past: The present has evolved
(Munslow, 2001) out of the past.
 Modern history enables us to understand how society has come to its
present form so that one may intelligently interpret the sequence of
events.
 The causal relationships between the selected happenings are
unearthed that help in revealing the nature of happenings and framing
of general laws.
 History is the study of man: History deals with man’s struggle through
the ages. History is not static.
 By selecting “innumerable biographies” and presenting their lives in
the appropriate social context and the ideas in the human context, we
understand the sweep of events.
 It traces the fascinating story of how man has developed through the
ages, how man has studied to use and control his environment and
how the present institutions have grown out of the past.
 History is concerned with man in time: It deals with a series of events
and each event occurs at a given point in time. Human history, in fact,
is the process of human development in time.
 It is time which affords a perspective to events and lends a charm that
brightens up the past.
 History is concerned with man in space: The interaction of man on
environment and vice versa is a dynamic one. History describes about
nations and human activities in the context of their physical and
geographical environment.
 Out of this arise the varied trends in the political, social, economic and
cultural spheres of man’s activities and achievements.
 Objective record of happenings: Every precaution is taken to base the
data on original sources and make them free from subjective
interpretation.
 It helps in clear understanding of the past and enables us to take well
informed decisions.
 Multisided: All aspects of the life of a social group are closely
interrelated and historical happenings cover all these aspects of life,
not limited only to the political aspect that had so long dominated
history.
 History is a dialogue between the events of the past and progressively
emerging future ends. The historian’s interpretation of the past, his
selection of the significant and the relevant events, evolves with the
progressive emergence of new goals.
 The general laws regulating historical happenings may not be
considered enough; attempts have to be made to predict future
happenings on the basis of the laws.
 Not only narration but also analysis: The selected happenings are not
merely narrated; the causal relationships between them are properly
unearthed.
 The tracing of these relationships lead to the development of general
laws that are also compared and contrasted with similar happenings in
other social groups to improve the reliability and validity of these laws.
 Continuity and coherence are the necessary requisites of history:
History carries the burden of human progress as it is passed down from
generation to generation, from society to society, justifying the
essence of continuity.
 Relevant: In the study of history only those events are included which
are relevant to the understanding of the present life.
 Comprehensiveness: According to modern concept, history is not
confined to one period or country or nation. It also deals with all
 aspects of human life-political, social, economic, religious, literary,
aesthetic and physical, giving a clear sense of world unity and world
citizenship.
Sociology (Lo, 2019)  Sociology is an independent science: Sociology is not treated and
studied as a branch of any other science like philosophy, history. Now
it has emerged into an independent science. As an independent
science it has its own field of study.
 Sociology is a social science and not a physical science: All the sciences
are divided into two categories: natural sciences and social sciences.
 Natural sciences study physical phenomena where as social sciences
study social phenomena. Social sciences include Economics, Political
Science, and Anthropology etc.
 Sociology belongs to the family of Social science. As a social science it
concentrates its attention on man, his social behavior, activities and
social life. In other words, it studies man as a social being.
 Sociology is a pure science and not an applied science: The aim of
applied science is to apply the acquired knowledge into life and to put
it to use.
 But the aim of pure sciences is the acquisition of knowledge and it is
not bothered whether the acquired knowledge is useful or can be put
to use. Sociology is a pure science, because it aims at the acquisition of
knowledge about human society, hot the utilization of the knowledge.
 Sociology is an abstract science and not a concrete science: This
doesn't mean that Sociology, is an art and not a science. It only refers
that Sociology is not interested in concrete manifestations of human
events.
 It is more concerned with the form of human events and their
patterns. Similarly, Sociology does not confine itself to the study of this
society or that particular society. It simply means that Sociology is an
abstract science, not a concrete science.
 Sociology is a categorical and not a normative discipline: Sociology
"confines itself about what is, not what should be or ought to be."
 As a science it is silent about questions of value. It does not make any
kind of value judgment. It only means Sociology as a discipline cannot
deal with problems of good and evil, right and wrong.
 Sociology is a generalizing and not a particularizing science: Sociology
does not study each and every event that takes place in society. It
makes generalization on the basis of some selected events. For
example, not by studying or examining all the secondary groups but by
observing a few secondary groups, a sociologist makes generalization
of secondary groups.
 Sociology is a general science and not a special social science: The area
of inquiry of Sociology is general and not specialized. Social sciences
like Political Science, History, Economics, etc. study human interaction
but not all about human interactions.
 But Sociology does not investigate special kind of phenomena in
relation to human life, and activities but it only studies human
activities in a general way.
 Sociology is both a rational and empirical science: Empiricism is the
approach that emphasizes experiences and the facts that result from
observation and experimentation.
 On the other hand, rationalism stresses reason and theories that result
from logical inference. The empiricist collects facts, the rationalist co-
ordinates and arranges them.
 In sociological theory both are significant. Thus, Sociology is both a
rational and empirical science.

Political Science (Bhargava,2008)
Economics (Metu, 2016)
Linguistics
 Conclusion:
 Thus, from the above discussion we come to know that the nature of
Sociology is independent, social, a categorical, pure, abstract, and
generalizing; both are a rational and an empirical social science.
 Politics is not only a mere institution of governance but also a
mechanism for achieving societal goals.
 Political Science is thus a study of the state in the past, present, and
future;
 Study of Political organization, political processes and political fun
 Study of Political Institutions and Political Theories.
 Study of several subfields: Political Theory.
 Economics is a science: Science is an organized branch of knowledge
that analyses cause and effect relationship between economic agents.
 Further, economics helps in integrating various sciences such as
mathematics, statistics, etc. to identify the relationship between price,
demand, supply and other economic factors.
 Positive Economics: A positive science is one that studies the
relationship between two variables but does not give any value
judgment, i.e. it states ‘what is’. It deals with facts about the entire
economy.
 Normative Economics: As a normative science, economics passes value
judgment, i.e. ‘what ought to be’. It is concerned with economic goals
and policies to attain these goals.
 Economics is an art: Art is a discipline that expresses the way things are
to be done, so as to achieve the desired end.
 Economics has various branches like production, distribution,
consumption and economics that provide general rules and laws that
are capable of solving different problems of society.
 Therefore, economics is considered as science as well as art, i.e.
science in terms of its methodology and arts as in application.
 Hence, economics is concerned with both theoretical and practical
aspects of the economic problems which we encounter in our day to
day life.
 An academic discipline – a body of knowledge given to—or received by
—a disciple (student); a branch or sphere of knowledge, or field of
study, that an individual has chosen to specialize in.
 A field of science – a widely recognized category of specialized
expertise within science, embodying its own terminology,
nomenclature, and scientific journals.

 A social science – a field of academic scholarship that explores aspects

of human societies related to the languages they speak.
Psychology  Psychology is the scientific study and practical application of
observable behavior and mental processes of organisms.
 Psychology differs from other social sciences such as: Sociology,
History, or Economics, because psychology specifically deals with the
study of an individual. The other social sciences will study groups, or
history.
 Psychology is less a science of reported findings, it attempts asks and
answers questions using observable behavior and what can be
determined as mental processes of the subject.
 The symbol for psychology is the Greek letter “psi” (Ø). The subject
matter of psychology is, affect, behavior, and cognition.
 The affect for psychology is the actual mental processes that make up:
moods, feeling, and emotional state.
Table 4: According to Banaag, 2012 the Methods of Creating History:
Methods
Positivism
Narrative - Chronology
Biography - Hagiography
Dialectics - Analysis
Meta - Narrative/ Total History
Description
Embraces human agency in history. Uses sources to provide and accurate and
complete vision of the past. Also embraces and empathetic approach towards
people in the past.
The creation of narratives of the past - analysis plays less role as the role of
accidents is most important.
The “Great Men” method which creates chronological narratives. Often look at
the agency of one individual in history.
These are created which become orthodoxies. New theses then arrive to
challenge these - revisionism and a synthesis is produced from the old and the
new. The synthesis becomes the new thesis or paradigm and the process of
clashes (dialectics) repeats.
Works of the Annales school are characterized by a multi - layered approach
which seek to integrate long term, midterm and short term factors in a “total
history”. There is an effort to explain large amounts of human history through the
application of theory and social sciences.

Rejects human agency in historical affairs. Rejects all sources. Rejects the
Negativism possibility of empathetic understanding of the past.

Table 5: According to Gans, 2020 the School of Psychology

School of Psychology Proponents Description

Structuralism Wilhelm Wundt and  Considered to be the first school of thought in
Edward Titchener Psychology.
 This outlook focused on breaking down mental
processes into the most basic components.
 The focus was on reducing mental
processes down into their most basic elements.
 The structuralists used techniques such
as introspection to analyze the inner processes of
the human mind.
Functionalism John Dewey, James  A general psychological philosophy that considers
Rowland Angell, and mental life and behavior in terms of active
Harvey Carr. adaptation to the person’s environment.
Founder: William James  A theory of the mind in contemporary philosophy,
developed largely as an alternative to both the
identity theory of mind and behaviorism.
Psychoanalytic Sigmund Freud  Studies the unconscious mind.
 This school of thought emphasized
influence of unconscious mind behavior.

 Freud believed that the human mind was composed

of three elements: the id, ego, and superego.
Behaviorism John Watson  Focuses on observable behavior.
and B.F. Skinner  Suggests that all behavior can be explained by
environmental causes rather than by internal
forces.
 Theories of learning including classical
conditioning and operant conditioning
were the focus of a great deal of research.
 An approach to psychology that combines elements
of philosophy, methodology, and theory.
  Psychology should concern itself with the
observable behavior of people and animals,
not with unobservable events that take
place in their minds.
Cognitivism  The school of psychology that studies mental
processes including how people think, perceive,
remember and learn.
 As part of the larger field of cognitive science, this
branch of psychology is related to other disciplines
including neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics
Gestalt Max Wertheimer,  Studies the mind and behavior as a
Psychology Wolfgang Kohler, and whole
Kurt Koffka  A school of psychology based upon the idea that we
experience things as unified wholes.
 Means “form” or “configuration”
 The whole is other than the sum of its parts