Module 2 – THE DISCIPLINES OF SOCIAL

SCIENCE
Definition
The scientific study of human
society and social relationship.
A major category of academic
disciplines, concerned with society
and the relationships among
individuals within the society.
History of Social Science
 The history of social sciences begins in the Age of
Enlightenment after 1650.
 The social sciences developed from the science
(experimental and applied), or systematic knowledge-bases
or prescriptive practices, relating to the social
improvement of a group of interacting entities.
 Social science influence by positivism. Auguste Comte
used the term “science sociale” to describe the field, taken
from the ideas of Charles Fourier; Comte also referred to
the field as social physics
 The term social science may refer either to the specific
sciences of society established by thinkers such as Comte,
Durkhiem, Marx, and Weber or more generally to all
disciplines outside of “noble science” and arts.
Humanities
 Are academic disciplines that study
the human condition, using methods
that are primary analytical, critical or
speculative. (Ancient and modern
languages, visual and performing arts,
theatre arts, literature, history,
philosophy religion)
Natural Science
 A branch of science that seeks to
elucidate the rules that govern the
natural world by using the
empirical and scientific method.
(physics, chemistry, biology, earth
science).
THE DICIPLINES IN SOCIAL SCIENCE
ATHROPOLOGY
 Is the study of humans, past and present
 Its present use first appeared in Renaissance Germany
in the work of Magnus Hundt and Otto Casmann
 Their new New Latin anthopologia derived from the
combining forms of the Greek words anthropos
(‘human’) and logos (‘study’)
ECONOMICS
 It’s the study of scarcity, the study of how people
use resources, or the study of decision-making.
 The discipline was renamed in the late 19th century
primarily due to Alfred Marshall from “political
economy” to “economics” as a shorter term for
economic science.
 Two groups, later called mercantilist and
physiocrats more directly influenced the
subsequent development of the subject.
 Adam Smith is widely regarded as the father of
modern economics. He wrote the book entitled
“The Wealth of Nations.”
GEOGRAPHY
 Is the study of places and the
relationships between people and their
environments.
 Geography (from Greek geographia,
literally “earth descriptions.”
 The first person to use the word
geographia was Eratosthenes (276-194
BC).
HISTORY
 Is the study of the past as kit is described in written
documents. Events occurring before written record are
considered prehistory.
 History (from Greek historia, meaning “inquiry,
knowledge acquired by investigation”)
 Herodotus a 5th century BC Greek Historian is
considered within the Western tradition to be the
“father of history”
 LIGUISTIC
 The scientific study of language and
structure.
 The earliest activities in the
documentation and description of
language have been attributed to the
4th century BCE Indian grammarian
Paninin, who wrote a formal
description of the Sanskrit language.
POLITICAL SCIENCE
 The branch of knowledge that deals with systems of government;
the analysis of political activity and behavior.

 DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
ARISTOTLE
 Wrote “Politics” the first systematic work on political affairs
 Father of Political Science
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
 Wrote the prince,” a hand book for rulers in the art of
government.
 Father of the Modern Political Science.
PROF. FRANCIS LIEBER
 Wrote “Manual of Political Ethics” the first systematic treatise in
political science.
PSYCHOLOGY
Is the science of behavior and mind
WILHELM WUNDT
He is referred to as the “father of
psychology” because in 1879 he
started the first laboratory in
psychology for studying humans.
SOCIOLOGY
 The study of the development, structure, and
functioning of the human society.
AUGUSTE COMTE
 Father of sociology
 Coined the term sociology
 DEMOGRAPHY
 The study of statistics such births, deaths, income,
or the incidence of disease, which illustrate the
changing structure of human population.

 THOMAS MALTHUS
 Is often regarded as the father of demography, the study
of population.
 Malthus looked at the rate of population growth and
concludes that food production could not possibly
increase fast enough to sufficient.