Introduction to Social

Science
Clara Easther C. Gayem
Meaning of Social Science,
Natural Science and Humanities
1. Social Science

Are the fields of human knowledge that

deals of the aspects of the group life of
human beings.

The study of society and the manner in

which people behave and influence the
world.
2. Natural Science
A branch of science that seeks to elucidate the
rules that govern the natural world by using the
Empirical and Scientific method.

Main concern is to explain natural and

environmental phenomena

Subject Areas are:

• Physics
• Chemistry
• Biology
• Earth science
• Astronomy
3. Humanities

Are academic disciplines that study the

human condition, using methods that are
primarily analytical, critical, or
speculative.

It is a branch of knowledge that tends to

humanize human as they express
themselves in various forms

• Ancient and Modern Languages

• Visual and Performing Arts
• Literature, History, Philosophy and Religion
• Society

A group of people who share a common

culture, occupy a particular territorial area
and feel themselves to constitute a unified
and distinct entity.

• Social Issue

Refers to the problems of a society

How is society different from
nature?
"Nature" conjures an image of random and
unstructured forces that shape a given area.
It usually follow a general pattern, law, or
process ever since the world existed. These
patterns and laws follow an amazing
uniformity, which anable a researcher to
trace back what happened in the past by
looking at what is happening in the present.
"Society," on the other hand, is a contrast
to the preceding imagery of nature. Society
is organized, deliberately structured and
formalized, and bound by rules drafted and
implemented by the people who themselves
constitute society.
• By the 19th century to early 20th century,
different types of societies all over the
world had been classified and categorized
placing a Western (European and North
American) urban and industrialized
society in direct opposition to Non-
Wstern, "PRIMITIVE" society.

• The word "Primitive" refers to everything

that contrast with the industrial, urbanized
society.
Ethnography

From the Greek word "ethnos" which

means a group of people, and the German
word "graphien" which means description.

Ethnography is a detailed description of a

specific cultutal and social group that has
become a central peice of the discipline of
anthropology.
The Historical Background of the
Growth of Social Science
• The development and progress of human
knowledge, Social Science can be traced
back to Greek Civilization.

Socrates Plato Aristotle

• Before the birth of modern social sciences
in the West, the study of society, culture
and politics were based on social and
political philosophy. In return, social and
political philosophies were informed by
theological reasoning grounded in
Revelation based on the holy bible.
• Philosophy is district from Science.
Science would not have a development if it
remained under the wings of philosophy
and theology.
• Philosophy is based on analytic
understanding of nature of truth about
specific topics of issues.
The Birth of Social Sciences as a
response to the social turmoil of
the MODERN PERIOD
Auguste Comte
Isidore Marie Auguste François
Xavier Comte was a French
philosopher and writer who
formulated the doctrine of
positivism. He is often regarded as
the first philosopher of science in
the modern sense of the term;
Comte is also seen as the founder
of the academic discipline of
sociology.

Born: 19 January 1798, Montpellier, France

Died: 5 September 1857, Paris, France
Harriet Martineau
One of the earliest Western
Sociologist, was a born in 1802 in
Norwich, England. Martineau was a
self-taught expert in political
economic theory, and wrote
prolifically about the relations
between politics, economics, morals
and social life throughout her career.
Her intellectual work was centered
by a staunchly moral perspective that
stemmed from her Unitarian faith.
She was fiercely critical of the
inequality and injustice faced by girls
and women, slaves, wage slaves
and the working poor.
Karl Marx
Emile Durkleim
Max Weber