Nature and Functions

of Social Sciences
Disciplines
 LEARNING
COMPETENCY
The presented activities or exercises and texts are
developed in order to meet the following objectives:

● Define the nine disciplines of Social Sciences; and

● Identify the natures and functions of each
disciplines.
 01 02 03

Social science
tells us how It tells us that everything
society works. It provides a deeper is interconnected, that
understanding about the labor of yesterday
the world beyond our can be the fruits of today
immediate experience. and that the actions of
today will have an
impact in the future of
humanity.
 Political science,
Social sciences Anthropology,
sociology, history,
consist of a variety Demography,
anthropology, Furthermore, there
of disciplines, Economics,
economics, is no grand plan
subject areas, and Geography,
geography, and area according to which
methods, there is History,
studies all provide the disciplinary
no reason to expect Linguistics,
their own, largely definitions jointly
that these Political Science,
independent, capture all that is of
disciplines will Psychology, and
definitions of scope, scientific interest
eventually add up Sociology are the
 Etymologies of Social
Science Disciplines and
Definitions
Social Science
Disciplines
Anthropology Demography Economics

● “anthopos” ● “demos” ● “oikanomia”

(human), (people), (household
“logos” (study “graphein” management
Etymologies

of) (description) )

Study of what
Scientific study of constitutes
man or human Study of human rational human
Definitions being and their population and behavior in the
 Political
Geography Linguistics History
Science
● “histoire” ● “politika,”
● “geo” (Earth), ● “lingua”
(recorded and “polis”
“graphein”(d (tongue,
documented (affairs of
escription) language)
events) the cities)

Deals with the Study of

The study of the
study of the languages and Deals with the
past and its
relationship focuses on the system of
records about
between the three aspects of governance
events.
 Psychology Sociology

● “socius” (people
● “psyche” (mind), “logos”
together, associate),
(study of)
“logos” (study of)

Study of groups - how they

Scientific study of the mind are formed, how they
and behavior change, and how the group
impacts individual behavior
 Function of Social
Science Disciplines
 Disciplines Function
● Essentially to understand as many aspects of
human life as can possibly be studied, to record
its findings, and contribute to both historical
1. Anthropology 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
 Disciplines Function
● A useful for work. Its study helps create good
businesspeople, professionals, and political
leaders. The number of explicit professional jobs
3. History
for historians is considerable, but most people
who study history do not become professional
historians. (Evans, 2001)

● 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
4. Sociology
the examination of various rights movements,
 Disciplines Function
● A social study concerning the allocation and
transfer of power in decision making, the roles
5. Political and systems of governance including

Science governments and 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
6. Economics
living beings; similarly production, consumption
 Disciplines Function
● Refer to the general social uses of language, such
as requesting objects and activities, initiating
7. Linguistics social interactions, expressing personal feelings,
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
population of that particular area; To explain the
8. Demography
factors relating to changes in population; and To
study the population trends on the basis of the
 Disciplines Function
● According to earlier psychologists, the function
of psychology was to study the nature, origin
and destiny of the human soul. But soul is
9. Psychology
something metaphysical. It cannot be seen,
observed and touched and we cannot make
scientific experiments in soul. (Kendra, 2020)
 Nature of Social
Science Disciplines
 Discipline 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.
• 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.
 Discipline Nature

Geography (Semple, 2004)

• Geography is concerned to provide an accurate, orderly, and

rational 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.
 Discipline Nature

Geography (Semple, 2004)

• 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."
 Discipline Nature

History (Munslow, 2001)

• A study of the present in the light of the past: The present has
evolved 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
 Discipline Nature

History (Munslow, 2001)

• 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.
 Discipline Nature

History (Munslow, 2001)

• 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.
 Discipline Nature

History (Munslow, 2001)

• 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.
 Discipline Nature

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.
 Discipline Nature

Sociology (Lo, 2019)

• 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.
 Discipline Nature

Sociology (Lo, 2019)

• 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."
 Discipline Nature

Sociology (Lo, 2019)

• 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
 Discipline Nature

Political Science (Bhargava,2008)

• 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
 Discipline Nature

Economics (Metu, 2016)

• 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.
 Discipline Nature

Economics (Metu, 2016)

• 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.
 Discipline Nature

Economics (Metu, 2016)

• 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.
 Discipline Nature

Linguistics

• 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
 Discipline Nature

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.
 Discipline Nature

Psychology

• 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
The Methods of
Creating History
 Methods Description
● Embraces human agency in history. Uses
sources to provide and accurate and
Positivism complete vision of the past. Also embraces
and empathetic approach towards people in
the past.

● The creation of narratives of the past -

Narrative -
analysis plays less role as the role of
Chronology accidents is most important.
 Methods Description

Biography - ● The “Great Men” method which creates

chronological narratives. Often look at the
Hagiography 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
Dialectics - Analysis
the old and the new. The synthesis becomes the
new thesis or paradigm and the process of
clashes (dialectics) repeats.
 Methods Description
● Works of the Annales school are characterized
Meta - by a multi - layered approach which seek to
integrate long term, midterm and short term
Narrative/ Total
factors in a “total history”. There is an effort to
History explain large amounts of human history through
the application of theory and social sciences.

● Rejects human agency in historical affairs.

Negativism Rejects all sources. Rejects the possibility of
empathetic understanding of the past.
The School of
Psychology
 School of
Psychology
Proponent Description

• Considered to be the first school of

thought in Psychology.
• This outlook focused on breaking
down mental processes into the most
Wilhelm Wundt
basic components. • The focus was
Structuralism and Edward
on reducing mental processes down
Titchener
into their most basic elements.
• The structuralists used techniques
 School of
Psychology
Proponent Description

• A general psychological philosophy

that considers mental life and
behavior in terms of active
John Dewey, James
adaptation to the person’s
Rowland Angell,
environment.
and Harvey Carr.
• A theory of the mind in
Functionalism
Founder: William
contemporary philosophy, developed
James
largely as an alternative to both the
 School of
Psychology
Proponent Description

• Studies the unconscious mind.

• This school of thought emphasized
the influence of the unconscious mind
Psychoanalytic Sigmund Freud on behavior.
• Freud believed that the human mind
was composed of three elements: the
id, ego, and superego
 School of
Psychology
Proponent Description

• The school of psychology that

studies mental processes including
how people think, perceive, remember
and learn.
Cognitivism • As part of the larger field of
cognitive science, this branch of
psychology is related to other
disciplines including neuroscience,
 School of
Psychology
Proponent Description

• Studies the mind and behavior as a

whole
• A school of psychology based upon
Max Wertheimer,
the idea that we experience things as
Gestalt Wolfgang Kohler,
Psychology unified wholes.
and Kurt Koffka
• Means “form” or “configuration”
• The whole is other than the sum of
its parts