AN INTRODUCTION TO

SOCIAL SCIENCE

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 INTRODUCTION
 The scientific study of organized human groups is
a relatively recent development, but a vast
amount of information has been accumulated
concerning the social life of human beings.

 This information has been used in building a

system of knowledge (called social sciences) about
the nature, growth and functioning of human
societies.

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 Scientific knowledge is a knowledge that
has been systematically gathered,
classified, related and interpreted.

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 Social science – is taught in diverse ways.

some courses take a global perspective

some an anthropological perspective
some a psychological perspective
some a sociological perspective, and
some a historical perspective

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Definition

Social Sciences are the fields of human

knowledge that deal with all aspects of the
group life of human beings.

They are closely related to humanities (deals

with literature, music, art, and philosophy)
because both deal with humans and their
culture.

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 However, Social Sciences are most concerned
with those basic elements of culture that
determine the general patterns of human
behavior.

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 Components of Social Sciences:

Anthropology – is the study of relationship

between biological traits and socially acquired
characteristics. Sometimes called the study of
human.

1. Physical anthropology
2. Cultural anthropology

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Sociology – is the systematic study of relationship
among people. Sociologists assume that behavior is
influenced by people’s social, political, occupational
and intellectual groupings and by the particular
settings in which they find themselves atone time
or another.

3 major choices are:

1. Functionalism
2. Conflict
3. Interactionalism

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Geography – is the study of the natural environment
and how it influence social and cultural
development.

Concerns of geography are:

1. Ecology
2. Climate
3. Resources
4. Accessibility
5. Demography

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 History – is the study of past events. It is a social
science in the sense that it is a systematic attempt to
learn about and verify past events and relate them to
one another and to the present.

 The study of history involves:

 1. Identifying
 2. Classifying
 3. Arranging

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 Economics – is the study of the ways in which men
and women make a living, the most pressing problem
most human beings face.

 Its subject matter is often summarized as:

 1. Production
 2. Distribution
 3. Consumption

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 Some of the topics includes are:
 1. Supply and demand
 2. Monetary and fiscal policy
 3. Costs
 4. Inflation
 5. Unemployment

 Economics seeks to explain, guide and predict social

arrangements by which we satisfy economic wants.

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 Political Science – is the study of social arrangments
to maintain peace and order within a given society.

 It deals with government, and its interest are:

 1. Politics
 2. Laws
 3. Adminsitration
 4.International Relations
 5. Theory of the nature and functions of the state

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 Psychology – deals with the mind and personality of
the individual. It is a social science because humans
are social creatures. It focuses on the individual and
physical processes such as:

 1. Biological structure
 2. Development and maturation

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 To understand society is to learn not only the
conditions that limit ourselves, but also the
opportunities open to us for improving the
human condition.

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 The humanities deal special aspects of human culture
and primarily concerned with our attempts to express
spiritual and aesthetic values and discover the
meaning of life.

 Whereas the social sciences study issues in a

systematic, scientific way, the focus of the humanities
is more on the emotions and feeling themselves than
on the system employed to sharpen that focus.

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 Increasing our knowledge of human society is as
important as learning more about mathematics,
physics, chemistry or engineering, for unless we can
develop societies in which human beings can live
happy, meaningful and satisfying lives (incomparable
to benefits from learning how make better
automobiles etc).

 Albert Einstein said that “Politics is more difficult

than physics and the world is more likely to die from
bad politics than from bad physics.

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Major steps in Scientific Inquiry

 Observation: All scientific knowledge relates to

the natural environment and all knowledge
begins with facts gathered through careful
observation.
 Formulation of problem:
 Collection and classification of more facts:
 Generalization:
 Formulation of the hypothesis:
 Testing the hypothesis:
 Retesting and reformulating the theory:
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 Approaches in Social Sciences

 Define the problem

 Review the literature review
 Develop a theoretical framework and formulate
hypothesis
 Choose the research design
 Collect the necessary data
 Analyze the results
 Draw conclusion.

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1. Define the Problem

this one is probably the most important. If you

have carefully defined your terms, you can save
an enormous amount of energy. Put simply, if
you do not know what you are doing, no matter
how well you do it then everything is useless.

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2. Literature Review

knowledge of the relevant literature is essential

because it provides background, suggests
approaches, indicates what has already been covered
and what hasn’t, and saves you from redoing what has
already been done. It is a way of using other people’s
observation.

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3. Develop a Theoretical Framework

make a statement predicting your results and

them clarify what each of the terms in the
statement means within the framework of your
research.

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4. Choose a research design

pick a means of gathering data, a survey, an

experiment, an observational study,
secondary materials or a combination. Weigh
this choice carefully because your plan is the
crux of your research process.

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5. Collecting the necessary data

Data are what one collects from careful observation.

Your conclusion will be only as good as your data, so
take great care in collecting and especially in
recording your data. If you don’t document what you
have done, youmight as well not have done it.

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7. Drawing conclusions

Now you can prepare a report, summarizing the steps

you have followed and discussing what you have
found. A good findings will relate your conclusions to
the existing body of research, suggest where current
assumptions may be modified because of nee
evidence and possibly identify unanswered questions
for further study.

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6. Analyzing the results

when all data are in classify facts, identify trends,

recognize relationships and tabulate the information
so that it can be accurately analyzed and interpreted.

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 Typical Method in Social Science

 The historical method relies heavily on a study of

their (subjects) historical background. It traces the
principal past developments that seem to have
been directly significant in bringing a social
situation about.

 The case method involves making a more detailed

examination and analysis of a particular issue or
problem situation.

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 The comparative and cross-cultural methods
was formerly often employed in the hope of
discovering evolutionary sequence in the
development of human institutions that is
patterns of social development or progress
that would be universal.

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 Difference between Theories and
Concepts
 Concepts

a generalized idea about people, objects or processes

that are related to one another, an abstract ways of
classifying things that are similar.

 They are ways of classifying things that are in the

same categories

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 Concepts

are used to simply the way people think and

communicate.

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 Concepts are used by social scientists to generalize
about some aspects of human interaction.

 They are guidelines that direct the interpretation and

analysis of reality.

 Concepts are the technical vocabulary of the social

sciences, and they have precise meanings that may
differ considerably from the generally understood
versions.

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 Theories

- a set of principles or concepts and generalizations so

arranged that they explain and predict possible
relationships among phenomena.

 In social science, theories are formulation of

principles of behavior through which scientists try to
increase their knowledge of human interaction.

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 Theories

- founded on observation and analysis using

the vocabulary of concepts

-intent to explain the connections between

and among occurrences in human
interaction.

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- without theories the accumulation of knowledge would be
impossible, just as the formulation of theories would
be impossible without concepts

- Always open to change and even to total rejection if new

evidence is presented to challenge them.

- In scientific terminology, a theory carries much more weight

because it is based on supporting evidence.

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 Theories of Social sciences

 The Theory of Evolution assumes that the

changes in any society are uniform based on
fixed rules.

 Idea of Evolution is often associated with

great personalities like Charles Darwin,
Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer and Karl
Marx

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 Theory of Evolution

 Darwin’s Theory of Evolution – is based on 5 key

observation and inferences.

1. Species have great fertility. They make more

offspring than can grow to adulthood.

2. Populations remain roughly the same size with

modest fluctuations

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3. Food resources are limited but are relatively
constant most of the time.

4. In sexually reproducing species, generally no two

individuals are identical. Variations is rampant.

5. Much of this variation is heritable.

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 From this it may be inferred. In a world of
stable populations where each individual
must struggle to survive, those with the best
characteristics will be more likely to survive,
and those desirable traits will be passed to
their offspring.

 These advantageous are inherited by

following generations, becoming dominant
among population through time. This is
natural selection.

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 Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

1. Variation – There is a variation in every population

2. Competition – Organisms compete for limited resources
3. Offspring – organisms produce more offspring than can
survive
4. Genetics - Organisms pass Genetic traits on to their
offspring
5. Natural Selection – Those organisms with the most
beneficial traits are more likely to survive and
reproduce.

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AUGUST COMTE (1798-1857)

Suggested the idea that human thought are

divided to 3 categories:

i. Theology
- whereby the thoughts are influenced by
religion and supernatural beliefs.

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ii. Metaphysic
-thoughts that are influenced by
abstract idea which is gathered from
incident and physical phenomenon.

iii. Positivism
- man think by using scientific methods to
explore the incidents and physical
phenomenon around them.

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 Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)

 Assumed of the existence of equal evolutionary

process between biological organisms and
people

 His idea about the natural social evolution was

influenced by Darwin’s idea of “Survival of the
Fittest”

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 The fittest will survive in the process while
the weak will be eliminated naturally
according to the law of nature

 Hence, his idea refuses the element of force

in human social system

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Lewis Henry Morgan (1818- 1881)

 popularized Cultural Evolution Theory

 Made assumptions that any society can be divided

according to 3 levels of survival

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 Savagery - society which lives as nomads and
indulge in hunting and food gathering

 Barbarisme - society which lives on a particular

place and plants for survival

 Civilization - society which lives on a particular

place and starts to use technology

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Karl Marx (1818-1883) &
Frederick Engels (1820-1895)

 Influenced by Morgan’s ideas but more focused

on material changes aspect

 Evolution happens in the contacts of resource

production and mode of production

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CONCLUSION

 Man kind need to understand and observe

the importance of social sciences

 Knowledge based society will be better

equipped to socializing process

 A well balanced knowledge about social

sciences will ensure the humans existence.

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 Have a nice day!

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