CONCEPT PAPER
• Discipline and Ideas in the Social Sciences
Defining Social Sciences – is made of several disciplines and these include history, political
science, sociology, psychology, economics, geography demography, anthropology,
linguistics. As a body of scientific knowledge, the social sciences provide diverse set of
lens that help us understand and explain the different facets of human society. The
varieties of lens that social sciences study refer to the different fields of the social
sciences that investigate human society.
BRANCHES OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
• Economics studies the allocation of scarce resources and the production and exchange of
goods and services in society.
Economics has different subfields
Environmental Economics – studies the allocation of natural resources
Labor Economics – focuses on the study of decision-making and behaviors of employees
and the relationships between employers and employees.
Business Economics – examines the behavior of economies and firms by studying the
factors that resuit in profit maximization, price setting, production goals, and the role of
incentives.
•Monetary Economics – on the other hand, studies the nation’s production, inflation,
income, interest rates, and monetary policies.
• Anthropology is the scientific study of humans and their cultures in the past and present
Time.
Anthropologies are trained in the different areas:
•Cultural Anthropology studies the development of human culture based on ethnologic,
linguistic, social, and psychological data analysis. It explains how people in other
societies live and affects their environments to their respective lives.
Physical Anthropology studies human biological nature, particularly its beginning,
evolution, and variation in prehistory.
Archeology studies human life in the past through the examination of things left behind
by the people
•History is systematic study of human past events in order to understand the meaning,
dynamics, and relationships of the cause and effects of events in the development of
societies.
History has several fields of study:
Political History studies history of political institutions.
Economic History studies the development of economic institutions and other economic
factors.
Social History studies the history of ordinary lives of people like women, children, ethnic
groups, and the different sectors of society from historical point of view.
Environmental History looks into the history of the interaction of humans with the
environment.
History of medicine and public heath examines the history of public health and human
medicine.
Business history studies the history of the development of businesses, companies, and
industries.
Biographies studies the history of great persons in history.
• Political Science primarily studies human behavior in relation to political systems,
Governments, laws, and international relations.
Political has several fields of study:
Domestic politics studies public opinion, elections, national and local governments.
Comparative politics studies politics within countries and analyzes the similarities and
differences between among countries.
International Relations focuses on the study of political relationship and interaction
between and among countries.
Public administration studies national and local governance and bureaucracy.
Public law examines legal systems, civil rights, and criminal justice
• Psychology studies how the human mind works in consonance with the body to produce
Thoughts that lead to individual actions.
Psychology subfields:
Experimental psychology studies of humans and animals examines how and why learning
takes place.
Developmental psychology studies the ways people change and behave as they go
through their life.
Personality psychology studies human nature and differences among people
Environmental psychology studies the effects of surroundings on a person’s attitude and
behavior.
• Sociology is a systematic study of people’s behavior in groups.
Sociology subfields:
Applied sociology focus on the use and proper application of sociological theories,
methods and skills to examine data, solve problems and communicate research to the
public.
Urban sociology studies societal life interactions in urban areas through the application
of sociological methods like statistical analysis and ethnographies.
Cultural sociology analyzes the development of social institutions, norms and practices.
Rural sociology studies the social life of people in rural areas.
•Medical sociology examines the societal aspects of health and medicine of people
Sociology of education analyzes how social forces and institutions like pol itics, economic
systems, and culture affects school and educational systems
Political sociology examines how social structure affects and influences politics
•Military sociology is a sociological study of the military organization, the different
civilian and military relationships, war experiences, and the use and control of force.
• Geography is the study of interaction between people and their environments.
Geography subfields:
• Physical geography studies the natural features of earth,including land,water,and
atmosphere
• Human geography studies how people create in their natural environments.
• Demography according to the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (2016)
demography is the scientific study human population across time.
Major subfields
• Population studies or social demography analyze demographic data to define, explain
and foresee social phenomena.It also studies social status composition and population
distribution.
