College of the Social Sciences and Development

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Introduction to Sociology
The Social Sciences

Natural Sciences and the Social Sciences

Natural Sciences

Designed to comprehend, explain, and predict the different occurrences and phenomena of the natural environment.
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Biology
Geology
Chemistry
Physics

Social Sciences

A field of study which primary concern is to observe patterns of human behavior and society.
o Anthropology
o Economics
o Political Science
o Psychology
o Sociology
o (History)

Branches of Social Science

History

Focuses on past events

Attempts to unearth the facts surrounding some event which is of social significance

Looks for the important people, ideas, institutions, social movements or preceding events

Reconstructs records from the past, abstracts what they consider to be the most important elements or variables that caused the event.

Political Science

Focuses on politics and government, how groups of people govern others/ themselves

Looks at various forms of government and structures and their relations to other institutions of society

Looks at how power is disseminated and maintained.

Looks at the consequences of the different activities of rulers

Economics

Deals with the study of production, distribution, and allocation of material goods and services of society

Concerned with what goods are being produced; at what rate or what cost and variables that determine who gets what.

Anthropology

Traditionally, this discipline examines the life of indigenous/tribal people.

Focuses on understanding culture

College of the Social Sciences and Development

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Introduction to Sociology
The Social Sciences

Includes studies of artifacts peoples produce (tools, weapons, art, etc.)

Looks at group structures, patterns, genealogy, ideas and values, belief systems, forms of communications

Psychology

Primarily concerned with the human mind

Perceptions, attitudes, values, personality, mental aberrations / illnesses

Processes occurring within an individuals mind.

Sociology

Like history, it also attempts to study social contexts that affect people

Like political science, it looks at how people govern each other and the consequences thereafter.

Like economics, it deals with how goods are distributed and allocated, especially the social consequences of distribution.

Like anthropology, it also looks and studies culture-- social consequences of material goods, group structures, beliefs, and communication
systems.

Like psychology, studies how people adjust to the problems they face in life, their dispositions, behaviors, etc.

Sociology and History

Andres Bonifacio

Father of the Philippine Revolution

Dropped out of school to support his siblings after his parents died.

Son of a tailor

Made and sold canes and paper fans

Worked as a bodeguerro for a British firm, Fleming and Co.

Heavily influenced by the principles of the French Revolution

College of the Social Sciences and Development

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Introduction to Sociology
The Social Sciences

Sociology and Political Science

The Armed forces of the Philippines

Served as a colonial army (Philippine Scouts, US occupation)

Focused on constabulary tasks

Civil - military relations affected by dynamic changes in polity

E.g. Martial Law compared to Cory Aquinos government

Stature affects AFPs stand and capacity to defend RP in current national security
issues.

Sociology and Psychology

Approximately 35 South Koreans commit suicide per day

Before South Korea got rich, wired and worried, its suicide
rate was among the lowest in the industrialized world. (7.9 %
- 1990 to 24.7 % - 2008)

As modernity spawned, it created an overwhelming level of

stress. More South Koreans are compelled to work more,
sleep less, and spend more money per capita.

A word such as psychiatry remains taboo amidst this

industrializing society.