Social Science

 studies the historical, cultural, sociological, psychological, and the political forces that shape the
actions of individuals and their impact on society.

Branches or Disciplines in the Social Science

1. ANTHROPOLOGY

• came from the Greek word anthropos meaning “humankind” and logos meaning the “study”
(Bonstingl 1996, 206)

• It is the study of ancient societies and their cultural traditions.

• Anthropologists investigate the people’s language, values, technologies, and even how they group
themselves.

FIELDS OF ANTHROPOLGY:

PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY or BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY

• studies the biological evolution of man

• provides explanations on the reason behind the biological variations among contemporary human
population.

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

 investigates and seeks to understand the cultural features of societies.

 studies aspects of human culture such as religion, ritual, myth, technology, gender roles, kinship forms,
economic and political structures, music, and folklore.

SUB BRANCHES OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

1. Archaeology - seeks to reconstruct the past life of ancient societies, trace the cultural changes that took
place and the reason behind the changes through artifacts and other material remains.

2. Anthropological linguistics– involves the study of language in societies (written or unwritten), trace the
cultural changes that took place and the reason behind changes.

SUB BRANCHES OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY:

3. Ethnology

 studies marriage customs, kinship pattern

 uses data gathered through observations and interviews

 employs ethnography – a description of a society’s customary behaviors or art of

collecting cultural data about particular cultures, generally through the process of
“fieldwork,”
Activity 1: Analyzing Culture

Put yourself in the shoes of anthropologist. Examine the photographs of artifacts and other pieces of evidence
in order to try to understand culture . Make a detailed description of the of the two cultures based on your
interpretation of the artifacts.

Culture I: Ancient India

Culture 2: Ancient Egypt

Branches or Disciplines in the Social Sciences:

2. ECONOMICS

• originated from Greek words oikos meaning “house” and nomos meaning “management”

• The term oikonomia literally translates as “management of a household.”

• The study of the efficient allocation of scarce resources in order to satisfy unlimited human needs and
wants.

ECONOMIC GOALS The following is a list of the major economic goals:

1) economic growth, 2) price level stability, 3) economic efficiency, 4) full employment, 5) balanced trade, 6)
economic security, 7) equitable distribution of income, and 8) economic freedom.

There are two branches of economics, microeconomics and macroeconomics. Macroeconomics looks at
how the economy, as a whole, works. For instance, it can study the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a
country, and how it is influenced by unemployment levels or changes in price levels. Microeconomics, on the
other hand, looks at the behavior of small economic units, within the larger economy. It studies how
individuals and firms interact and make decisions on how the scarce resources can be allocated. As stated
by Investopedia in the attached link, “microeconomics uses a bottoms-up approach to studying the
economy, while macroeconomics uses a top-down approach." Microeconomics deals with topics such as
the demand and supply of goods and services, the structure of the market, game theory, and money prices.

Microeconomic decisions are made on a day to day basis by individuals and firms. This is because all people
face the problem of scarce or limited resources. The following are some examples of microeconomic
decisions.

Consumer choices: Decisions are made on which goods or services offer a consumer the most satisfaction.
For instance, should one purchase the flat leather shoes or the Adidas sneakers; should one rent the small
apartment instead of the big apartment? What are the opportunity costs of making these decisions?

Management choices: A decision on how much to produce as a firm is a microeconomic decision. Others
examples: decisions on how much stock to keep, where to purchase stock from, etc.
Branches or Disciplines in the Social Sciences:

3. Geography

 derived from the Greek word geo meaning “earth” and graphe meaning “to describe”

 geographia (to describe the earth)

 is the study of the features of the earth and the location of living things on the planet.

 Geographers examine where and how groups of people live and what adaptations they usually
undertake in order to subsist in certain regions of the earth.

Branches of Geography

Physical Geography

 It is geography from perspective of earth sciences and as a branch of the natural sciences

 It includes the study of soil, landforms, water, vegetation, minerals, and climate.

 Geographers study various phenomena found among the different spheres of the earth and also
interested in the interplay of humans and the natural environment.

Human Geography

 focuses on the human aspect of geography that is marked by a strong commitment to the concept of
culture

 interested in determining humankind’s role in changing the environment as well as the different
processes that help shape human society, including migration and settlement patterns.
Activity:

Describe your family using the Five themes of geography

Relationships-_____________________________

Five themes of Location-________________________________

Geography Place-___________________________________

Region-_________________________________

Movement-________________________________
Branches or Disciplines in the Social Sciences:

4. HISTORY

 Originated from the Greek word historia meaning “inquiry”.

 A branch of knowledge that attempts to ascertain, record, and explain facts and events that
happened in the past.

 Historians unfold, discover, and interpret human thoughts and actions that are ever changing while
relying mostly on written accounts that may incompletely survived from the past.

Branches of History:

BRANCH THEME SAMPLE WORK

Social History experiences of common people Crime, Society, and the State in the Nineteenth Century Philippines (Greg
Bankoff, Ateneo de Manila Press, 1996))

Cultural History customs, arts, traditions Balatik: Etnoastronomiya Kalangitan sa Kabihasnang Pilipino (Dante L.
Ambrosio, U.P. Press, 2010)

Political History Political ideas, events, movements, Ilustrado Politics: Filipino Elite Rsponses to American Rule, 1898-1908 (Michael
parties, leaders, Cullinane, Ateneo de Manila Press, 2003)

Economics Economic occurences, way of The Tobacco Monopoly in the Philippines: Bureaucratic Enterprise and Social
History living, distribution of goods Change, 1766-1880 (Ed C. de Jesus, Ateeneo de Manila University Press,
1980)

Military History Military affairs,strategies, doctrine, The Filipino-American War 1899-1913 (by Samuel K. Tan, University of the
armed conflict Philippines Press, 2002)

Diplomatic International relations between The United States and the Philippines: A Study of Neocolonialism (Stephen
History states Roskamm Shalom, New Day Publishers, 1986)

History of Religion Religious experiences and ideas Beginnings of the Filipino Dominicans (Rolando V. de la Rosa, UST Publishing
House, 1990)

History of Women Women’s role in society Working Women of Manila in the 19th Century (Ma. Luisa Camagay,
University of the Philippines Press, 1995)

Environmental Human interaction with nature and Nature and the Orient: The Environmental History of South and Southeast
History environment (Richard H. Grove, Vinita Damodaran, Satpal Sangwan, eds. Oxford
University Press, 1998)

Activity Pair up and come up with a list of 5 people, 5 events and 5 inventions/advancements that have happened
in your lifetime that you think will “make history”.

Branches or Disciplines in the Social Sciences:

5. LINGUISTICS
 A field of knowledge involving the scientific study of language as a universal and universal and
recognizable aspect of human behavior and capacity.
 Study changes that have taken place on various languages over time as well as their modern
variations
Broad field of Language:
Morphology
 The study of language form
Syntax
 The study on how words are formed
Phonology
 The study of sounds of language
Branches of Linguistics:
BRANCHES AREAS OF INTEREST

General Linguistics Concepts and categories of language or

languages , theory of language

Micro Linguistics Structure of language systems

1. Phonetics
2. Phonology
3. Morphology
4. Syntax
5. Semantics

Macro Linguistics External view of language

1. Stylistics
2. Developmental Linguistics
3. Historical Linguistics
4. Language Geography
5. Psycholinguistics
6. Sociolinguistics
7. Clinical Linguistics
Branches or Disciplines in the Social Sciences:

6. Political Science

 The study of governments, and the need for the institution, its form, and its processes.

 Deals with the theory and practice of politics, including analysis on public policies

Political Science key Concept:

 State

 Politics

 Power

 Processes

Branches or Disciplines in the Social Sciences:

7. Sociology

 Derived from the Latin word socius meaning “companion” and from the Greek word logos meaning
“study of.”

 A field of study dealing with the systematic study of patterns of human interaction.

 The science of society

General Sociology

 Deals with the properties and homogeneity common to all social and cultural phenomena, including
those characteristics found among groups and institutions

Special Sociology

 Focuses on specific sociocultural phenomenon usually selected for further study, including
socialization, interaction, conflict, and domination.
Branches or Disciplines in the Social Sciences:

8. PSYCHOLOGY

 Comes from two Greek words psyche meaning “soul” or “spirit” and logos, means study.

FIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY:

1. Clinical Psychology – assesses and finds treatment for people with psychological disorders.

2. Developmental Psychology – studies the intellectual, social, emotional, and moral development
across a lifespan.

3. Experimental Psychology – studies the most basic concepts of psychology like cognition, perception,
memory, and learning but mostly conducted in animals instead of humans.

Wilhelm Wundt – is considered as the Father of Modern Psychology

Branches of Sociology:

9. DEMOGRAPHY

• comes from two Greek words demos meaning “people” and graphos meaning “charting or mapping”

• It studies how people move from place to place.

BASIC CONCEPTS:

 fertility

 mortality

 migration

 population growth

DEMOGRAPHY Pioneers of the discipline:

Kautilya

• an Indian scholar who commented that large population is a source of military,

political, and economic power.

Ibn Khal dun

• an Arab Historian who contented that a dense population growth is generally

favourable to the maintenance and increase of power
Anthropology is the study of humans, early hominids and primates, such as chimpanzees.

Anthropologists study human language, culture, societies, biological and material remains, the biology and
behavior of primates, and even our own buying habits. It’s a broad discipline that constantly incorporates
new technologies and ideas. As technologies are developed that allow exoplanets to be detected and
studied in greater detail, anthropology may eventually expand to include the study of non-human
civilizations.
Sociocultural anthropology
“Sociocultural anthropologists examine social patterns and practices across cultures, with a special interest in
how people live in particular places and how they organize, govern, and create meaning,” writes the
American Anthropological Association.

Archaeology
Archaeology is the study of humanity through the materials — the stuff — we leave behind. This can be in the
distant past, such as the pyramids at Giza, or very recent times, such as a 21st-century marriage proposal
carved near a closed quarantine station.

Physical anthropology

Physical or biological anthropologists study the remains of human beings and hominids using a variety of
techniques to investigate human disease, diet, genetics and lifestyle.
Some, such as Jane Goodall, specialize in the study of primates, such as chimpanzees. By studying these
creatures, which are closely related to us, we can learn much about ourselves and how we came to be.

Another important sub-branch is forensic anthropology, which tends to focus on helping authorities solve
crimes and identify human remains found at crime and disaster scenes.

Linguistic anthropology

Linguistic anthropologists can be found analyzing languages, both verbal and non-verbal, around the world.
They do things like study American presidential debates to determine how candidates use non-verbal hand
gestures to communicate with voters. They can also be found analyzing the books and movies read by young
teenagers (the "Twilight" series, for instance) to determine how they affect the teenage mind.

The Social Science Disciplines

Discuss the following scenarios with your group and determine how each of the social sciences would address the
scenario. Comment on which of the social sciences would be most useful in assessing each scenario. Each person in
your group is responsible for completing his/her own organizer.