2. An introduction to Social sciences
• The scientific study of organized human group
is 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.
3. • Scientific knowledge is a knowledge that has
been systematically gathered, classified,
related and interpreted.
• Social science - is taught is diverse way:
- some courses take a global perspective
- some and anthropological perspective
- some of psychological prospective
- some historical perspective, and
- some historical perspective
4. Definition
• Social sciences are the field 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.
• However, Social sciences are most concerned
with those basic elements of culture that
determine the general problem of human
behavior.
5. Components of social sciences
• Anthropology :
Anthropology is the study of
relationship between biological trades and
socially acquired characteristics. Sometimes
called the study of human.
1 .Physical anthropology
2. cultural anthropology
6. • Sociology- is the systematic study of relationship
among people. Sociologist assume that behavior is
influenced by people’s social, political,
occupational and intellectual grouping and by the
particular settings in which they find themselves
atone time or another.
• Three major choices are :
1.functionalism
2.conflict and
3. Internationalism
7. • 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
• History- is the study of the 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
8. • Economics - is the study of the way in which men and
women which make a living, the most pressing problem
most human beings face.
• Its subject matter is often summarized as: 1.Production
2.Distribution and
3.Consumption
Some of the topics includes are:
- supply and demand
- Monetary and fiscal policy
- cost
- Inflation
- Unemployment
• Economics seeks to explain, guide and predict social
arrangements by which we satisfy economic wants.
9. • Political science- political science is the study of
social arrangements to maintain peace and
order within a given society.
• It deal with government, and its interest are:
1. Politics
2. Law
3. Administrations
4. International relations
5. Theory of the nature and functions of the
state
10. • Psychology- Psychology deal with the mind
and personality of the individual. It is a social
science because human are the social
creatures. It focuses on the individual and
physical processes such as:
1. Biological structure
2. Development and maturation
• To understand society is to learn not only the
condition that limit ourselves, but also the
opportunities open to us for improving the
human condition.
11. • 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 on the
humanities is more on the emotions and
feeling themselves than on the system
employed to sharpen that focus.
12. • 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 world is more likely to
die from bad politics than from bad physics.
13. • 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
• Formulation of the hypothesis
• Testing the hypothesis
• Retesting and reformulating in the theory
14. Approaches in social sciences
• Define the problem
• Review the literature review
• Developed theoretical framework and
formulate hypothesis
• Choose the research design
• Collect the necessary data
• Analyze the results
• Draw conclusion
15. Typical method in social science : Historical method,
case method, Comparative and cross cultural methods
• The Historical method : relies heavily on the 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.
• The comparative and cross cultural methods: was
formally of an 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.
16. social science its relationship between
individual and society
• Society does not exist independently without
individual. The individual lives and acts
within society but society is nothing, in spite
of the combination of individuals for
cooperative effort. On the other hand, society
exists to serve individuals—not the other way
around. Human life and society almost go
together
17. • Man is a social animal. He lives in social
groups in communities and in society. Human
life and society almost go together. Man
cannot live without society. Man is
biologically and psychologically equipped to
live in groups, in society. Society has become
an essential condition for human life to arise
and to continue.
• The relationship between individual and
society is ultimately one of the profound of all
the problems of social philosophy. It is more
philosophical rather than sociological because
it involves the question of values.
18. • Man depends on society. It is in the society
that an individual is surrounded and
encompassed by culture, a societal force. It is
in the society again that he has to conform to
the norms, occupy statuses and become
members of groups.
19. • The question of the relationship between the
individual and the society is the starting point
of many discussions. It is closely connected
with the question of the relationship of man
and society. There is main theories regarding
the relationship of man and society .They are:-
• Social contract theory
• Organismic theory of society
• Evolution theory
20. Theories
• In social sciences, theories are formulation of
principles of behavior through which scientist
try to increase their knowledge of human
interaction.
• Founded on observation and analysis using the
vocabulary of concept.
• Intent to explain the connections between the
among occurrence in human interaction.
21. • 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.
22. • Social Contract theory:-
• The social contract theory throws light on the
origin of the society. According to this theory
all men are born free and equal. Society came
into existence because of the agreement
entered into by the individuals. The classical
representatives of this school of thought are
Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Rousseau.
23. Thomas Hobbes
• Thomas Hobbes was of opinion that society came into
being as a means for the protection of men against the
consequences of their own nature. Man in the state of
nature was in perpetual conflict with his neighbors on
account of his essentially selfish nature. 'The life of man
was solitary poor, nasty, brutish and short'. Every man
was an enemy to every other man.
• Hobbes in his book Leviathan has made it clear that man
found nothing but grief in the company of his fellows.
Since the conditions in the state of nature were intolerable
and men longed for peace, the people entered into a kind
of social contract to ensure for themselves security and
certainty of life and property.
24. • By mutual agreement they decided to
surrender their natural rights into the hands of
a few or one with authority to command. The
agreement was of each with all and of all with
each other. The contract became binding on the
whole community as perpetual social bond.
Thus in order to protect himself against the
evil consequences of his own nature man
organized himself in society in order to live in
peace with all.
25. • John Locke
• John Locke believed that man in the state of nature was
enjoying an ideal liberty free from all sorts of rules and
regulations. The state of nature was a state of peace,
goodwill, mutual assistance and preservation. But there
was no recognized system of law and justice. Hence his
peaceful life was often upset by the corruption and
viciousness of degenerate men. The men were forced to
live in full of fears and continual dangers.
• In order to escape from this and to gain certainty and
security men made a contract to enter into civil society or
the state. This contract Locke called social contract. This
contract put an end to the state of nature and substituted it
by civil society.
26. • The social contract was no more than a surrender
of rights and powers so that man's remaining
rights would be protected and preserved. The
contract was for limited and specific purposes and
what was given up or surrendered to the whole
community and not to a man or to an assembly of
men. According to Locke the social contract later
on contributed to the governmental control. The
governmental contract was made by the society
when it established a government and selected a
ruler to remove the inconveniences of ill –
condition.
27. • Jean Jacques Rousseau
• Rousseau the French writer of the 18th century
in his famous book The Social Contract wrote
that man in the state of nature was a noble
savage who led a life of primitive simplicity
and idyllic happiness. He was independent,
contented, self-sufficient, healthy, fearless and
good. It was only primitive instinct and
sympathy which united him with others. He
knew neither right or wrong and was free from
all notions of virtue and vice.
28. Organismic Theory of Society
• Man is a social animal. He lives in social groups
in communities and in society. Human life and
society almost go together. Man cannot live
without society. Man is biologically and
psychologically equipped to live in groups, in
society. Society has become an essential condition
for human life to arise and to continue.
• Man depends on society. It is in the society that an
individual is surrounded and encompassed by
culture, a societal force. It is in the society again
that he has to conform to the norms, occupy
statuses and become members of groups.
29. Evolution theory
• 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
30. Theory of evolution
• Darwin theory of evolution- is based on 5 key
observation and influences
• Species have great fertility. They make more
offspring that can grow to adulthood .
• Populations remain roughly the same size with
modest fluctuations.
• food resources are limited but are relatively
content most of the time.
• Much of this variation is heritable.
31. • From this it is may be inferred. In the word of
stable population 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 advantages are inherited by following
generations, becoming dominant among
population through time. This is natural
selection.
32. August Comte (1798-1857)
• suggested the idea that human thought are
divided 3 categories:
• theology where by the thoughts are influenced
by religion and supernatural beliefs
• metaphysics thoughts that they are influenced
by abstract idea which is gathered from
incident and physical phenomena
• positivism man think why using scientific
methods to explore the incidents and physical
phenomena around them.
33. Herbert Spencer
• Assumed the existence of the 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”
• The fittest will survive is 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
34. Lewis Henry Morgan
• popularized cultural evolution and theory
• Made assumptions that any society can be
divided according to three level of survival
• Savagery- society which lives as nomads and
indulge in hunting and food gathering.
• Barbarisme- society which lives on a
particular place and plant of Survival
• civilization- society which lives on a
particular place and starts to use techonology.
35. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
• Influenced by Morgan’s ideas but more
focused on material changes aspect
• Evolution happens in the contacts of resource
production and mode of production
36. 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.