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Emergence of the Social Sciences

I. Definition of Social Sciences

Social sciences, in its broadest sense, is the study of society and the way people behave and
influence the world. Its utmost goal is to answer different questions and problems about society and
human condition on how to improve these. It is the scientific study of social, cultural, psychological,
economic, and political forces that guide individuals in their actions (Hunt & Colander, 2017).

II. Disciplines Within the Social Sciences

Anthropology is the study of ancient societies and their cultural traditions. Anthropology came from
the Greek words anthropos, which means “humankind”, and logos meaning “study” (Bonstingl,
2000). In studying culture, anthropologists investigate the people’s language, their values,
technologies, and even how they group themselves. They also study the way the cultural tradition of
different groups of people has changed over the years.

Demography is basically the study of the human population. Its main concern is about the size and
characteristics of the population. Not only is it about how many people there are in a certain area,
but also the factors how this population somewhat increases and decreases. Ideas like birth control,
distribution of resources, as well as the physical, mental, and cultural characteristics of social groups
are tackled in demography. In this field, socio-demographic variables like age, sex, marital status,
religion, and nationality are important in demographic research.

Economics is the study of the efficient allocation of scarce resources in order to satisfy unlimited
human needs and wants. The word economics came from the Greek words oikos, meaning “home”,
and nomos, meaning “management.” A family faces the challenge of managing their limited income
to satisfy the needs and wants of its members. The same is true with society as a whole. Even if all
of the world’s resources are combined, it will never be enough to cover all humankind’s desires and
needs, which by nature, is infinite. This is why a careful study on the subject must be done in order
to mitigate the impact of an imbalance and inequity in resource allocation.

Geography studies the interaction between the natural environment and the people living in it. It
acts as a bridge between natural science and social science. This discipline studies where things
are on Earth, why they are there, and their relationships with other people, places, and things.
According to Getis (2004), geography is “the study of spatial variation, of how and why things differ
from place to place on the surface on the earth.”

History is the study of the past and its records about events. According to Hunt (2002), it is “a social
science in the sense that it is a systematic attempt to learn about and verify past events and to relate
them to one another and to the present. Every event has a historical context within which we
commonly say the event must be studied. The subject matter of history is everything that has already
happened.”

Linguistics is basically the study of language. It is the “principal means used by human beings to
communicate with one another, a system of voluntarily produced symbols by which members of a
community interact and communicate in terms of their common experiences and expectations”
(Dizon, 2003). The discipline studies the nature of language through an examination of the formal
properties of natural language, grammar, and the processes of language acquisition. It plays an
important role in both cognition and culture of society.

Political science is the study of politics, power, and government. Politics is the process of using
power in the government, while power is the means for the government to rule the people (Bonstingl,
2000). Government is the authority or the bureaucracy that provides the system of rule over its
territory and for its people.

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. It is in the interest of society
to understand how people think and why they behave in a certain way. This includes the physical

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state and mental state and how these relate to the environment of the individual. According to William
James, a renowned psychologist, it is “the science of mental life, the science of feelings, desires,
cognition, reasoning, decisions, and the like.”

Sociology is the study of relationships among people, of society, and of the behavior of people in
society. It studies how people relate to each other and how they work as a whole in a larger society.
“We begin to think sociologically how the general categories into which we fall shape our particular
life experiences” (Macionis, 2006, p. 2). Social rules of behavior, societal expectations, and norms
guide an individual’s action, thoughts, and feelings.

III. Social Sciences VS Natural Sciences VS Humanities

Social sciences focus on the interactions and relations between different groups of which society
is made up of and how they are affected as members of society, while natural sciences study the
causes of nature’s reactions and the effects of a phenomenon. The difference between these two is
that the former deals with intangible values, while the latter only deals with tangible values.

Humanities studies the inner world of self and how it functions and perceives things. One of the
major differences between them is that the former involves a more critical and analytical approach,
whereas the latter deals with more of a scientific approach. Moreover, humanities is considered to
be more philosophical than social sciences. Social sciences adopt a more scientific approach,
whereas humanities is descriptive and make use of analytical methods to explain concepts.

While humanities studies the inner world of self, natural sciences study the natural world and how
its different species act individually and with others. In summary, humanities and social sciences
deal with human aspects like politics, law, linguistics, economics, and psychology; natural sciences
and social sciences both study human beings as organisms; and natural sciences and humanities
use the same method of inquiry to study observations and ideas and to develop questions and
methods to answer them.

The similarities among these three are mainly the research methods applied by them to provide
explanations to events and happenings in society.

IV. Historical Contexts of the Emergence of the Social Science Disciplines

Anthropology
Anthropology’s emergence as an area of inquiry can go as far back as the time of Herodotus of
Halicarnassus. Although more known for his work on the Persian Wars, Herodotus traveled a
great deal and wrote detailed narratives about West Asia and Egypt. He also had second-hand
information to describe the Scythians, the Ethiopians, and the people from the Indus Valley (Eriksen
and Nielsen, 2013). These narratives reveal an important area of inquiry in anthropology: How are we
to relate to the other?

In answering this question, anthropology needs to strike a balance between finding commonality or
highlighting the difference. Herodotus himself had shown both tendencies. There are instances where
prejudice and ethnocentrism got the better of him. Anything foreign was immediately rejected. But he
sometimes acknowledged that the difference among people is accounted for by the difference in the
environment and life circumstances.

A major step in the evolution of anthropology as a discipline is the period of European conquest during
the sixteenth century. It has once again introduced the strange ‘other’ to the sphere of European social
thinkers. It elicited the formulation of rudimentary theories on what distinguishes humans from animals
and inspired descriptive narratives on the way of life of these exotic people. This still does not
constitute anthropology since the works that have been completed only belong to either travel
accounts or social philosophy. It is only when there is fusion of theories and data that anthropology
appears. During the Enlightenment, anthropology came of age. Philosophy and sciences flourished
and people sought greater freedom from the Church. This liberal environment that produced the

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French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars also became a fertile ground for academic
anthropological studies. Some noteworthy works are La Scienza Nuova (The New Science, 1725) by
Giambattista Vico and De l’esprit de loix (The Spirit of Laws, 1748) by Baron de Montesquieu.

Economics
Just like in anthropology, the period of Enlightenment inspired the birth of modern economics. It has
strengthened institutions that liberalized economic opportunities and had been more guarded against
despotism, making a faster pace of industrial and technological growth possible. The period has
produced insights that go against the traditional mercantilist thinking that protectionism of domestic
producers against foreign competition is necessary to make the domestic economy competitive.

The period has shown that it is mechanization and division of labor that gives firms and industries
advantage (Mokyr, 2003, pp .8–9). This idea found its way to economic thinkers like Adam Smith. His
most famous work, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), contributed
to the theory of price formation, the relationship of market outcomes and public interest, the role of
state in the economy, and the sources of economic growth. This book introduces the concept of
‘invisible hand’. It states that market equilibrium is reached when buyers and sellers are free to move
on their own without the intervention of the government. The desire to maximize gains, both by the
buyers and the sellers, will lead to a socially optimum result.

Other influential economists include Thomas Malthus, known for his work “An Essay on the Principle
of Population,” and David Ricardo, who wrote Principles of Political Economy and Taxation and
supported the idea of comparative advantage.

Geography
The ancient people have been dabbling with geography even before the term was invented. The
Babylonians were able to draw a map that clearly identifies their location in Mesopotamia. Homer’s
Illiad and Odyssey, albeit fictional, also contain a lot of geographical information. However, it is during
the Hellenistic period in the ancient Greco-Roman empire when groundbreaking works have been
done in the field of geography.

The interest is partly stimulated by the extensive travels of Alexander the Great. The pioneer in the
field is Eratosthenes of Cyrene, who is the head of the Great Library at Alexandria and royal tutor to
the future King Ptolemy IV. He is also considered as the “Father of Geography,” a distinction given for
having coined the term. He wrote the first scholarly treatise on the topic, a three-book volume
Geographika. The book is a compilation of data accumulated in the previous three (3) centuries about
the nature of the surface of the Earth, with special attention to the inhabited portions and the people
living in it. The book also includes topics on the depths of the sea, climate, and the geological history
of the Earth (Roller, 2010).

Other scholars built on the work of Eratosthenes. The most noteworthy to mention is Strabo, whose
work is entitled The Geography of Strabo. This magnum opus polished, affirmed, critiqued, and
supported with additional data the works of the thinkers before him like Eratosthenes, Hipparchus,
Polybius, and Poseidonius.

History
Even during the ancient times, people have always had a sense of history. This is evidenced by the
need to record events that happen in their lives, whether special or ordinary. These can be seen in
the hieroglyphs in Egypt or in the cuneiform engraved in mud-brick tablets in Mesopotamia. It can
even go as far back as the drawings made by the Cro Magnons in their caves.

But insofar as employing the historical method, the credit goes to Herodotus of Halicarnassus, who is
a product of Greece’s Hellenic age, the golden age of Greece. He wrote about the Greek wars against
Persia during the third decade of the 5th century BC. His narrative, The Histories, is different from his
previously written works. Rigorous methods were employed, information was checked against the
eyewitness accounts and participants of the event, and such documents as inscriptional records,

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archives, and official chronicles were also consulted. The narrative also departed from the writing
tradition common at that time, which is to explain human events as the outcome of the divine will.

Succeeding and improving on the writing techniques of Herodotus is another Greek historian,
Thucydides, who wrote about the history of the Peloponnesian War in the 5th century BC. Aside from
scrupulously writing the content, his narrative includes how his materials were gathered and the tests
he used to separate fact from fiction. Thucydides intended his writing to have instructional importance
as a guide to action in the future.

Linguistics
Throughout most of history, linguistics has been considered a province of philosophy and rhetoric. It
was led by the sophists of classical Greece who have given young, wealthy Greek men an education
in the art of public speaking, which, in turn, was utilized to vie for public positions. The conventional
date of linguistics proper is 1786, when regular sound correspondences were found across the many
languages of Europe, India’s Sanskrit, and Persia. This eventually led to the discovery of a parent
language called Proto Indo-European. Some scholars who have made relevant contributions to the
study are Friedrich von Schlegel, Franz Bopp, and Rasmus Christian Rask. Other scholarly works on
linguistics include Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Researches into the early inhabitants of Spain by the help
of the Basque language (1821) and Ferdinand de Saussure’s Cours de Linguistique générale (1916).

Political Science
Aristotle’s book entitled Politics is considered a pioneer in the field of political inquiry. It delves on the
topic of government and the leaders behind it, i.e., kings and statesmen. It also talks about the concept
of justice and slavery. The book makes the connection between the happiness and virtue of the
political community to the people’s participation in politics. His analysis of the causes of revolution and
what prevents it have been a source of inspiration to other political thinkers like John Locke and John
Stuart Mill. Locke’s known work, Two Treatises of Government (1689), discusses the concept of
representative government and the people’s right to revolution. John Stuart Mill also wrote on the topic
of representative government with his book Considerations on Representative Government (1861).

Political science as an academic discipline separate from history was only established after the
Second World War in American universities as well as in some European universities. Even in Central
and Eastern Europe, it was only after the decline of the Socialist regime in the 1990s and only under
the newly installed democratic regimes when political science as a discipline was developed.

Psychology
The German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt is considered as the “Father of Modern Psychology.” He is
credited for being the first in the movement to make psychology a science. He also conducted the first
true experimental laboratory in psychology. His major contribution to the field is Grundzüge der
physiologischen Psychologie (The Principles of Physiological Psychology, 1873). In his lifetime, he
was able to research a wide array of topics, which include spiritualism, ethics, animal physiology, and
even poisons.

Other important names on the discipline are William James and Sigmund Freud. William James
studied the concept of functionalism, which analyzes the function or purpose of behavior and not
simply a description. It studies how specific behavior helps adapt to the environment. One of his major
works is Principles of Psychology (1890). Sigmund Freud, on the other hand, is known for his
psychoanalytic personality theory, which divides the personality into id, ego, and superego. He also
wrote the theory on the psychosexual stages of development.

Sociology
Sociology was born as a result of powerful and complex economic and social forces. The Industrial
Revolution created massive changes not just in the field of technology and how goods are
manufactured but also in the work and living pattern of the people. Factory life pulled people away
from their homes, changed their work schedules, and weakened their family ties. It also drew more
people to the cities, causing problems associated with urbanization.

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The new issues that confronted people at that time required a new way of thinking. For example,
French social thinker Auguste Comte coined the word “sociology” in 1883 to encapsulate the idea of
improving society by understanding how it operates. Some of his works include the Course in Positive
Philosophy (1830–1842, six [6] volumes, translated and condensed by Harriet Martineau as The
Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte) and the System of Positive Polity, or Treatise on Sociology,
Instituting the Religion of Humanity, (1851-1854, four [4] volumes).

V. Importance of Social Sciences

 Social sciences help us imagine alternative futures.
Social sciences can open up debates and gives us a say in shaping our collective future. It helps
people understand the consequences and application of the new technologies of the age, such
as steam power. The growth of railways and factories not only transformed the economy and the
world of work but also changed the way people organized their family lives and leisure. Today,
nanotechnology and advances in medical research have a significant impact on the way we live.
They present us with a bewildering range of ethical, legal, and social issues.
 Social sciences can help us make sense of our finances.
Social sciences is not just important for the future but for what’s happening now. A range of social
scientists – not just economists but also psychologists, sociologists, and political scientists, for
example – can help us understand the economic crisis and weigh up decisions we make for
ourselves and those which governments make on our behalf. Without this kind of analysis, we
may feel like pawns in a global game of chess. With the knowledge and understanding that social
sciences offer us, we will feel empowered to act for ourselves and to influence decisions being
made on our behalf.
 Social sciences might save your life.
Accidents happen anywhere and anytime even in the best-regulated places. A top‐down imposed
safety regime simply doesn’t work. We need to see people as individuals who take their lead
from those with whom they identify. These principles have also been shown to work in crowd
control.
 Social sciences can change the world for the better.
We can generally agree that the world needs to be a safer place where all people can enjoy
basic dignity and human rights. This is the case even when we can’t always agree on what we
should do to make this happen. Social sciences is concerned with the social and economic
advancement of humanity at large.
 Social science can broaden your horizons.
For debates about feminism, peace, ecology, social movements, and much more, social science
offers each of us new perspectives and new ways of understanding. Whether your idea of
relaxation is visiting a museum, watching soaps, or chatting online, social sciences encourage a
fresh look at our everyday activities and culture.

References:
Arcinas, Myla. (2016). Disciplines and ideas in the social sciences. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House, Inc
Bonstingl, J. J. (2000). Introduction to the social sciences. Needham (Mass.): Prentice Hall.
Difference between humanities and social sciences. (2016). In Difference Between. Retrieved from
http://www.differencebetween.net/
Economic and Social Research Council. (n.d.). What we do. Retrieved from https://esrc.ukri.org/about-us/what-we-
do/
Eriksen, T. H., & Nielsen, F. S. (2013). A history of anthropology. London: Pluto.
Hunt, E. F., & Colander, D. C. (2017). Social science: An introduction to the study of society. New York: Routledge,
Taylor & Francis Group.
Mendoza, D. Fadrigon C., & dela Cruz, A.. (2016). Disciplines and ideas in the social sciences. Quezon City:
Phoenix Publishing House, Inc.
Serendip Studio. (2012). Science vs humanities: A closer look at the overlapping methods of inquiry. Retrieved from
https://serendipstudio.org/oneworld/

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