Disciplines and Ideas in the

Social Science
Q2: Supplementary Learning
Material 12
 What I Need to Know
This module will continue to introduce you to basic concepts, subjects, and
methods of inquiry in the disciplines that comprise the Social Sciences. It will then
further enhance your knowledge to the other disciplines of social sciences, and relates
these ideas to the Philippine setting and current global trends. In this second part of
the major level of dominant approaches and ideas in the social sciences it is expected
that you will be able to further enhance your analytical
capabilities

After going through this module you are expected to:

• Analyze the basic concept and principles of Psychoanalysis

• Analyze the basic concept and principles of Feminist theory
• Analyze the basic concept and principles of Hermeneutical Phenomenology

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 What I Know

Let us start with a few activities in order to understand

the lesson

1. Which social science theory supports that social order is the result of coercion and
power?
A. Conflict B. Consensus C. Evolution
2. Which social science theory includes the idea of “survival of the fittest”?
A. Conflict B. Consensus C. Evolution
3. Which social science best deal with the problem of poverty?
A. Economics B. History C. Psychology
4. If a social scientist relies heavily on historical records, the method he or she uses
is ________________.
A.Case Method B. Comparative Method C. Historical Method
5. This step in social sciences entails going over written documents related to the
problem at hand.
A. defining problem
B. choosing research design
C. reviewing related literature
6.The Scientific Inquiry starts with __________.
A. Generalization B. Observation C. Retesting
7. He is known as the Father of Sociology.
A.Emile Durkheim B. Herbert Spencer C. Karl Marx
8. This pertains to the arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a
system
A. Evolution B. Functionalism C. Structure
9. In The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, he explored the influence
of ethics and religion on the development of capitalism.
A. Charles Darwin B. Edward Tylor C. Max Weber
10. He viewed society as an organism whose development is centered on its members’
struggle for survival.
A. Bronislaw Malinowski B. Herbert Spencer C. Sigmund Freud

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 What Is It
Concepts and Principles of the Major Social Sciences Ideas

Psychoanalysis

BACKGROUND

Sigmund Freud
VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE
He was born in
Freiberg, Moravia (now part of Freud basically views human nature
the Czech Republic). Freud was
as deterministic.(Corey,2009).
the firstborn of Jacob and
Amalie Nathanson Freud.
Although Freud’s family had Freud was mostly neutral or pessimistic about
limited finances, his parents the nature of humans. (Flanagan & Flanagan,
made every effort to support his 2004). According to six dimensions (Feist & Feist,
intellectual capacities. The most 2009), Freud’s view of human nature can be
creative phase of Freud’s life was summarized as follows: deterministic, causal,
when he experienced severe pessimistic, unconscious, biological and both
emotional problems. He unique/similar.
analyzed himself and discovered
the “royal road to the
unconscious.” Freud was very rigid and show very little tolerance to other colleagues
who diverged from his psychoanalytic doctrines. Freud was highly creative and
productive. Freud considered himself an intellectual giant.

The best-known aspect of Freud’s theory was his view that the mind is
composed of the id, ego, and the superego. Each has a different function, but they all
relate to each other

Id
When the infant is born, the mind has only one part, the id. It is
composed primarily of two sets of instincts, the life instincts and death
instincts…aggression and even suicidal urges arose from these instincts. The life
instinct termed libido by Freud, give rise to motives that sustain and promote life,
such as hunger, self-protection, and sexual desire. The id operates according to the
pleasure principle. The id wants to obtain immediate pleasure and avoid pain,
regardless of how harmful it might be to others.

Ego
The ego is formed because the id has to find realistic ways of meeting
its needs and avoiding trouble caused by selfish and aggressive behavior. The ego
operates according to the reality principle. This means that it holds the id in check

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until a safe and realistic way has been found to satisfy its motives. The ego’s goal is
to help the id fulfill its needs.

Superego.
Restrictions are
The id and ego have no morals. They seek to satisfy the id’s placed on the actions
selfish motives without regard for the good of others. As of the id and ego when
long as the needs are safely met, it does not care if rules the superego develops,
are broken, lies are told, or other people are wronged. the part of the mind
that opposes the
desires of the id by
enforcing moral restrictions and by striving to attain a goal of “ideal” perfection.
Parents are the main agents of society in creating the superego. They teach moral
principles to their children by punishing transgressions and rewarding proper
behavior. These experiences become incorporated into the child’s mind as the two
parts of the superego. According to Freud, parental punishment creates the set of
moral inhibitions known as the conscience, whereas their rewards set up a standard
of perfect conduct in the superego called the ego ideal. These two parts of the
superego work together by punishing behavior that breaks the moral code through
guilt and rewarding good behavior through pride (Lahey 2007, 466-467).

THERAPEUTIC PROCESS

• To make the unconscious conscious or increase client awareness.

• To help the client develop greater ego-control or self-control over unhealthy or
maladaptive impulses.
• To help the client dispose of maladaptive or unhealthy internalized objects and
replace them with more adaptive internalized objects.
• To repair self-defects through mirroring, presenting a potentially idealized
object, and expressing empathy during optimal therapeutic failures.

THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUES

There is a number of techniques that evolve over time in order to accommodate

the dynamic individual and to help the counselor in facilitating deeper understanding
by counselees and these are the following:

• Creating a trusting atmosphere, free association

• Interpretation of resistance
• Dream analysis
• Interpretation of parapraxes
• Interpretation of the transference relationship
• Creating a Trusting Atmosphere All external stimuli are minimized.
Free Association
The basic rule in traditional psychoanalysis, “Say whatever comes to mind.”
This is designed to facilitate the emergence of unconscious impulses and conflicts.
The patient’s internal stimuli are minimized. Cognitive selection or conscious
planning is reduced.

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CULTURAL ISSUES

Freud was a member of western society,

dominated by males. He came from the majority of
European well-off males, and so his approach of
viewing things came from his membership of this
kind of class he was a Jew who faced an ongoing
prejudice among people in Vienna. He was
struggling with conflicts between his cultural
heritage as well as his religion and the pervasive
influence of anti-Semitism during his time. Freud’s
theory grew out based on a small and
unrepresentative sample of people, restricted to
him and to those who sought psychoanalysis with
him.

SOCIAL ISSUES

In relation to women, some feminists have challenged Freud’s view of women,

suggesting he looked at them as second-class citizens who were somehow lacking as
compared to his male companions (Neukrug, 2011). Given his upbringing during the
middle of the 19th century, parental acceptance of his domination of his sisters, a
tendency to exaggerate differences between women and men, and his belief that
women inhabited the dark continent of humanity, it seems unlikely that Freud
possessed the essential experiences to understand women (Feist & Feist, 2009).

SPIRITUAL ISSUES

Freud admitted that he was an atheist. Although an Atheist, he had complex

views of religion. According to him, belief in God was partly remnants of projections
from early tribes. He believed that early tribes needed to find an external force that
would control their primal urges. In order to do so, they find a way to prevent in
killing one another which is to create a God to pray to and to bestow everything to
God as an agent to control their internal drives.

UNCONSCIOUS AND CONSCIOUS

Freud’s greatest contribution is his exploration of the unconscious and his

insistence that people are motivated primarily by drives of which they have little or
no awareness (Feist & Feist, 2009).

STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY

The personality consists of three systems: the id, the ego, and the superego.
These are names for psychological structures and should not be thought of as
manikins that separately operate the personality; one’s personality functions as a
whole rather than as three discrete segments. The id is the biological component, the
ego is the psychological component, and the superego is the social component (Corey,
2009).

DRIVES AND INSTINCTS

According to Freud, humans are born with coexisting instincts namely life
instincts (Eros) and death instincts (Thanatos). The life instinct functions to meet

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basic needs for love and intimacy, sex, and survival of the individual and species. He
believed that the aim of life is death (Neukrug, 2011). Instincts are raw, possess no
conscience, and are largely unconscious. Thus, humans must find ways to restrict
these, especially if living in the civilized world.

ANXIETY

Anxiety is a feeling of dread that results from repressed feelings, memories,

desires, and experiences that emerge to the surface of awareness. It can be considered
as a state of tension that motivates us to do something (Corey, 2009).

EGO DEFENSE MECHANISMS

It serves a useful function by protecting the ego against this kind of conflict or
pain of anxiety (Feist & Feist, 2009). Ego defenses are normal behaviors that can have
adaptive value provided they do not become a style of life that enables the individual
to avoid facing reality (Corey, 2009).

PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

One of Freud’s contributions is that he believed that childhood experiences

strongly influence adult personality. Personality development involves a series of
conflicts between individual, who wants to satisfy his or her instinctual impulses,
and the social environment (especially the family), which restricts this kind of desire.
Through development, the individual finds ways to get as much hedonic gratification
as possible, given the constraints in society. These adaptational strategies constitute
personality (Cloniger, 2004). These stages are known as the Oral phase, Anal phase,
Phallic phase, Latency Period, Genital Period.

The question of whether psychoanalysis is a science or not opened up the

subjectivist-objectivist dichotomy or debate in the Social Sciences. On one hand, the
hermeneuticists believe “that psychoanalysis is hermeneutic discipline but instead
requiring more humanistic understanding.

Feminist Theory
“Feminist theory is major
branch of theory within sociology
that shifts its assumptions, analytic
lens, and topical focus away from the
male viewpoint and experience and
toward that of women. In doing so,
feminist theory shines a light on
social problems, trends, and issues
that are otherwise overlooked or
misidentified by the historically
dominant male perspective within
social theory.” Key areas of focus
within feminist theory include
discrimination and exclusion on the basis of sex and gender, objectification,
structural and economic inequality, power and oppression, and gender roles and
stereotypes, among others. Gender Differences some feminist theory provides an
analytic framework for understanding how women's location in, and experience of,
social situations differ from men's. For example, cultural feminists look at the

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different values associated with womanhood and femininity as a reason why men
and women experience the social world differently.

Other feminist theorists believe that the different roles assigned to women and
men within institutions better explain gender differences, including the sexual
division of labor in the household. Existential and phenomenological feminists focus
on how women have been marginalized and defined as “other” in patriarchal societies.
Some feminist theorists focus specifically on how masculinity is developed through
socialization, and how its development interacts with the process of developing
feminity in girls.

Gender
Inequality Feminist
theories that focus on How dis feminist theory evolved as one of the dominant
gender inequality approaches in the social sciences? in what ways does it
recognize that women's compliment and/or challenge traditional approaches in
location in, and experience the social sciences? Did feminism transform the social
of, social situations are sciences?
not only different but
also unequal to men's.
Liberal feminists argue that women have the same capacity as men for moral
reasoning and agency, but that patriarchy, particularly the sexist division of labor,
has historically denied women the opportunity to express and practice this reasoning.

These dynamics serve to shove women

Goal of Women’s Liberation
movement:
To expose the whole
gender-based system of
sexism and patriarchal power,
expressed in social, economic,
and political structure; in
language and cultureal image
of men and women; in the
alienation of women from their
bodies, the repression of their
sexuality and male control of
women’s reproduction; and in
male violence gainst women
(Chapman 1995, 98-99).
into the private sphere of the household and to
exclude them from full participation in public
life. Liberal feminists point out that gender
inequality exists for women in a heterosexual
marriage and that women do not benefit from
being married.
Indeed, these feminist theorists claim, married
women have higher levels of stress than
unmarried women and married men. Therefore,
the sexual division of labor in both the public
and private spheres needs to be altered in order
for women to achieve equality in marriage.
Structural Oppression Structural
oppression theories posit that women's
oppression and inequality are a result of
capitalism, patriarchy, and racism. Socialist
feminists agree with Karl Marx and Freidrich
Engels that the working class is exploited as a
consequence of capitalism, but they seek to
extend this exploitation not just to class but also
to gender.

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 Intersectionality theorists seek to The impact of feminism in political
explain oppression and inequality across a science was significant.
variety of variables, including class, gender, Feminism has produced a
race, ethnicity, and age. They offer the reexamination of what politics is
important insight that not all women and what “the political” means in
experience oppression in the same way, and the discipline. In other words,
that the same forces that work to oppress feminism has made its impact on
women and girls also oppress people of color the important questions of the
and other marginalized groups. One way in
scope of politics and the
which structural oppression of women,
boundaries of political science as a
specifically the economic kind, manifests in
discipline. Feminist political
society is in the gender wage gap, which shows
scientists have not only criticized
that men routinely earn more for the same
their discipline’s traditional
work than women.
concentration on mainstream
political institutions but have also
argued for the expansion of their
discipline’s conception of the
political.

Hermeneutical Phenomenology

A qualitative research methodology that arose out of and remains closely tied
to phenomenological philosophy, a strand of continent philosophy. Phenomenology
refers to a person’s perception of the meaning of an event, as opposed to the event as
existing externally to (outside of) that person.

HERMENEUTICS

In the study of literary texts, scholars frequently adhere to a

set of rules or a specific system on which to base their interpretation.
Similarly, the interpretation of non- literary texts such as art or
philosophy, may also require adherence to such a method. The
specific rules used to interpret and understand a text are known
collectively as hermeneutics.

In ancient Greek mythology, the god Hermes

served to interpret messages from the other gods.
Like Hermes' name, the term hermeneutics comes
from the Greek word for 'interpreter'. The concept
of utilizing a system to interpret texts was first
noted in early writings by Aristotle.

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HERMENEUTIC ANALYSIS

It is a name for various methods of analysis, which are based on interpreting.

The strategy forms an opposition to those research strategies which stress objectivity
and independence of interpretations in the information of the formation of knowledge.

You can combine hermeneutic analysis with other methods of analysis that
aim to interpret and understand meanings. A combination of the rules of
hermeneutics and phenomenology forms phenomenological hermeneutic analysis.
The hermeneutic analysis also forms the basis of various discipline-specific methods
of analysis and close readings methods.

HERMENEUTIC RESEARCH
Enables you to make
interpretations and gain an
indepth understanding of the
researched phenomenon.
Hermeneutic research emphasizes
subjective interpretations in the
research of meanings of texts, art,
culture, social phenomena, and
thinking.

Thus, the strategy forms an opposition

to those research
strategies which stress objectivity and independence from interpretations in the
formation of knowledge. You can use a variety of approaches and methods of analysis,
as well as discipline-specific methods, to interpret phenomena but you need to bear
in mind that hermeneutic research is a qualitative research strategy.
Types – Researchers use such
methods as: Direct observation, INFORMATION: Ethnographic analysis –
questionnaires, and interviews to Ethnographic, a method of research in
obtain data for ethnographic analysis. social science, often involves a researcher’s
direct, personal observation of a group of
people. Scholars from many academic
Functions fields, most notably anthropology and
• Researchers use ethnographic sociology, utilize such data in a wide
analysis to study people's behavior in
variety of research projects. Features –
the context of their daily lives. Ethnographic analysis is a qualitative
• This type of research provides a
approach for studying human societies in
detailed understanding of how terms of their distinctive cultures. The
different societies evolve over time.
defining aspects of this approach involve
the indepth study of all aspects of a given
History human society
• Ethnographic analysis
developed in the disciplines of
sociology and anthropology. Later,
scholars in other fields such as
history, economics, law, and education
began to use this approach in their
studies.

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Consideration
• Because their conclusions are based on the subjective analysis of data,
researchers must be careful when making generalizations about other societies based
on their findings. The findings usually only apply to the
group under study. PHENOMENOLO
GICAL
PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
RESEARCH
It is based on discussions and reflections of direct
sense perception and experiences of the researched The aim of your
phenomenon. A starting point of the strategy is your ability strategy is: Either to
to approach a project without a priori assumptions, use your own direct
definitions or theoretical frameworks. A key aspect of this experiences acquired
method of analysis is phenomenological reduction. A. broad during the research
and loose name for various types of analysis based on the process to describe
phenomenological orientation of the Philosophy of science. and analyze the
These orientations lay emphasis on experiences, phenomenon, in order
interpretations and bodily sensations. You can combine to produce in-depth
phenomenological analysis with other modes of analysis. A knowledge of the
combination of the rules of phenomenological analysis and phenomenon.
hermeneutics is known as phenomenological hermeneutic
analysis.

Enables you to explore experiences and sensory perception (different to

abstract perceptions) of a researched phenomenon, and the formation of
understanding based on these experiences and perceptions. Your research strategy
is based, therefore, on either your own or other people’s experiences and sensory
perceptions.

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 What’s More
Enrichment Activity: List a number of scenarios that put you in various “crisis”
situations or dilemmas. Each possess a temptation that you can either resist or give
in to. The questions are, what will you do when faced with that dilemma? Please
write and explain your answers in the worksheet provided below. Your answers will
be rated based on the rubric provided after the worksheet.
WORKSHEET
I Swear
Dilemma What will you do? Why?
1. At the airport, you saw a woman
dropped her passport while getting
into the taxi. You got the taxi’s
plate number.
2. You wanted to go home but the
queue for taxi is long and it is
raining. A stranger offered you a
ride home.
3. A friend told you a secret.
Another friend is asking you to
share with him/her the secret.
4. You aren’t prepared to take the
exam, but you cannot afford to fail
in the next exam A friend offered
you the answer key to the exam.
5. Your parents will be away for the
weekend. You were asked to stay
home until they are back.
6.You wanted a new cell phone but
your mother gave you her old
mobile unit.
7. You saw your friend cheat in the
exam. She/He helped you in a
previous school project
8. On campus, you witnessed an
older student bully a younger
student. The older student is as big
as you.
9. You love dogs. You saw someone
hit a dog with a
stone
10. You were served with pork or
beef, but you don’t eat any kind of
meat. You are hungry and you are
the guest.

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 Processing questions Did you hesitate for a moment in answering each
item on the list? Why or why not?

How did you feel while thinking about what you

will do? What guided you when you made your
decision?

Has any of these situations happened already in

the past? Did you take the same action response?
Why or why not?

Do you believe in the inherent goodness of a

person? Why or why not?

Rubric for Activity C

Criteria Fair 2 Good 3 Very Good 4
points points points
Description has no Description Description was
information and provides proper written neatly, very
ideas are poorly information and well informative and
Quality of Writing organized organized well organized
There are Few misspelled Virtually, no spelling,
misspelled words, words and punctuation or
and punctuation punctuation errors grammatical errors
Grammar, Usage and grammatical but were able to and were able to
and Mechanics errors that provide a provide a very good
interferes with the description description.
description
provided

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 What I Can Do
Create your own artwork that represents the idea of gender equality among
men and women and give a brief discussion about gender fairness and equality. Place
your artwork in a long bond paper. Use the rubric below as a guide in making your
output.

Rubrics for the output

Fair Good Very Good
Criteria 2 3 4

Attractiveness use of font, color, Makes excellent Makes excellent

graphics, etc. but use of font, color, use of font, color,
these often detract graphics, etc. but graphics, etc to
from the occasionally these enhance the
presentation detract from the artwork.
content presentation
content
Originality Uses other people’s Product shows Product use a large
ideas (giving them some original amount of original
credit) but there is thought. Work thought. Ideas are
little evidence of shows new ideas creative and
original thinking and insights inventive
Mechanics More than three Few misspelling No misspelling or
errors in spelling and/or grammatical
or grammar grammatical error. errors.

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 Assessment
I. True or False. Write T if the statement provides correct information, write F if
otherwise. Write your answer on the line provided before each number.

_____1. Anxiety is a movement of dread that results from repressed feelings,

memories, desires, and experiences that emerge to the surface of awareness.
_____2. On the cultural issues, Freud was a member of eastern society, dominated
by males.
_____3. Feminism was created in order to alleviate the status of women in society in
order to trample the dignity of men.
_____4. Liberal feminists argue that women does not have the same capacity as men
for moral reasoning
_____5. Cultural feminists look at the different values associated with manhood and
femininity as a reason why men and women experience the social world
differently.

II. Enumeration: Enumerate what is being asked

A. What are the determinants of human nature in Freud’s view?

6.___________________________ 9._______________________
7.___________________________ 10._______________________
8.___________________________ 11._______________________

B. What are the main aspects of Freud’s theory?

12.___________________________
13.___________________________
14.___________________________

C. What are the two instincts in the aspect of id?

15.___________________________ 16._________________________

III. Identification. Identify what is being asked in the selection. Write your answer
on the line provided before each number.
________________________17. It is based on discussions and reflections of direct
sense
perception and experiences of the researched
phenomenon
________________________18. Enables you to make interpretations and gain an in-
depth
understanding of the researched phenomenon.
________________________19. It is a name for various methods of analysis, which are
based on interpreting.
________________________20. The Greek goddess of message.

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