USAC-CUSAM

POLITIC SCIENCE
JORGE MANUEL ALFARO RAMOS
CARD: 201946908

THE HISTORY OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES.

The social sciences, so important today and particularly in our context, such as the School of Political Science of
the University Center of San Marcos -CUSAM-, we are passionate about but at the same time, they are
unknown to a large part of us as students. whether it be Political Science, International Relations or Sociology.
At first, its difference with the natural sciences is evident, of which we learned at least its basic laws and
theories throughout our school education. But where did the social sciences come from? Why aren't their laws
and theories universal like those of the natural sciences?

This essay aims to answer these basic questions about the social sciences.

The social sciences as such are not as old as the natural sciences. Wallerstein (1997) locates the birth of the
social sciences Economics, Politics and Sociology from the French Revolution (1789) by pointing out that it
paved the way for the expansion across Europe of two ideas: The normality of change and sovereignty. from
town. (Wallerstein, 1997).

History, the oldest social science, already existed before the French Revolution and focused on the study of the
past. In the words of Wallerstein (1997):

Discussing the past to understand how to control the processes of social change has an interest, but
that interest was oriented toward achieving national unity, which in other words meant limiting, for
example, class conflict. (p.14)

Continuing with Wallerstein (1997) we have that, unlike History, the other social sciences: Economics, Politics
and Sociology, focus on the study of the present. The reason for this will be found in maximizing the neutrality
of the researchers. The author poses a very interesting question:

Why three social sciences focused on the present and only one on the past? Because economics,
political science and sociology responded to the logic of liberal ideology that conceived modernity as
the separation of three different areas of reality, which were reflected in social research: the market,
the State and the civil society. (Wallerstein, 1997, p.15)

If we carry out a brief analysis, we are at a turning point in the history of humanity. The natural sciences are
joined by the social sciences, which aim to explain the objects or phenomena that develop in the dynamics of
societies, emphasizing that a society is not static but is in permanent change. . On the other hand, the border
between each of the social sciences is increasingly blurred and their field of study is intermingled, in such a way
that we now find, for example, sociological studies from an economic perspective or vice versa and so on
between each one. of the social sciences.

We will close with two statements from Wallerstein (1997): “We must end the divorce between science and
philosophy” (p.22). And: “With the understanding that everything becomes social science. There is nothing else
in the world of knowledge. Everything is science and everything is social” (p.22). In them we aim to glimpse the
future of the social sciences and our role as social scientists. Here is the great challenge.