JANICE T.

SIBBALUCA
MST SS1
THE DIRECTION OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
RESEARCH IN THE PHILIPPES
 OBJECTIVES
 The article present major trends and turning point in the growth of 5 social
science discipline in the country ; anthropology, economics, political science,
psychology, sociology.
 It provides a sweeping historical account of their post- war institutionalization
up to the 1960’s ,their polemical debates and contending theoretical and
methodological positions during 1970’s and 1980’s and the convergence in
perspective and plurality of discourse in the 1990’s.
 This article constitutes preliminary thoughts on development of social science
in the Philippines.
Institutionalizing the social science; from American colonial period to 1960’s

 The works of pioneer thinkers or the teaching of particular subjects during

the Spanish colonial period.
 The Eurocentric writing of Spanish chroniclers like Pigafetta, Plasencia,and
chirino in 16th century as incipient anthropological works.
 The intellectual leaders of the Phil Revolution, Jose Rizal ,and Marcelo H del
Pilar, it makes them pioneer of political science.
 The Phil social science emerged as specialized disciplines with the
establishment of academic department in the early American colonial period.
Heeding the call for relevance; the
1970’s to the turn of the century
 = the social sciences in the Phil were colonial implant. they were shaped by
American social science although continental influences that have been
integrated by American social scientist into their thinking and practice.
 Political scientist, psychologist, anthropologist and sociologist were as
conscious of making the social sciences useful to the country
 Anthropologist continued their ethnographic research to further understand
cultural and ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines ,while sociologist and
anthropologies developed research expertise and generated data on topics
ranging from ethnic relations, social institutions, and community studies and
Filipino values.
The search for alternative paradigms and
methodologies in the 1970’s and the 1980’s.

 Marxist focus on Phil social structure and critique of Western social science as
constituting ideological systems of cultural representation imposed on
colonial societies may partly explain the affinity of some Marxist inspired
social scientist with the indigenization movement.
 =this aim to abstract and articulate particular society’s ,political, economic
and social configuration and more importantly, its cultural roots and identity.
3.1 Marxism and the Phil social science

 MARXISM = is the method of socio economic analysis that uses a materialist

interpretation of historical development, better known as historical
materialism to understand class relations and social conflicts as well as
dialectical perspective to view social transformation.
 = the global rise of Marxism in the 1960’s and 1970’s,the proliferation of
academic books on the subject, the declaration of Martial Law in 1972 and
the subsequent gains of student activism and the revolutionary movement the
spread of Marxist influence on the Phil.social science.
3.2 The indigenization movement and
the social science
 KHRISNA KUMAR;INDIGENIZATION HAS 3 PHASES

 * Structural indigenization or the institutionalized and organized capabilities

of the nation for production and diffusion of social science knowledge.
 *substantive indigenization or the focus of a nation’s research and teaching
activities on its own social institution ,conditions and problems.
 * theoretic indigenization or the construction of distinctive conceptual
frameworks and metatheories reflective of the worldviews, socio-cultural
experiences as well as perceived goals of Filipinos.
4.From polarization to pluralism and
convergence in the 1990’s
 The level of theoretical and conceptual convergence that enlightened Phil
sociology in 1990’s had been achieved political science, psychology , and
anthropology.Political science by the 1990’s like psychology and encouraged a
plurality of perspectives and concern that now include the post modern
deconstruction of the disciplines taken for granted core concept such as
power or the nation state
Concluding notes; social science
discourse/practice and public policy.
 The social science discourses that filtered into the language of policy and the
vocabulary of media. Social scientist also contribute significantly to the
shaping pf policy and programs on the environment, health and women.
 In response to the need for monitoring government efforts to address social
concerns like poverty and education. Social scientist have developed and
refined indicators of human development and minimum basic needs through
networks of social science advocates in academe, government institutions and
NGO’s and private sectors.