The Branches of the social sciences Include economics, political science, geography, demography, human ecology, psychology, sociology, semiology, anthropology, archeology, history and linguistics.
The social sciences are one of the most important academic disciplines, which deal with the study of society and the relationships between individuals within it. In turn, it has many branches and each of them is considered a"social science".
The term is also sometimes used to refer specifically to the field of sociology, the"science of society,"established in the nineteenth century.
The branches of the social sciences and their characteristics
1- Economy
It is a social science mainly related to the study and analysis of the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
The discipline was renominated at the end of the 19th century by Alfred Marshall from"political economy"to"economics"as a shorter term for economic science at a time when the use of mathematics was on the rise.
This helped to accept the economy as a science and also, as a separate discipline, outside of political science and other social sciences.
The economy also deals with the study of ways to meet the needs of society with limited resources. Another object of study of this social science is the way in which societies and individuals prosper and survive.
Economic analysis can be applied throughout society, such as in business, finance, health care and government. Economic analyzes can also be applied to topics as diverse as crime, education, family, law, politics, religion, social institutions, war, science and the environment.
The ultimate goal of the economy is to improve the living conditions of people in their daily lives.
2- Political Science
Political science is the social science that deals with the study of government systems, the analysis of political activities, political thoughts and political behavior.
It broadly addresses the theory and practice of politics, which is commonly seen as a determinant of the distribution of power and resources.
Political scientists are involved in revealing the relationships that underlie political events and conditions, and these revelations attempt to build general principles about the way the world of politics works.
Political science encompasses numerous subfields, including comparative politics, political economy, international relations, political theory, public administration, public policy, and political methodology.
In addition, political science is related and based on the fields of economics, law, sociology, history, philosophy, geography, psychology and anthropology.
As a social science, contemporary political science began to take shape in the second half of the nineteenth century when it began to separate from political philosophy, which goes back to the works of Aristotle And Plato, written nearly 2,500 years ago.
3- Geography
The term geography , Comes from the Greek and means literally,"description of the Earth". It is the field of social science, in charge of the study of the lands, the characteristics, the inhabitants and the phenomena of the Earth.
The first person to use the word geography was Eratosthenes (276-194 BC). Geography is a comprehensive discipline that seeks an understanding of the Earth and its human and natural complexities, not only where objects are, but how they have changed and become. The four historical traditions in geographic research are:
- Spatial analysis of natural and human phenomena
- Area and region area studies
- Studies of human-land relations
- Earth sciences
Geography as a discipline can be broadly divided into two Secondary fields Main: human geography and physical geography.
The first focuses primarily on the built environment and how humans create, manage and influence space.
The last field examines the natural environment and how organisms, climate, soil, water and landforms occur and interact.
The differences between these approaches led to a third field: environmental geography, which combines physical and human geography and refers to the interactions between the environment and humans.
4- Psychology
Psychology is the science that studies and analyzes the individual's behavior and mental processes, encompassing all aspects of conscious and unconscious experience, as well as thinking.
It is an academic discipline and is also a social science that seeks to understand individuals and groups by establishing general principles and investigating specific cases.
Psychologists explore behavior and mental processes, including perception, cognition, attention, emotion (affection), intelligence, phenomenology, motivation, brain functioning, and personality.
Maybe you might be interested The 10 specialties of psychology .
6 - Sociology
Sociology is the study of social behavior or society, including its origins, development, organization, networks and institutions.
It is a social science that uses several Empirical research methods And critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order, disorder and change.
Many sociologists seek to carry out research that can be applied directly to social policy and welfare, while others focus mainly on refining the theoretical understanding of social processes.
The subject ranges from the level of micro-sociology of individual agency and interaction, to the macro level of systems and social structure.
7- Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of various aspects of human beings within past and present societies.
The social anthropology And cultural anthropology study the rules And the values of societies. Linguistic anthropology studies how language affects social life. Biological or physical anthropology studies the biological development of human beings.
8- Demography
Demography is the statistical study of populations, fundamentally of humans. It is dedicated to analyzing any type of dynamic population that changes over time or space.
The demography includes studies on the structure, size or distribution of populations, as well as the spatio-temporal changes of the same. With this we speak of factors such as birth, migration, aging or death.
9- History
The history Is the study of records events occurring before prehistory.
It is an umbrella term that refers to past events, as well as to memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation and interpretation of information about these events. Scholars who write about history are called historians.
10- Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language, and involves an analysis of the form of language, the meaning of language and language in context.
Linguists traditionally analyze human language by observing an interaction between sound and meaning. Phonetics is the study of the sounds of speech and non-speech, and deepens its acoustic and articulatory properties.
On the other hand, the study of the meaning of language deals with how languages encode relationships between entities, properties and other aspects of the world to transmit, process and assign meaning, as well as to manage and resolve ambiguity.
While the study of semantics is typically concerned with truth conditions, pragmatics deals with how the situational context influences the production of meaning.
11- Archeology
Archeology is about the study of human activity based on the recovery and analysis of cultural material.
Besides being considered a social science, archeology also belongs to the branch of humanities.
References
- Paul A. Baran (2010-May). Monthlyreview.org.
- Economic and Social Research Council. Esrc.ac.uk.
- Harper, Douglas (February 2007). "Online Etymology Dictionary - Economy". Retrieved October 27, 2007.
- Bonnett, Alastair (16 January 2008).What is Geography?. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781849206495.
- Tosh, John (2006). The Pursuit of History. Pearson Education Limited. Pp. 168-169.