The Social

Sciences and
the Three
Faces of the
Social
WHAT IS SOCIAL SCIENCE?

– the scientific study of human society and social relationships

– an academic discipline concerned with society and the
relationships among individuals within a society, which often
rely primarily on empirical approaches
– a group of academic disciplines dedicated to examining
society. This branch of science studies how people interact
with each other, behave, develop as a culture, and influence
the world
WHAT ARE THE 3 FACES OF
THE SOCIAL?

– Sociology
– Anthropology
– Political Science
CULTURE, SOCIETY, &
POLITICS
– As conceptual tools…
 To make such phenomenon more rational
– Students as Social Beings
 Students as individuals and integral members of the society are expected
to value their roles in the society, apply the knowledge they learned from
school, and translate the gained ideas into actions
 Sociality is defined by the very categories that we possess, the categories
assigned to us by society at large.
– Social Realities: Behavior and Phenomenon
 Behavior, Individual Practice, Group-based Practice, Lifestyle
CULTURE, SOCIETY, &
POLITICS
– Values and Belies as Behavior Motivators
 collectivity’s principles or standards of behavior and are considered as
judgement of what is important in life
 the criteria people use in assessing their daily lives, arranging priorities,
and choosing between alternative courses of action.
 Beliefs: firmly held opinion or conviction, regardless of lack of verifiable
evidence
– Social Dynamics
 Social, Cultural, and Political Change
 SOCIOLOGY,
ANTHROPOLOGY
& POLITICAL
SCIENCE
3 WAYS to STUDY SOCIETY

1. By mapping the social forces impinging on social actors as

their loves intersect in society
2. By rehearsing the structures and components of cultural
practices and traditions; and
3. By exposing the asymmetrical power distributions among
members of social communities and organizations
KNOWN AS DISICPLINES

– Provides unique ways of seeing (perspective) and zooming (focus)

on social details;
– Common goal: to understand the “social” and to explore how it
drives the unfolding of society as we know it
– Complementary perspectives as they provide different ways of
making sense of social dynamics
SOCIOLOGY

– based on etymology, comes from the word socius which means

“group of partners” and logos which means “science or study of.”
– Focuses on the ubiquity of social forces in unlikely forms: sex,
gender, religion, class, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and the
like
– “the study of human social life, groups and society”
SOCIOLOGY

– Social Forces: any human-created way of doing things that influence,

pressure, or force people to behave, interact with others, and think in
certain ways
– Social Map: refers a person’s specific economic and political location
– Social Location: a set of imaginary coordinates that determine social
actors’ opportunities and life chances in the social world
– Sociological Imagination: a quality of the mind that enables its
possessor to grasp the intersection of biography and history
SOCIOLOGY (HISTORY)

Auguste Comte: Father of Sociology

 He believed that society operates according to certain laws, just as the physical world
operates according to gravity and other laws of nature.
Karl Marx: The Communist Manifesto
 He reiterated that political revolution was vital in the evolutionary process of society,
the only means to achieve improvement of social condition.
Emile Durkheim: Concept of Social Fact
 A characteristic feature of the power of ideas to create social realities for members of
society
Max Weber
 He believed that a “sympathetic understanding, vertsehen, of the mind of others” was
essential to understanding the behavior of others
SOCIOLOGY (HISTORY)

Symbolic Interactionism
 Charles Horton Cooly
 Herbert Blumer
 George Herbert Mead
“Meanings and Interpretations shape and influence the emerging
interactions”
ANTHROPOLOGY

– Based on etymology, comes from the greek words Anthropos which means
“man” and logos which means “science or study of.”
– A science that seeks to uncover principles of behavior that apply to all human
communities
– Has been defined as that branch of knowledge which deals with the scientific
study of man, his/her works, behavior, and value in time and space.
– The discipline that takes account of the “equal but different ways” of how
people live in the worl”
ANTHROPOLOGY

– Social Diversity: community in which individuals of different race, ethnicity,

religious beliefs, socioeconomic status, language, geographical origin, gender
and/or sexual orientation bring their different knowledge, background,
experience and interest for the benefit of their diverse community
– Social Inequality: sources in a given society are distributed unevenly; normally
the end result of social diversity
– Cultural Diversity: a system of beliefs and behaviors that recognizes and
respects the presence of all diverse groups in an organization or society
POLITICAL SCIENCE

– Systematic study of government and politics

– Focuses on the theory and practice of government and politics at the local,
state, national and international levels
– Dedicated to developing understandings of institutions, practices and relations
that constitute public life and modes of inquiry that promote citizenship.