MODULE 1:

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL SCIENCES According to Neo-Political Science:

Ruler/s Good Bad
Social Science Many Democracy Mobocracy
 Engaged in the study of phenomena
Herodotus
relating to human groups and their
o The Histories
socio-physical environment.
o “The Father of History”
 Two important context:
o Paid attention to how the different
o Involves scientific process
cultures of society
o Inquiries about the social space
converged/diverged.
Social science and its disciplines involve a
scientific and methodological study of human 2. Other Scholars
and society.
Al-Biruni (973 – 1048)
BEGINNING OF SOCIAL SCIENCE INQUIRY OR o Islamic medieval scholar
RESEARCH o Documented the lives of early
population in South Asia, Middle
1. Ancient Greek Philosophers
East, and Mediterranean
 Inquired on questions of ethics, the
Books:
nature of man, society, and the state.
The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries –
 Their principles became the
a comparative study of the different
foundations of social science.
calendars of cultures and civilizations in
Plato
the Middle East and South Asia.
o The Republic
o Discussed how human nature or the Critical Study of What India Says,
soul is a reflection of society and whether accepted by Reason or Refused
how a society can achieve harmony – detailed account of the religion and
by creating classes or divisions. philosophy of India.
o Best/ideal ruler = philosopher kings
Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406)
Aristotle
o North African Muslim scholar
o The Politics
o One of the key founders of
o “Father of Political Science”
demography, history, sociology,
o Discussed how different types of
anthropology, and economics.
government can be transformed
Book:
into something just or corrupt.
Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun (1377)
According to Aristotle:  “The Introduction of Ibn Khaldun”
Ruler/s Good Bad  Used the universal history (world
One Monarchy Tyranny history) approach that emphasized
Few Aristocracy Oligarchy history of humankind as a coherent
Many Polity Democracy unit of analysis, insisting that
 history be void of “idle superstition
and uncritical acceptance of AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
historical data.” This germinated
the practice of “scientific approach”  Particular attention was given to how
to the study of human populations. societies originated, how they
functioned, and how they were
(According to Ibn Khaldun, historical data was governed.
written to please the rulers of their time, to  Where philosophers began to question
promote their personal, business, and political the rule of absolute monarchs and
interests. He also criticized historical data proposed that the power of any state
because of the fact that historians back then lies not on its government but on its
didn’t use the ”scientific approach” of data people.
gathering.)
According to Hector S De Leon,
MEDIEVAL PERIOD
monarchy is divided into two:
1. Absolute Monarch
Church
2. Limited/Constitutional Monarch
 Concern was the rigorous study of
human nature and the use of Greek
Thomas Hobbes
philosophy to support and defend
theological ideas and principles. Book:
 Less concerned on the pursuit of Leviathan - absolute monarchs are
knowledge in the physical sciences. essential to enforce the will of the
 Interest extends only to the degree people, but argued that the monarch’s
when knowledge is in accordance to its power came from the people and not
religious dogma and to the sacred from divine right.
scriptures.
Divine Right Theory – asserts that a
(So basically, since the church’s opinion was the monarch derived his right to rule
standard of basing truth, it affected all the directly from the will of God.
disciplines under social sciences. This went on
for centuries and it required a lot of effort for John Locke
great thinkers to break away from this.)
Book:
(But since humans are naturally curious beings First Treaties of the Government
they eventually broke this, and their desire to Second Treaties of the Government
seek truth in both physical and metaphysical
o Argued that the power of the state
aspects of humanity became the ground work
for the development of social science.) to govern is a power given by the
people for the protection of their
inalienable rights.

Inalienable rights – values every

human person that has dignity.
Example: Human Rights.
Baron de Montesquieu REVOLUTIONS, SOCIAL CHANGE, AND THE RISE
o Developed the idea of the OF MODERN SOCIAL CHANGES
government having a system of
checks and balances and separation French Revolution (1789-1799)
of powers.  One of the bloodiest revolution
o Checks and Balances – where the 3  Caused by economic, social, political
branches (executive, legislative, instability in France.
judiciary) check each other so they  During the reign of King Louis XVI
wouldn’t abuse the exercise of their 3 social classes:
power. o Clergy
o Separation of Powers – the exercise o Nobility
of power cannot be executed by the o Masses
other branches except for
emergency situations/cases. Consequences of French Revolution
 Empowerment of the working classes
Jean-Jacques Rousseau  Weakening of the ecclesiastical and
o Explains that a social contract monarchial power
exists, which enables a society to  Montesquieu, Lafayette, Robespierre,
function toward a general will or a and Condorcet became the intellectual
common good. voices that criticized the French system
of government, arguing that a
Social Contract reformation of the monarchy was
- The state was created through needed such that it would be based on
social contract. a constitution rather than on the
- Happens when you affix your Church’s dictates.
signature in a contract.
Industrial Revolution (1760-1840)
- Created because of the state of
 A shift from human labor dependence
nature.
to machine dependence which resulted
State of nature
the production of surplus.
o A state where government
 It resulted the creation of new social
is absent
classes that were based on a
o Absolute freedom (no laws
democratic-capitalist orientation. It saw
& punishment)
the rise of middle class in monarchial
o Uncertain and chaotic
Britain.
Social Contract Theorist:
- Thomas Hobbes
- John Locke
- Jean-Jaques Rousseau
Economic and political thinkers on the impacts one who’ll distribute resources to
of industrialization the people for a classless society.

 Thomas Robert Malthus  Alexis de Tocqueville

o Theory on population – if the o Technology deprived humans of
growth of the population is left creativity and freedom as they were
unchecked, the scarcity of mere appendages to machines in
food/products will increase. assembly lines. It inhibited workers
from using their full mental
 Adam Smith capacity.
o “Father of Modern Economics”
o The Wealth of Nations or An Inquiry French revolution and industrial revolution was
into the Nature and Causes of the the backdrop that the disciplines of social
Wealth of Nations sciences were developed and implemented.
o free market economy, invisible
hand = the price DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE STUDY &
RESEARCH
Free market economy – the
government should not intervene with  William Thompson
the economic process. o Irish political and philosophical
writer
 John Stuart Mill o Coined the term “social science” in
o Disagreed with Smith saying that a the early 1800s
free market will only favor the o “Social science” appeared in his
ruling elite and would severely book “An Inquiry into the Principles
oppress the working class who are of the Distribution of Wealth Most
manning the industries. Conducive to Human Happiness:
o Proponents of Utilitarianism Applied to the Newly Proposed
(Jeremy Bentham & John Stuart System of Voluntary Equality of
Mill) Wealth”

Utilitarianism – a decision is correct if it POSITIVISM & POST-POSITIVISM APPROACHES

creates the greatest happiness for IN SOCIAL SCIENCES
greatest number of people.
 Highly quantitative analysis
 Karl Marx o Positivism
o “The Father of Communism” o Objective
o The Communist Manifesto (1848)  Highly qualitative analysis
and Das Kapital (1867) o Post-positivism/post-modernism
o According to him, the government o Subjective
is important because they are the
  Auguste Comte  Empiricism
o French philosopher o Created by John Locke
o “Father of Sociology” o Knowledge/reason acquired
o According to him, social realm can through sensual experiences.
be understood with the use of o “Empiricist” (someone who
quantitative analysis. supports the theory of empiricism)
o Argued that there are 3 stages in
the development of reason: Post-positivism or Post-modernism
theological, philosophical, and
scientific.  Social Phenomenon
o Is understood using a combination
3 ways a person can acquire of being reasoning and empirical
knowledge/reason: observation.
o Stated that reality is constructed by
 Theological knowledge
subjective minds.
 Based on assumptions of sacred
text/scriptures. RESEARCH METHODS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES
 Philosophical knowledge
 Based on critical thinking. - Methods are grouped according to their
 Scientific knowledge research objectives:
 Based on a scientific o Inductive research – aims to
process/method. understand theoretical concepts
 Most accurate/reliable because from available data.
it comes from positive o Deductive research – aims to test
observation. theories using new observed data.
- 2 research design strands:
Positivist Approach o Quantitative design – relies heavily
on numerical data.
 Empirical Method o Qualitative design – relies on non-
o A phenomenon to be understood as numerical data such as texts and
conducting processes that include spoken words.
hypothesis building and testing
through observation & experiment. RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS
o Example: Emile Durkheim’s study
on Suicide - Survey
o Process of gathering the responses
4 TYPES OF SUICIDE (by Emile of a certain number of participants
Durkheim) on a topic.
Altruistic – strong ties with society o Responses are numerically coded
Egoistic – weak ties with society
and statistically analyzed.
Fatalistic – many rules in society, failed
to meet those.
Anomic – no rules in society, sudden
changes in situations.
 - Key informant interview - Oriented toward a reflective
o Process of asking individuals a set of interconnection between the subject
questions face to face. and the object.
o Structured/semi-structured - Chief aim of humanities is to produce
- Participant observation wisdom by understanding social
o Enables the researcher to realities through reflection.
understand a social phenomenon
by immersing themselves in the Social sciences don’t accommodate a pure
environment. reflective approach in understanding social
o Mostly used in anthropology. reality.

Interdisciplinary Approach
- Allows for a constant sharing of
theories and methodologies among the
disciplines of the social sciences.

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND NATURAL SCIENCES

- Natural sciences include 3 primary

fields of inquiry :
o Chemistry
o Biology
o Physics
- Aims to discover laws that govern the
order of nature.
- Both social science and natural science
adhere to a scientific approach in
understanding their topics.
o A scientific approach would always
include a rigorous and systematic
examination of factors and
elements relating to the topic.
(Example: Laboratory
experimentation, observation,
testing)

SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

- Humanities traditionally include:

o Philosophy
o Literature
o Creative Writing