Reviewer in Discipline and Ideas in Social Science
carry out effectively the production process.
Social Science - the scientific study of human society and social
relationships.
Nine Disciplines in the Social Sciences
1. Anthropology – is the study of ancient societies and their
cultural traditions.
 Anthropology came from the Greek word anthropos
meaning “humankind” and logos meaning “study”.
 Two broad fields of anthropology: physical and cultural
anthropology.
 Physical anthropology – which is also called
biological anthropology – studies the biological
evolution of man.
 Cultural anthropology – investigates and seeks
to understand the cultural features of
societies.
o Cultural anthropology is divided into
three subbranches: archaeology,
anthropological linguistics and
ethnology.
Archaeology – seeks to reconstruct
the past life of ancient societies, trace
the cultural changes that took place
and the reason behind the changes.
Anthropological linguistics – involves
the study of language in societies or
communities where language may or
may not be written.
Ethnology – study marriage customs,
kinship patterns, economic systems
and religious rites of cultural groups.
 A major step in the evolution of anthropology as a
discipline is the period of European conquest during
the sixteenth century.
2. Economics – is the study of efficient allocation of scarce
resources in order to satisfy unlimited human needs and wants.
 The word Economics came from two Greek words,
oikos meaning “home” and nomos meaning
“management”.
 Economic resources that can be used to produce goods
and services are called factors of production.
o Four Categories of Factors of Production: 1)
land 2) labor 3) capital and 4)
entrepreneurship
1. Land – is anything that comes from nature
and which gives life and support to all living
creatures.
2.Labor – refers to any human effort exerted
during the production process which includes
physical exertion, application of skills or talent
or exercise of intellectual faculties.
3. Capital – refers to anything that can be used
to create or manufacture goods and services.
(e.g. buildings, machines, infrastructures,
tools)
4. Entrepreneurship – ability to organize all
the other factors of production in order to
3. Geography – studies the interaction between the natural
environment and the people living in it. It acts as a bridge
between natural science and social science.
 Geography comes from the Greek words: geo meaning
“Earth” and graphos meaning “charting or mapping”.
This social science discipline studies where things are
on Earth, explains why they are there, and their
relationships to other people, places and things.
Two main branches of Geography:
A. Physical Geography studies the natural features of the Earth,
like climate, water, vegetation, and soil.
Two approach in studying physical geography:
1) To look at the physical environment as the provider of natural
resources, like food and water.
2) To look at the physical environment as hazard to human life.
B. Human Geography studies human population and the impact
of its activities on the planet. (e.g. agriculture, urbanization, land
reclamation)
 The pioneer in the field of Geography is Eratosthenes of
Cyrene – who is the head of the Great Library at
Alexandria. He is also considered as the “Father of
Geography”.
 He wrote the first scholarly treatise on the topic, a
three-book volume Geographika.
4. History – is traditionally regarded as the study of the recorded
past.
History – meant a systematic account of a set of natural
phenomena, whether or not chronological ordering was a factor
in the account.
~Aristotle
It comes from the Greek noun historia meaning “learning”.
Two Types of Historical Sources
1. Primary Source – is a testimony of an eyewitness or an
account to someone who has firsthand the information on the
subject.
Examples of Primary Sources: journal entries, transcripts, video
interviews, monuments or structures, photographs, statistics
and official government records.
2. Secondary Source – is a testimony of someone who is not an
eyewitness to the event being narrated.
It simply uses primary materials as the source of information.
Examples include: biographies, textbooks, conference
proceedings, and book reviews.
5. Linguistics – came from the Latin word lingua, meaning
“language”.
Linguistics – it studies the nature of language, grammar and the
process of language acquisition.
Fields of Linguistics:
A. Phonology – it is the study of speech sounds.
Language impairment: unable to differentiate between
sounds.
e.g. BAT and PAT / S & Z
B. Morphology – it is the study of how words are
categorized or formed.
Language impairment: trouble with the structure of
words.
e.g. adding an ED to signify past tense.
Prefixes, use of plural forms
C. Syntax – it is the study of how words are combined to
form a sentence.
Language impairment: trouble constructing a sentence.
e.g. Mommy no go.
D. Semantics – is the study of meaning-making.
Language impairment: problems understanding
question involving “how” and “why”. (I & YOU)
E. Pragmatics – is the study of language context.
e.g. oh, please (different meaning if it was done in a
harsh tone.
6. Political Science – is the study of politics, power and
government.
The word politics comes from the Greek word politea, or a
person who participate in the polis.
Polis means taking part in its decision-making, which normally
takes place in the agora, or the market place, where new laws
are passed.
Politics is the process of using power in the government, while
power is the means for the government to rule the people.
Government is the authority or the bureaucracy that provides
the system of rule over its territory and for its people.
Aristotle’s book entitled Politics is considered a x in the field of
political inquiry. It delves on the topic government and the
leaders behind it. (e.g. kings)
7. Psychology – is the scientific study of behavior and mental
processes.
It comes from two Greek words, psyche meaning “soul” or
“spirit” and logos meaning “study”.
3 Major Fields of Psychology:
1. Clinical Psychology:
Assesses and finds treatment for people with psychological
disorders.
2. Developmental Psychology:
Studies the intellectual, social, emotional and moral
development across lifespan.
3. Experimental Psychology:
Studies the most basic concepts like cognition, perception,
memory and learning but mostly conducted on animals instead
of humans.
Wilhelm Wundt – German psychologist who is considered as the
Father of Modern Psychology. He is credited for being the first in
the movement to make psychology as a science.
Sigmund Freud – known for his psychoanalytic theory which
divides the personality into id, ego, and superego.
8. Sociology – it is the systematic study of human society.
It comes from the Latin word socius meaning “friend” or
“companion” and the Greek word logos meaning “study”.
Sociology studies how people relate to each other and how they
work as a whole in the larger society.
Auguste Comte – French social thinker who coined the word
sociology in 1838 to enclose the idea of improving society by
understand how it operates.
9. Demography – is the study of human population and how
people move from place to place.
It comes from two ancient Greek words demos meaning “the
people” and graphos meaning “charting or mapping”.
Four Basic Concepts of Demography
1. Fertility – is the incidence of child bearing in a country’s
population.
2. Mortality – death rate
3. Migration – it is the movement of people into and out of a
particular territory.
4. Population – all the inhabitants of a particular town, area or
country.
Empirical-Analytical Approaches in the Social Sciences
A. Rational Choice Theory (RCT) is a powerful tool in making
sense of why people act or behave in the way they do.
According to Elster 1989 “the essence of rational choice theory
is that when faced with several courses of action, people usually
do what they believe is likely to have the best overall outcome.
Rationalist states that individuals choose the best action
according to stable preference functions and constraints facing
them.
B. Symbolic Interactionism is a sociological framework that
focuses on the different meanings individuals attach to objects,
peoples and interactions as well as the corresponding behaviors
that reflect those interpretations.
George Herbert Mead was an influential figure in the field of
symbolic interactionism.
Gestures, according to him, are important in communication.
When we interact with others, our posture, tone of voice, voice
inflections, as well as hand and facial movements convey
significance.
Social Self Theory
George Herbert Mead, a sociologist from the late 1800s, is well
known for his theory of the social self, which includes the
concepts of 'self,' 'me,' and 'I.'
Development of Self
According to Mead, three activities develop the self: language,
play, and games.
Language develops self by allowing individuals to respond to
each other through symbols, gestures, words, and sounds.
Language conveys others' attitudes and opinions toward a
subject or the person. Emotions, such as anger, happiness, and
confusion, are conveyed through language.
Play develops self by allowing individuals to take on different
roles, pretend, and express expectation of others.
During role-play, a person is able to internalize the perspective
of others and develop an understanding of how others feel
about themselves and others in a variety of social situations.
Games develop self by allowing individuals to understand and
adhere to the rules of the activity.
Self is developed by understanding that there are rules in which
one must abide by in order to win the game or be successful at
an activity.
Two Sides of Self: Me & I
According to Mead's theory, the self has two sides or phases:
'me' and 'I.'
The 'me' is considered the socialized aspect of the individual.
The 'I', therefore, can be considered the present and future
phase of the self.
Parsons’ Structural Functionalism:
1. A- adaptation
2. G- goal attainment
3. I- integration
4. L- latency
Structure of the General Action System
1. Action System
Handles adaptation function by adjusting to and transforming
the external world
2. Social System
Copes with the integration by controlling its component parts
3. Personality System
Performs the goal attainment function by defining system goals
and mobilizing resources to attain them.
4. Cultural System
Performs the latency function by providing actors with the
norms and values that motivate them for action.
Functional Requisites of a Social System by Talcott Parsons
1. Social system must be structured so that they operate
compatibility with other systems.
2. To survive, the social system must have the requisite
from other systems
3. The system must meet a significant proportion of the
needs of its actor.
4. The system must elicit adequate participation from its
members.
5. It must have at least a minimum of control over
potentially disruptive behavior.
6. If conflict becomes sufficiently disruptive, it must be
controlled.
7. Finally, a social system requires a language in order to
survive.
The Scientific Method and Its Applications
The scientific method refers to a standardized set of
techniques for building scientific knowledge, such as how to make
valid observations, how to interpret results to generalize results.
It allows researchers to independently and impartially test
preexisting theories and prior findings. It has the same objectives
with research, which investigates and studies different materials
and sources in the pursuit of advancing knowledge. A researcher
tests his or her hypothesis by subjecting it to careful scrutiny and
debate and finally comes up with a conclusion that either
validates or disproves the hypothesis.
In pursuing research, the use of scientific method is
required. The steps in scientific method (Rajasekharan 2013) are
as follows:
1. Defining the problem
2. Reviewing the literature
3. Forming hypothesis
4. Collecting and analyzing data
5. Drawing conclusions
Types of Research Design
The research design sets the direction of the whole
study. According to Seluz, “research design is the arrangement
of conditions for the collection and analysis of data in a manner
that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with the
economy in procedure.
Examples of Research Design and Characteristics
Type Characteristics
1. Descriptive It provides answers to basic questions
Research associated with the research problem.
It may not be able to conclusively
provide the answer to the question
“why” but it is able to describe “what
exists” with respect to the variables of a
given solution.
Example: A descriptive study on the
factors that lead to domestic violence
2. Historical This design collects, verifies, and
Research synthesizes evidence from the past in
order to validate or reject a hypothesis.
It uses secondary sources and variety of
primary sources like newspaper
clippings, diaries, government records,
and archival materials.
Example: Martial law in the Philippines:
the golden or the cursed years in the
country’s history?
3. Experiment This type of research answers the
al Research question, “What causes something to
occur?” This design uses both an
experimental group and a control
group, which allows a measurement of
the dependent variable when the
independent variable is administered to
 the experimental group and not to the
control group.
Example: A study on the effect of sleep
deprivation on health and productivity
4. Exploratory This design tackles research problems
Research that have little or no previous studies
done on it. It aims to develop tentative
theories or hypothesis in research
problems that are still in the
preliminary stages of investigation.
Example: A comparative study on the
effectiveness of same sex parenting vis-
à-vis conventional parenting
5. Cross- This design measures similarities or
sectional differences across groups and subjects.
Research A specific variable is examined across
different groups or subjects. It is rather
limited because it does not capture the
process of change following
intervention.
Example: A study on the incidence of
breast cancer across different age
groups of women.
6. Longitudinal It studies the same sample across time
Research or across regular time intervals. This
type of study allows researchers to
track changes that occur over a period
of and identify the variable or variables
that might be causing the changes.
Example: A study on the effect of TV
programming to violent behavior
among children.
7. Sequential This is a type of research design carried
Research out in a series of over a time interval. It
has no predetermined sample size as
the researcher can accept the null
hypothesis, accept an alternative
hypothesis, or choose a new set of
samples ad repeat the study once
again.
Example: A study on the effects of diet,
exercise, and common medication on
heart disease conducted across
different age groups.
8. Case study This type of design is applied to study a
very particular research problem. This is
used to test whether a specific theory
or model is applicable to real world
issues or scenarios.
Example: Improving school conditions
by changing public policy in South Los
Angeles: the Community Coalition
Partnership
9. Meta- This is a type of design that evaluates
analysis and summarizes the results of other
individual studies. It requires strict
adherence to a set criteria in selecting
the studies that will be used. An
analysis of the previous studies
increases the explanatory power of the
new study.
Example: Fertility and women’s
employment: A meta-analysis
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY BY: SIGMUND FREUD
OVERVIEW OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
 A set of philosophical of human nature
 Psychoanalysis is both an approach to therapy and a
theory of personality
 Emphasizes unconscious motivation – the main cause
of behavior lie in unconscious mind
VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE
1. DETERMINISTIC
Life is about gaining pleasure and avoiding pain
2. HUMAN AS ENERGY SYSTEM
Freud believe that human are motivated by the unconscious,
where the Id is found along with the aggression and sex instincts
LEVEL OF MENTAL LIFE
1. UNCONSCIOUS
Contains all the feeling, urges or instinct that are beyond our
awareness but it affect our expression, feeling, action
(E.g. Slip of tongue, dreams, wishes)
2. PRECONSCIOUS
Facts stored in a part of the brain, which are not conscious but
are available for possible use in the future
(E.g. A person will never think of her home address at that
moment but when her friend ask for it, she can easily recall it)
3. CONSCIOUS
Only level of mental life that are directly available to us
The awareness of our own mental process (Thoughts/feeling)
STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY
Consist of three parts :
1. Id
-Infants are born with Id intact
-Operates on PLEASURE PRINCIPE – to gain pleasure, avoid pain
-Driven by sexual and aggressive urge
2. Ego
-The rational level of personality
-Operates on REALITY PRINCIPLES – does realistic and logical
thinking
-The balance between Id and Superego
3. Superego
-Partially unconscious
-Operates on MORAL PRINCIPLES
-Able to differentiate between good and bad, right and wrong
-If people follow their superego, they will feel proud but if they
don’t follow, they will feel guilty and anxious
PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES
-Children progress through SIX psychosexual stages during
psychosexual development
-A person become ‘FIXATED’ or stuck in a stage when a basic
need is not met, therefore that person will face difficulty in
transiting to another stage
1. Oral Stage
Birth to 18 months
-Pleasure centers on the mouth – sucking, biting,
Fixation :
1. If the child is over stimulated in this stage, as an adult she/he
may become dependent on cigarette or alcohol, become
chatterbox, or derive pleasure from acquiring
possessions(collect things)
2. If the child is under stimulated in this stage, as an adult she/he
will make bitingly sarcastic remarks or be argumentative
2. Anal Stage
18 months until 3 years
-Pleasure focuses on bowel movement (withholding/eliminating
faeces)
Fixation :
1. If parents were over-emphasizing potty training, the child will
develop a retentive character. He will become obstinate and
stingy
2. If parents were negligent about potty training, the child will
develop expulsive trait such as bad temper, cruelty and messy
disorderliness
3. Phallic Stage
3 years to 6 years
Pleasure zone is the sex organ/genitals
Fixations :
Oedipus complex in males / Electra complex in female:
The boy will have the desire to posses his mother and displace
his father and the girl will want to posses the father and remove
her mother
Child whom had been fixated in this stage will develop a phallic
character, such as reckless, proud and vain
This conflict can also cause the child to be afraid of close
relationship and weak sexual identity
Freud stated that fixation may be a root of homosexuality
4. Latency Stage
6 years to 11 years, until puberty
No fixations occur as the child’s energy are focused on peer
activities and personal mastery of learning and physical skills
5. Genital Stage
12 years onwards
Sexual interest in opposite sex increase
The child improve their personal identities, develop caring
feeling towards others, establish loving and sexual relationship
and progress in successful careers.
Fixation :
Frigidity, impotence and unsatisfactory relationship
DEFENSE MECHANISM
Defense mechanism are invented by the Ego in an attempt to
resolve the conflict between Id and Superego – so that
personality can operate in a healthy manner
It deny/distort reality while operating in unconscious level
If it is used once a while, the purpose of using it is to reduce
stress
But if it is used frequently, it means the individual are trying to
avoid facing reality
1. Repression
Unpleasant experiences are stored deep in the subconscious
mind and cant be access by the conscious mind
Example: An accident victim nearly dies but remembers none of
the details of the accident
2. Displacement
Redirecting the feelings of hostility and violent action from self
to another that is less threatening from original source
Example: Angered by a neighbor’s hateful comment, a mother
punish her child for accidentally spilling her drinks
3. Rationalization
Providing a reasonable explanation to make undesirable
behavior appear logical
Example: A student who fails a test because she did not study
hard enough blames her failure on the teacher for using ‘tricky’
question
4. Denial
Reality is distorted to make it suit to the individual’s wishes
Example: An alcoholic fails to acknowledge that he is addicted to
alcohol
5. Regression
Returning to a behavior pattern characteristic of an earlier stage
of development
Example: After Lucy’s parents bitter divorce, she refuse to sleep
alone in her room and crawling into bed with her mother
6. Reaction Formation
Thinking or behaving in a way that is the extreme opposite to
those that are of real intention
Example: A woman who loves an unobtainable man and behaves
as though she hates him
7. Projection
The attribution of one’s unacceptable urges or qualities to
others
Example: A person in an extremely bad mood accuses family
members of being hard to get along with