SOCIAL SCIENCES

SOCIAL SCIENCES

1. The social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that study human aspects of the world
2. They diverge from the arts and humanities in that the social sciences tend to emphasize the use of the scientific method in the study of humanity, including quantitative and qualitative methods
3. The social sciences, in studying subjective, inter-subjective and objective or structural aspects of society, were traditionally referred to as soft sciences
4. This is in contrast to hard sciences, such as the natural science, which may focus exclusively on objective aspects of nature

SCIENCE

1. Science (from the Latin scientia, 'knowledge') is a system of acquiring knowledge based on the scientific method, as well as the organized body of knowledge gained through such research
2. Science as defined here is sometimes termed pure science to differentiate it from applied science, which is the application of scientific research to specific human needs

ETYMOLOGY

1. The word science comes through the Old French, and is derived from the Latin word scientia for knowledge, which in turn comes from scio - I know
2. The Indo-European root means to discern or to separate, akin to Sanskrit chyati, he cuts off, Greek schizein, to split, Latin scindere, to split
3. From the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, science or scientia meant any systematic recorded knowledge
4. Science therefore had the same sort of very broad meaning that philosophy had at that time
5. In other languages, including French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, the word corresponding to science also carries this meaning

NATURAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

1. Fields of science are commonly classified along two major lines:
2. natural sciences, which study natural phenomena (including biological life)
3. social sciences, which study human behavior and societies

ANTHROPOLOGY

1. Anthropology is the holistic discipline that deals with the integration of different aspects of the Social Sciences, Humanities, and Human Biology
2. It includes Archaeology, Prehistory and Paleontology, Physical or Biological Anthropology, Anthropological Linguistics, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Ethnology and Ethnography
3. The word anthropos (άνθρωπος) is from the Greek for "human being" or "person." Eric Wolf described sociocultural anthropology as "the most scientific of the humanities, and the most humanistic of the sciences"

SOCIOLOGY (1)

1. Sociology is the study of society and human social action
2. It generally concerns itself with the social rules and processes that bind and separate people not only as individuals, but as members of associations, groups, communities and institutions, and includes the examination of the organization and development of human social life
3. The sociological field of interest ranges from the analysis of short contacts between anonymous individuals on the street to the study of global social processes
4. Most sociologists work in one or more subfields

SOCIOLOGY (2)

1. The meaning of the word comes from the suffix "-ology" which means "study of," derived from Greek, and the stem "soci-" which is from the Latin word socius, meaning member, friend, or ally, thus referring to people in general
2. It is a social science involving the application of social theory and research methods to the study of the social lives of people, groups, and societies, sometimes defined as the study of social interactions. It is a relatively new academic discipline which evolved in the early 19th century

SOCIOLOGY (3)

1. Because sociology is such a broad discipline, it can be difficult to define, even for professional sociologists
2. One useful way to describe the discipline is as a cluster of sub-fields that examine different dimensions of society
3. For example, social stratification studies inequality and class structure; demography studies changes in a population size or type; criminology examines criminal behavior and deviance; political sociology studies government and laws; and the sociology of race and sociology of gender examine society's racial and gender cleavages

( Sumber : Bahan Mata Kuliah Pengantar Ilmu Sosial / Dosen : Hedi Pudjo Santosa / FISIP UNDIP )