LESSON 1: THE BIRTH AND GROWTH OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:

a. Explain anthropological and sociological perspectives on culture, society, and politics;
b. Explore the significant personalities that contributed to the development of the social
sciences; and
c. Give insights on the significant development of social science up to these days

ACTIVITY

Get clippings from newspapers on the current social problems of the country or in your local community.
For example, HIV/AIDS, teenage smoking, climate change, deforestation, mining, human rights
violations, etc. In your opinion, how can the sciences contribute in solving these specific problems? Why
do you think it is necessary to employ the knowledge of the social sciences to solve these problems? ( Post
the clippings here)

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 DISCUSSION

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE GROWTH OF SOCIAL

SCIENCES

In the development and progress of human knowledge, the social sciences were the last to develop
after the natural sciences. And while the origin of the social sciences can be traced back to the
Ancient Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, their development as separate fields of
knowledge only begun in the modern period.

Before the birth of social sciences in the West, the study of society, culture, and politics were based
on social and political philosophy. In return, social and political philosophies were informed by
theological reasoning grounded in Revelation based on the Bible. This was largely due to the
dominance of religious worldview and authority during this time. While pre-modern social thinkers
employed experiences and personal observation, just like modern scientists, they fit them within
the overall framework of their philosophy and the overall religious scheme of the Church.

PHILOSOPHY VS SCIENCE

 Philosophy is distinct from  Sciences are based on

science. empirical data, tested theories,
and carefully contrived
 Science would have not observations.
developed if it remained under  It does not ask the question
the wings of Philosohy and about the nature of truth.
Theology.  Science seeks to discover the
 It is based on analytic truth about specific causes of
understanding of the nature of events and happenings in the
truth asserted about specific natural world.
topics of issues.  It is inductive. It proceeds
from observing particular
 It asks the questions: “What is cases and moves toward
the nature of truth?” and generalizing the properties
“How do we know what we common to these cases to
know?” other similar cases under the
same specified condition.

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 Note: Before the modern period, the growth of the sciences
was slowed down because of the dominance of religious
authority and tradition. However, with the breakdown of
the Church and its religious power after the French
Revolution, the sciences grew steadily and rapidly to
become the most widely accepted way of explaining the
world, nature, and human beings.

THE UNPRECEDENTED
GROWTH OF SCIENCE

The Scientific Revolution, which begun with Nicolaus Copernicus, refers to historical changes
in thought and belief, to changes in social and institutional organization.
It culminated in the works of Sir Isaac Newton, which proposed universal laws of motion and a
mechanical model of the Universe.
The 17th century saw the rapid development in the sciences.
Sir Francis Bacon established the supremacy of reason over imagination.
Rene Descartes and Isaac Newton laid the foundation that allowed science and technology to
change the world.
The discovery of gravity b Isaac Newton, the mathematization of Physics and medicine paved the
way for the dominance of science and mathematics in describing and explaining the world and its
nature.

THE SECULARIZATION OF
LEARNING AND
EDUCATION

The modern period marked the growing triumph of scientific method over religious dogma and
theological thinking.
The Protestant Movement led by Martin Luther eroded the power of the Roman Catholic
Church. It challenged the infallibility of the Pope and democratized the interpretation of the
Bible.
Then, there was the “Enlightenment”. This was largely a cultural movement, emphasizing
rationalism as well as political and economic theories.
In the Age of Enlightenment, philosophers challenged the use of metaphysics or absolute truth
derived mainly from unjustified tradition and authority such as the existence of God.
Immanuel Kant advocated the use of reason in order to know the nature of the world and human
beings.
During the Medieval period, universities relied mainly on religious tradition and the Bible to
explain the nature of the universe and the place of human being in the grand scheme of things.
But the modern universities started to rely on science and its method to interpret the world.
Max Weber described this process as “Rationalization”. It means that social life is more and
more subjected to calculation and prediction.

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 Earlier people explaned diseases through divine intervention. But with the discoveries of germ
theory and the development of vaccination by Louis Pasteur, people relied more and more on
medical knowledge to deal with diseases.
Francois Lyotard, a French Sociologist, points out that Science triumphed because it provided
reliable results.

THE RISE OF
UNIVERSITIES

Education is the single most important factor in the rise of social sciences. The growth of
universities also contributed to the triumph of science.
Secular subjects or subjects dealing with natural world proliferated in the universities.
Merchants and capitalists supported universities and institutions of secular learning because they
became the hub of training future scientists, technocrats, and technological innovators
Durkheim lectured on the need to secularize education and base the curriculum on the need of
nation-state- to develop citizens necessary for the modern world.

THE DISSOLUTION OF
FEUDAL SOCIAL
RELATIONS

Many medieval guilds or workers’ cooperatives were dissolved and absorbed into the emerging
factory system. The factory system in the urban centers due to trade and commerce, attracted a lot
of agricultural workers and mass of rural population to migrate to urban centers. This created the
modern cities.
Ferdinand Tonnies, a German sociologist, lamented the passing away of “gemeinschaft” or
community because of urbanization. He differentiated the individual relationship between
traditional societies and modern cities or “gessellschaft.”
As capitalism replaced agricultural economy, people began to see their relationships with other
people as mere economic transactions rather than as a form of personal relationship.

THE RISE OF
INDIVIDUALISM

The intensification of trade and commerce gradually replaced barter with the introduction of
money and banking system.
The banking system provided merchants and capitalists the leverage to extend credit and
transactions.
The introduction of money enabled people to deal with people in an impersonal manner. Money
made possible the reduction of human interaction to mere business-like transactions devoid of
any warmth and personal touch.
George Simmel, a German sociologist, decry the growing depersonalization of life due to the
introduction of money.
The dominance of money in social life paved the way for individualization of lifestyle and the
birth of plural relationships.

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 In your opinion, how MONEY plays in today’s generation?

SOCIOLOGY
It is a branch of the social sciences that deals with the scientific study of human interactions,
social groups and institutions, whole societies, and the human world as such.
It is a science that studies the relationship between the individual and the society as they develop
and change in history. It also pursues the investigation of the emergence of stable structures that
sustain such interactions.

AUGUSTE COMTE- a French philosopher and

mathematician. He is the “founding father of sociology”. He
coined the term “sociology” but he originally used “social
physics” as a term for sociology. He suggested that there were
3 STAGES in the development of societies.
 Theological Stage
 Metaphysical Stage
 Positive Stage
Comte’s sociology has always been associated with
POSITIVISM or the school of thought that says that science
and its method is the only valid way of knowing things.

HARRIET MARTINEAU- She is the “founding mother

of sociology”. She is an English writer and reformist. With
physical disabilities, she travelled a lot, especially in the
United States, and wrote her travelogues.

KARL MARX- He is considered as the “father of scientific

socialism”.
COMPUTER He is a German DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNICATION philosopher and revolutionary
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who further contributed to the development of sociology. He
introduced the materialist analysis of history which discounts
 EMILE DURKHEIM- He is the pioneer of functionalism in
sociology. He made possible the professionalization of
sociology by teaching it in the University of Bordeaux. He
was responsible for depending sociology as an independent
discipline from psychology. He argued that society possesses
a reality sui generis (that is, its own kind, or a class by itself,
unique) independent of individuals and institutions that
composed it. He argued that society pre-existed the
individuals and will continue to exist long after the individual
is dead.

ANTHROPOLOGY

- It is a scientific discipline originated from social philosophy and travelogues of Western

travellers.
- It emerged as a distinct branch of scholarship around the middle of the 19 th century, when public
interest in human evolution took hold.

FRANZ BOAS- He is considered as the Father of Modern

American Anthropology. He was the first anthropologist to have
rejected the biological basis of racism or racial discrimination. He
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also rejected the popular Western idea of social evolution or the
development of societies from lower to higher forms.
 BRONISLAW KASPER MALINOWSKI

- He was a Polish immigrant who did a comprehensive study of

Trobriand Island. He developed what social scientists now call as
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION. It is a method of social science
research that requires the anthropologists to have the ability to
participate and blend with the way of life of a given group of people.
- He is also considered as one of the most influential ethnographers in
the 20th century.

ALFRED REGINALD RADCLIFFE- BROWN

-He was an English social anthropologist who developed the theory of

structural- functionalism.
-He saw individuals as mere products of social structures. This view
led to the establishment of STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALIST
PARADIGM. According to this view, the basic unit of analysis for
anthropology and social sciences are the social structures and the
functions they perform to maintain the equilibrium of society.

POLITICAL SCIENCE

-It is part of the social sciences that deals with the study of politics, power, and government. In turn,
POLITICS refers to the process of making collective decisions in a community, society, or group
through the application of influence and power.

-Political Science also studies how even the most private and personal decisions of individuals are
influenced by collective decisions of a community.

In your opinion, how does politics affect the decision of individuals in our society today? Cite examples.

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Choose one Political Icon (either Filipino or foreign icon) and share your reasons why did you choose
him/her. Write your answer in the box.

Take this Quiz

A. Match Column A with the Column B. Choose the best answer.

A B

____1. He is the father of Scientific Socialism a.Participant

Observation
____2. He is the father of Sociology b.AlfredReginald
Radcliffe-Brown
____3. He decry the growing depersonalization of life due to c. Politics
The introduction of money.
____4. He argued that society possesses a reality sui generis d. Franz Boas
Independent of individuals and institutions that compose it.
____5. With physical disabilities, she travelled a lot especially e. Harriet Martineau
In the U.S and write her travelogue.
____6. He developed the theory of structural- functionalism. f. Emile
Durkheim
____7. He is the father of American Anthropology g. Sociology

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 ____8. It is a method of social science research that requires the h. Auguste Comte
anthropologists to participate and blend with the way of life
of a given group of people.
____9. It is the process of making collective decisions in a i. Karl Marx
community, society, or group through the application of influence
and power.
____10. It is a branch of social sciences that deals with the study j. George Simmel
of human interactions, social groups and institutions, whole societies,
And the human world as a whole.

B. There are very few women included in the history of the development of the social sciences-
sociology, anthropology, and political science. Do an observation on the contributions of women
in today’s generation. Write your thoughts inside the box.

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