RELATIONSHIP OF POLITICAL SCIENCE WITH

OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCES

(History, Economics, Sociology, Law & the

‘Science’ of Politics)
INTRODUCTION
 Systematic studies of the institutions and functioning of human society,
man’s behaviour in society and the interpersonal relationships of
individuals as members of society are called social sciences.
 Man lives in society. There are many aspects of his behaviour in society
such as political aspect, social aspect, economic aspect, moral aspect,
etc. subjects dealing with these different aspects of man in society are
called social science.
 Social sciences are interconnected and interdependent. It connects to
the various streams of social sciences at various points of human
behaviour.
INTRODUCTION
 Under the broad spectrum of society, many institutions like historical,
political, economic, education, religious, etc. are found. These
institutions of the society are normally called the dimensions or aspects
of society. All these dimensions contribute to the formation of society
as a whole.
 The different dimensions of society have their own independent
existence as well as they are interrelated among themselves in many
ways.
 Social sciences interface and interact with different dimensions of the
society meaningfully and incorporate the different issues of such
dimensions in their contents and processes of teaching learning.
INTRODUCTION
 Aristotle has called PS ‘The Master Science’ as it deals with human
beings who is a social being having many dimensions; historical,
political, economical, psychological etc.
 Political activities of man cannot be isolated from other activities.
Political Science is concerned with the political aspect of this social
man and his interaction with the various dimensions of his social
life, be it economical, psychological, sociological, historical, etc.
 PS is a social science which studies human behaviour concerning his
political life. Today PS has developed as a trans-disciplinary process
of hybridization.
INTRODUCTION
 Behavioral revolution in social science and the growth of empirical
enquiry to the issues of politics which has given rise to the
interdisciplinary approach in political science.
 PS undertakes the study of the political aspect of society for which
the data provided by the other social sciences prove relevant and
useful in various ways.
 This makes it important and relevant to study Political Science in
terms of its relationship with other Social Sciences like History,
Sociology, Economics, Jurisprudence, etc.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND HISTORY
 History is a chronological account of man’s achievements and
failures in his quest for civilization and culture, it is a story of the
past, recording political, social, economic, religious and cultural
progress made by man in the various parts of the world.
 According to Seeley “History without PS has no fruit, PS without
history has no root.” Political institutions are the products of
history. History provides us with the raw-material of PS.
 History serves as a best kind of laboratory to PS. PS uses the
historical facts and find out general laws and principles useful for
political life.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND HISTORY
 Many great political theorists adopted historical method to understand the
nature of political reality and laid down important conclusions on that basis.
 Important theories of political science cannot be understood and
appreciated without a deep study of history.
 Many political theorists adopted historical method to understand the nature
of ‘political reality’ and laid down important conclusions on that basis.
 History deals with what the state has been, which helps to modify the state
and political life and create better political conditions.
 History explains the changes in political systems.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND HISTORY
 Political events change the course of history. The roots of political
institutions have gone deep into the soil of history.
 For instance, if we want to understand the nature of Monarchy in
Britain & working of British Parliament, we shall have to study the
history of Britain thoroughly.
 At first there was absolute monarchy but later there is limited
monarchy.
 The constant struggle resulted in the Civil War and the Glorious
Revolution (1688-89) and after that the people of England could be
successful in preventing the tyranny of their rulers.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND ECONOMICS

 Economics is a social science deal with the production, distribution,

exchange and consumption of wealth/resources.
 Economics studies the management of scarce resources for the
utilization of human needs and wants.
 Kautilya, Aristotle, J.S Mill, Adam Smith, Karl Marx etc. highlighted
the significant relationship of Politics and Economics.
 In 18th century economics known as Political Economy which stood
for the study and practice of the management of government and
the nation.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND ECONOMICS
 In late 19th century it sought its independence from political theory and
became increasingly occupied with price and market behaviour, under
the influence of the Laissez-faire doctrine (free market economy-
Capitalism).
 But the experience of the following decades witnessed an unrestrained
economic system led to socially disastrous consequences like economic
inequality, exploitation of underprivileged, growing injustice, etc.
 This necessitated regulation of economic activity and subordination of
economics to public control.
 It resulted the renewed mutual interest between economics and PS. In
20th century the concept of welfare state has made the inter-
dependence of PS and Economics.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND ECONOMICS
 Democracy loses its purpose if the majority of resources are owned
by a minority of people or class, and majority of people pushed into
a deprived life.
 The policy decisions on economic aspects are taken by the state in a
political society. Politics cannot deliver the goods until it is able to
tackle the economic problem effectively.
 Political order cannot run without the assistance of economic order
and the smooth running of economic order is not possible without
the assistance of political order.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND ECONOMICS
 Economics and Politics are concerned with the welfare of the human
society. It realizes that without the satisfaction of basic economic
requirements of man, political stability cannot be ensured.
 Most of the problems of the nation today is economic in nature, but
they are decided by political agencies.
 Many economic problems can be solved through political actions.
State has to solve several economic problems. For that, the state has
to create an orderly atmosphere where smooth production and
distribution of goods become possible.
 The state regulates industry, finance, trade and commerce through
legislation.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND ECONOMICS

 Political ideas and principles in a state shape economic conditions.

Economic condition influences the political conditions of people.
 Economic prosperity is also important for the success of democracy.
The people do not enjoy the fruits of democracy without the
necessary legislation of equal distribution of wealth.
 Economic conditions influence the foreign policy of all the countries.
 Political ideologies like Capitalism, Socialism, Marxism,
Communism, Fascism, Democratic Socialism, etc., bear a great
influence of economic principles. Most of the political ideologies
have their origin in economics.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND ECONOMICS

 While economics deals with wealth, PS concentrates on the affairs

of the state. Economics deals with prices while PS deals with social
values.
 Economics is a descriptive science whereas Politics is a normative
science.
 Nowadays, public economy has become a subject of politics.
Therefore, an adequate knowledge of economics becomes essential
for understanding the practice of politics today.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY
 Sociology is regarded as a parent science for all social sciences. It deals
with the origin, evolution, development, structure and activities of
society and attempts to study its aims and achievements.
 It also describes social traditions, customs, and beliefs and deals with
the advancement of human culture and civilization.
 Political Science & Sociology help each other in studying the activities
of man living in society.
 Famous social theorists like Marx Webber of Germany and Merriam of
America recognized that the two disciplines are closely related. Their
students like David Easton, Almond and Apter have taken much from
the sociological writing of Talcott Parsons and R.K. Merton to enrich
the empirical political theory.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY
 Political science derives from sociology a knowledge of the origin of the
political authority. The state, which is the center of political science in its
early stages, was more of a social than political institution.
 Politics gives to sociology facts about the organization and functions of
State, and obtains from it knowledge of the origin of political authority
and laws which controlled society.
 A political scientist must be a sociologist and a sociologist ought to be a
political scientist.
 Knowledge of sociology is necessary for understanding the problems of
political science because political problems also have a social aspect.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY
 Political Science deals with the political activities of man. It studies
social groups organised under the sovereignty of the state. It studies
man as a ruler and being ruled.
 In fact, political activity is only a part of social activity. Sociology
provide material to political science and social conditions influence
political organizations.
 Political system of a country is ‘integrally related to its social system.’
Political sociology is a connecting bridge between sociology and
Political Science and it gives equal emphasis to social & political
variables.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY
 Sociology depends very much on political science in every respect.
The state and governments make laws for the welfare of the society;
the government removes social evils such as poverty, unemployment,
crime, corruption and so on from the society.
 The undesirable customs are uprooted from the society by the
government.
 Social institutions and social organizations are regulated by the state
and government.
 Sociology studies various aspects of political activities through the
help of political science. The government can bring about changes in
the society with the help of laws.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY
 The laws of the state have a great influence upon society. These laws
are largely based on customs, traditions, conventions and usages. But
these customs, traditions, etc., are the concern of sociology.
 The application of various concepts and methods of sociology to the
study of political behaviour and institutions has given rise to a new
venture called ‘Political Sociology’.
 Political sociology explains the sociological interpretations of political
phenomena and provide some literature on the subject.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SOCIOLOGY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE:
 Sociology is the science of society whereas political science is the
science of state and government.
 The scope of Sociology is broad. It studies social, political and
economic aspects of society. It studies man in general.
 Sociology studies man as fundamentally a social animal whereas
political science studies man as a political animal.
 Politics studies only the political aspect of sociology. It studies man as
a citizen. Therefore, political science is a more specialized science than
sociology.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY
 The approach of sociology is different than that of political science. PS
is normative while sociology is descriptive.
 Sociology gives descriptions of events and actions without stating their
good or bad consequences. The aim of Political Science is the welfare
of the society.
 Sociology studies both the organized and the unorganized societies.
Politics studies organized societies only.
 Sociology studies all kinds of social relationship in a general way. But
political science studies only the political aspect of social relationship
in a particular way.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY
 Sociology deals with both formal as well as informal relations of the
society, which are based on customs, traditions, folkways, mores
norms etc. However political science deals only with formal relations
based on laws and order of the state.
 Sociology studies the present and past only. PS studies the future also.
 Sociology deals with conscious and unconscious actions whereas
political science deals with conscious action alone.
 Sociology is the study of all means of social control. Political science,
on the other hand, is the study of only government-recognized means
of control.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND LAW
 Previously law was a branch of PS. law is a rule of conduct
legitimately implemented by those with political power and
authority that are just and obligatory for the common welfare of the
state.
 In other term, the instrument with which the state regulates the
social and individual behavior in a given political society is called
Law.
 The study of law is deeply intertwined with the democratic political
process and the institutional structure of government.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND LAW
 Political Science deals with the State and the Government whereas
Jurisprudence deals with law. Political Science is the science of the
State and the government, Jurisprudence is the science of law.
 Political Science deals with the political order whereas
Jurisprudence deals with the legal order. However both are
interconnected and interdependent.
 No state can function without making laws and enforcing it. The
state operates through law, and laws are also passed by the state, it
is the state that provides the structure in which laws are framed and
it is the government that administers and enforces the laws.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND LAW
 A stable political system exists once the law is properly
implemented in a civilized state. In the branches of government, its
political functions and powers are defined by law.
 No law can take the shape of law without seeking the assistance of
the government. It is the government that enforces laws. And it is
the law that determines our rights and duties and define
Constitution.
 The character of the people in a state is reflected by the laws which
it gives to the society.
 Law covers the entire behaviour of man’s social, economic and
political actions.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND LAW
 Every state, no matter what its form of govt, develops its own
constitutional law. Political Science is intimately related to these
laws because it is the state that formulates laws and it is the
government that administers them. It is the state that frames the
constitution and regulates it.
 Domestic laws and International laws are framed with certain
purpose like domestic order for the well-being of the people and to
maintain international peace and security among countries are the
purpose of international law.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND LAW
 Law is also the means by which government itself is structured,
regulated and controlled.
 The state is regarded to be the maintainer of an effective and
equitable system of law and order.
 Law is an essential tool of government action, an instrument with
which government tries to influence society.
 The legislative branch enacts the law; the executive branch executes
the law; and the judiciary interprets the law. It depends on the
priority development of the nation and people.
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND LAW
 Law is influencing by the environment. In a community of large land-
owners the law will not be the same as in a country of peasant/farmers.
 Similarly, the laws governing private property and the conditions of
labour will be different under a capitalistic pattern of society and a
socialistic one. The constitutional law of a democratic government
basically differs from that in a dictatorship.
 Thus, a student of law can never be complete without the study of
political science and he/she has to acquire knowledge of Political theory,
Political parties, public administration, IR & policies, IOs, public opinion
and propaganda, comparative govt, State, Local govt, Constitutions and
International Law etc..
 CONCLUSION
 The interdisciplinary approach in social sciences is of recent origin
which assumed special importance in the latter part of the
twentieth century.
 The interdisciplinary or unified approach to knowledge states that
knowledge cannot be divided like watertight compartments and
there exists proper linkage among different aspects of knowledge.
 One discipline isn’t completely isolated from other disciplines and
there is thematic relationship among different disciplines.
 When a concept or issue of a discipline is learnt in relation to other
disciplines, the concept or issue is learnt meaningfully.
 It does not seek to merge all social sciences into a single ‘master
science.’ on the contrary, it insists that the results of our inquiry in
any sphere should be based on and verified from the findings of all
relevant social sciences.
 Thus, political science should not only make use of data, theories
and models of other social sciences, but should also make a suitable
contribution to an understanding of those disciplines.
 Social science teaching needs to be revitalized for helping the
learner acquire knowledge and skills in an interactive environment.
 The teaching of social sciences must adopt methods that promote
creativity, aesthetics and critical perspectives and enable student to
draw relationship between past and present to understood changes
taking place in the society.
Thanks for your Attention ..