Introduction to Social Science

BBA VI A,B,C
Lecture by: Shazia Perveen
Recommended Book and Marks
Distribution
Hunt, E. F., & Colander, D. C. (2017). 16th Edition. Social science: An
introduction to the study of society. Routledge.

Marks Distribution
Mid Term: 30 Marks
Internal Evaluation: 20 Marks
Final Term: 50 Marks
Things to Remember
• Those who will be late after 5 minutes of class start, I will mark absent
for such students
• The quiz date will be announced one week before, If someone missed
it no second chance will be given
• Assignments should be submitted before or on a date in hard copy.
Late submission after one week of the due date passed will be treated
as late submission and 1 mark will be deducted. After the following
weeks, no late submissions will be accepted.
Topics to be Covered
Chapter 1: Social Science and Its Methods
Lecture 1
• Social Science
• The Methods of Social Science
Lecture 2
• Social Science and Society
Social Science
No field of study is more important to human beings than the social
sciences. It helps us not only understand society but also helps us avoid
conflict and lead more fulfilling lives. Albert Einstein nicely summed it
up: “Politics is more difficult than physics and the world is more likely to
die from bad politics than from bad physics.”
But social science today is such a vast complex that no one student can
hope to master all of it. Thus, social science itself has been broken up
into anthropology, sociology, history, geography, economics, political
science, and psychology.
Various Disciplines of Social Science
•Anthropology (Anthropology is the study of the relationship between biological traits and socially
acquired characteristics)
•Sociology (Sociology is the systematic study of relationships among people. Sociologists assume that
behavior is influenced by people’s social, political, occupational, and intellectual groupings and by the
particular settings in which they find themselves at one time or another).
•History (History is the study of past events. It is a social science in the sense that it is a systematic
attempt to learn about and verify past events and to relate them to one another and to the present.
Every event has a historical context within which we commonly say the event must be studied.
•Geography (Geography is the study of the natural environment and how the spatial interactions of
individuals influence social and cultural development. Some of the concerns of geography are: Ecology,
Climate, Resources, Accessibility, and Demography)
•Economics (Economics is the study of the ways in which men and women make a living, the most
pressing problem most human beings face)
•Political Science (Political science is the study of social arrangements to maintain peace and order
within a given society. It deals with government, and its interests are law, politics, International
relations, and administration)
•Psychology (Psychology deals with the mind and personality of the individual. It is a social science
because humans are social creatures.
Social science
• A cynic once said, “Economics is what economists do.” If we replaced
“economics” and “economists” with any of the other social sciences
and its practitioners, we would have as good a definition as possible.
Unfortunately, it would not be very helpful to those who do not know
what social scientists do.
• Old and New University’s differences (with and without tuition fees)
• Oxford first university
Social Science as System of Rule
To understand the importance of knowing rules, think back to grade
school when you learned addition.
You didn’t memorize the sum of 127 and 1,448. Instead you learned an
algorithm (a fancy name for a rule) about adding (7 + 8 = 15; write
down the 5 and carry the 1---- ). Then you had to memorize only a few
relationships. By changing the number system from a base ten system
to a binary system(0 and 1 are the only numbers), you cut substantially
the amount of memorization (all you need to knowis 0+ 0= 0; 0+ 1= 1;
and 1 + 1 = 10) and you could apply the same rule again and again,
adding all possible numbers.
Social Science as System of Rule-contd
Knowing the rules saved you from enormous amounts of memorization, but
nonetheless gave you access to a large amount of information.
Another way to look at the problem is to think of the library. If you have a small
library, you can know nearly everything in it, but once your library gets larger, you
will quickly find that having more books makes it harder to know what’s in there.
However, if you put in place a filing system, such as the Dewey decimal system or
the Library of Congress system, you can access the books through a filing system.
The rules of the filing system give you the key to great amounts of information,
just as the rules of addition, subtraction, or algebra do. General rules, once
learned, can be applied to large numbers of particulars. The higher you go (rules
about rules), the more you
can know with less memorization.
The Scientific Method and Its Application
• The scientific method is a set of rules about how to establish rules.
The use of the scientific method is perhaps the most important tool
you can have in studying social science because it enables you not
only to learn the lessons of the individual social sciences but also to
go beyond striving for an understanding of their synthesis.
The Scientific Method and Its Application-
Nature of the Scientific Method
Modern science is based on the assumption that this is an orderly
universe, ruled by the law of cause and effect. Any given set of
circumstances always produces the same result. If seemingly identical
situations have different results, they were not really alike; some
significant differences existed and was overlooked.
The Scientific Method and Its Application-
The experimental method
The experimental method is a method of separating out causal factors.
It consists of running an experiment many times with only one variant.
If the results of the experiments are different, that one variant is most
likely the cause. In chemistry, physics, and biology, such controlled
experiments play an important role in discovering facts and testing
hypotheses. In these sciences, an investigator can create a situation in
which all the significant factors that bear on a problem can be
controlled.
Methodology and Social Sciences
Because it is so difficult to experiment with social science, some people
have insisted that it is not science. Except for the prestige carried by the
word, whether we call the study of social science is not important. It is
merely a question of definition. If we mean by science the natural
sciences only, then social science is not true science. If we mean by
science only the so-called exact sciences, then again social science is
not included.
Methodology and Social Sciences-contd
There has been much debate about the correct methodology to be
used in social science. Thomas Kuhn, a famous philosopher of science,
defined a paradigm as a scientific theory and the core of beliefs
that surround it. He argued that scientific progression occurs by
paradigm shifts in which, for a long time, scientists will resist change
and hold on to an old theory even as evidence mounts up against it,
and even when another theory better fits the data.
Methodology and Social Sciences-contd
For example, in psychology, there are behaviorists and Freudians. In
sociology, there are functionalists, conflict theorists, and interactionists.
We could cite different theories within each social science. Advocates of
each of the research programs compete for researchers.
For instance, consider astrology or numerology. These pseudo studies hold
that by analyzing the alignment of the stars or the position of certain
numbers, individuals can discover or predict events that will affect them.
However, the accuracy of the discoveries or the reliability of the
predictions has never been satisfactorily demonstrated to most social
scientists.
The Methods of Social Science
Social scientists must observe carefully, classify and analyze their facts,
make generalizations, and attempt to develop and test hypotheses to
explain their generalizations. Their problem, however, is often more
difficult than that of physical scientists. The facts gathered by the social
scientist—for example, those concerning the cultures of different
peoples—have similarities, but each fact may also be unique in
significant respects.
The Methods of Social Science-contd.
The difficulty of discovering relatively exact laws that govern social life
results from several circumstances.
First, the things of greatest importance in our social life— satisfaction,
social progress, democracy—are not really measurable. Second, society is
extremely complex. It is difficult and usually impossible to find and evaluate
all the many causes of a given situation, though often we can
discover the factors that were most important in bringing it about. Third, in
every social situation, there is the human element. Frequently, the course
of social events depends on the reaction of a few individuals who are
leaders, and, except in routine situations, we can seldom predict individual
behavior with complete certainty.
The Methods of Social Science-contd.
A social scientist with a thorough knowledge of a situation may
correctly calculate the effect of a given causal factor by assuming that
all other things remain equal. However, to reach correct conclusions by
this method, the investigator must be both competent and painstaking.
Even then, the dangers of error are great.
Social scientists also have more difficulty than physical scientists in
being objective. Because they deal with human beings and are human
themselves, social scientists find it hard to put aside their own likes and
dislikes, their sympathies, prejudices, and frustrations.
The Methods of Social Science-contd
The differences between physical science and social science lead to slightly different
structures of research. Although there is no ideal structure, a reasonable approach to a
problem in social science is the following:
• 1. Observe.
• 2. Define the problem.
• 3. Review the literature. (Become familiar with what others have observed.)
• 4. Observe some more.
• 5. Develop a theoretical framework and formulate a hypothesis.
• 6. Choose the research design.
• 7. Collect the necessary data.
• 8. Analyze the results.
• 9. Draw conclusions.
Social Science Approaches to Problems-
Alternative Approach
The approach one takes when analyzing a problem reflects one’s
worldview—the lens through which one sees the world. Four
approaches that social scientists use are the functionalist theory
approach, the exchange theory approach, the conflict theory
approach, and the symbolic interaction theory approach.
Social Science Approaches to Problems-

The functionalist theory approach

This approach emphasizes the interconnectedness of social life and the
difficulty of affecting only one part of society with a policy. Followers of
the functionalist theory approach are hesitant to make social
judgments because all aspects of society have certain functions.
Social Science Approaches to Problems-
The exchange theory approach.
Closely related to the functionalist approach, the exchange theory
approach emphasizes the voluntary exchanges of individuals as
reflecting individuals’ choices. Thus, the structure of society reflects
individuals’ desires. The exchange theory approach lens is one of
relative harmony in society, sometimes upset by dysfunctional
elements.
Social Science Approaches to Problems-
• The conflict theory approach.
The conflict theory approach sees far less harmony than the
exchange theory approach. Followers of this approach see social
behavior in terms of conflict and tension among competing groups or
classes. Whereas the exchange theory approach sees individuals’
voluntary choices, the conflict theory approach sees force and power
directing individual actions.
Social Science Approaches to Problems-
• The symbolic interaction theory approach.
The symbolic interaction theory approach sees individuals as deriving
meaning from the symbols they learn from. Followers of this approach
see reality as reflecting less what people do and more what they think
and feel. Their motives and perceptions, rather than actions, are
emphasized.
Alternative Methods
In addition to using different approaches, social scientists also use
different methods. These include the historical method, the case method, and the
comparative and cross-cultural methods.
The historical method.
Because most social developments—such as the government of the
United States—have unique characteristics, in order to understand them as fully as possible
the social scientist must rely heavily on a study of their historical background. We can never
understand completely how any historical situation came to exist, because there are limits to
our historical knowledge and causes become increasingly complex and uncertain as we trace
them further into the past. We can, however, make both historical events and present social
situations much more intelligible by using the historical method.
Alternative Methods
• The case method.
Writers on the methodology of social research have devoted a great
deal of attention to the case method—its characteristics, its variations,
the uses it can serve, its advantages, and its limitations.
The case method involves making a detailed examination and analysis
of a particular issue or problem situation. This can involve a case study
of a single person, such as that by a psychologist of his or her client; a
single area or town, such as a sociologist’s study of why a town
changes; or even a study of whole countries, such as an economist’s
study involving comparisons of various countries.
The comparative and cross-cultural
methods
The comparative method was formerly often employed in the hope of
discovering evolutionary sequences in the development of human
institutions—that is, patterns of social development or progress that would
be universal. For example, it was sometimes assumed that definite stages
existed in the development of governmental
institutions, and it was thought that these stages could be discovered by
comparing a society at one level of development with some other society
at a different level.
The comparison of different societies, however, still plays an important role
in anthropo-logical studies through what is called the cross-cultural
method.
Educated Common Sense in the Social
Sciences
Probably the most important lesson to remember when conducting any
research is that you should use what might be called educated common
sense. To see the difference between common sense and educated
common sense, consider the problem: Does the earth circle
the sun or does the sun circle the earth?
Uneducated common sense tells us that the sun circles the earth and
that commonsense conclusion became built into society and society’s
view of itself throughout the Middle Ages. To believe otherwise was
heresy.
The Use of Statistics
Whenever possible, social scientists rely on quantitative data—data that can be reduced to
numbers—but often quantitative data are not available, so social scientists must rely on
qualitative data such as interviews or heuristic summaries of information in the literature.
When using qualitative data, it is much more difficult to draw specific inferences from the
data, because the “facts” one finds depend on how one interprets the qualitative data. One way
to partially overcome such “interpretive problems” is the “Delphi method” in which another
specialist in the field reviews your interpretation and then you modify your interpretation in
response if you see fit, explaining your reasons for accepting or rejecting the suggested
modifications. Another way is to translate the qualitative data into quantitative data, creating
“proxies” (stand-ins) for any missing quantitative data, although that often simply hides the
interpretative issues rather than eliminating them.
The Use of Statistics-contd.
If quantitative data are available, social scientists rely on statistical
analysis—information in numerical form that has been assembled and
classified—to provide the social scientist with the information needed
to understand social relationships and processes. Statistics do not
enable us to measure directly such basic social values as good
citizenship, happiness, or welfare, but they are useful in measuring
other factors that underlie social life, such as the size of the population
of a country, or the number of families whose incomes fall below some
level that we set as the minimum for decent and healthful living.
Statistical relationships also give us insights into social problems.
The Interdisciplinary Approach
Modern industrial societies and their problems are becoming increasingly
complex, and because no one person today can master all the social sciences,
growing emphasis is placed on the interdisciplinary approach to many social
problems. The interdisciplinary approach means that a group of social
scientists with different specialties will work together on a particular problem,
not all aspects of which any one of the group fully understands. For some
problems, such as those surrounding pollution, it may be necessary to call in,
say, a physical scientist, a geologist, and an engineer. But in facing all of these
problems, the need for educated people who have a broad sense of problems
and interrelationships—who understand the need
for a unified social science—is becoming more and more evident.
Social Science and Society-Agreeing on
Policy
One of the great problems in a democracy is getting the majority of
people to reach substantial agreement on the major policies that
should be followed to create a better society. Social scientists can aid in
bringing about this agreement by helping people to understand the
issues, the difficulties involved, and the possible steps to a solution. If
we express social objectives in sufficiently general terms, the
agreement is not so hard to obtain. Most people would like to have a
heaven on earth characterized by peace and goodwill, with freedom,
justice, security, health, and happiness for all.
Social Science and Society-
Values, Terminology, and Rhetoric

This chapter began with a quotation from Albert Einstein, who said,
“theories should be as simple as possible, but not more so.” The same
thing could be said about ideas and the expression of those ideas.
Unfortunately, specialists have an incentive to develop a terminology
that is anything but simple and that often obscures rather than clarifies.
One of the many social science teachers who has written us about this
book (and in doing so, these teachers have played an important role in
its development) described a history conference she
attended where “we were treated to such goodies”
•Thank You