Social sciences - Essay Example

Social Science The social sciences have existed at least since Ancient Greece, where philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle studied numerous aspects of the world and passed them down via texts. To these thinkers, there was no fundamental distinction between social and natural science the way there is today. Disciplines such as geometry and psychology were intermixed and practiced by the same communities (Anissimov) Social science is the “branch of science that studies society and the relationships of individual within a society” (Social science). The history of the social sciences started along with the history of philosophy itself. Philosophy is believed to be the origin of every sort of knowledge and all the other subjects originated from philosophy. Social science topics are entirely different from formal and natural science topics. While formal and natural science deals with Physics, Chemistry, Biology etc, social science deals with subjects like anthropology, archaeology, business administration, development studies, economics, geography, history, law, linguistics, political science, sociology, international relations, communication, and psychology. All these subjects are essential for sustaining the human life in a healthy manner on earth. This paper briefly analyses the different aspects of social aspects. Based on the developments of science and technology, life philosophies and attitudes of the people are also undergoing rapid changes. It is difficult for the current generation to digest the life principles of the generations of a couple of decades before. Morality and ethics are strange subjects for the current people. Religion is an important social institution which controls the much needed morality and ethical principles in human life for sustaining the human generation on earth. Morality and ethical principles are slowly diminishing from the contemporary world which is actually the reasons for the major problems in the world. The thirst for dominating others in all segments of human life is increasing everyday and each degree of increase of such activities will result in the decrease of moral principles from human life. Perhaps, religion is the only entity in our society, which argues for morality and ethical principles. The major concern of social science is how to deal with a situation in which morality, ethics and religion lost their accountability completely. It is impossible to isolate certain behaviours and call them deviant because deviance is a relative term, defined by the society, the time, and the place. There is nothing that is absolutely condemned by all societies. Biological theories of deviance are of no use because no consistent evidence that supports the belief that social temperament is related to body types (Deviance Behaviour and Moral Judgment) Another concern of social science at present is the changing views of life styles. We know that some people engage in some kind of socially disapproved behaviours like prostitution, lesbianism, robbery, etc. There are certain reasons behind all these human activities. These activities need to be studied properly in order to find out the exact reasons behind it. Lesbianism and prostitution are legally allowed in certain countries because of the wide popularity of such things among people. But it doesn’t mean that these things should be permissible everywhere. The social concepts about certain behaviours are different for different peoples, communities, cultures and countries and hence it is necessary to research more about the so called ‘disapproved sociological behaviours’. How far a civilized society can allow its people to behave in unnatural ways? It is difficult to answer the above question. No science or technology has succeeded in unveiling the miseries behind our life. Nobody knows from where we come and where we go after death. Under such circumstances, the segregation between the right and wrong is extremely difficult for sociologists. The current global financial crisis came quiet unexpectedly and many of the organizations failed to overcome the challenges raised by it. Most of the economic experts failed to predict such a global recession and hence the business community failed to take precautionary measures to tackle the crisis. In short, even after huge developments in social science topics, we failed to predict some of the issues accurately. Unexpected things can happen anytime and social science has no answer to deal with the unexpected calamities. “The big idea is people making decisions about the world with large amounts of uncertainty. And the second big idea has to do with making experiments" (Rosenberg). In an extremely volatile world or society, uncertainty has higher share than anything else. It is these uncertainties decide the success or failure of life. Science and technology is considered to be the most vital segment of human life because of the revolutionary contributions it provided to the human generation. It has reduced human efforts in many areas and contributed immensely to the development of human culture on earth. Apart from contributing heavily to the development of formal science, science and technology contributed immensely to the development of social sciences also. The living standards of the public have increased a lot because of the development of the science and technology. The perceptions and views of the public changed a lot over the last few decades because of the rapid changes happening around us. These changing life styles and way of thinking caused immense changes in the way of development of social science topics and principles also. For example, Business science is one area which undergone tremendous change as a result of the changing views of social science. The concepts like Globalization, liberalization privatization etc started to cement their places in the current world because of the changes happening in the way of thinking of the people. Internationalization of business, outsourcing, offshoring etc are some of the new business concepts prevailing at present as a result of the changing perspectives of social sciences. In most of the current international organizations, the workforce is extremely diverse. Multiculturalism is one of the major areas of management for the current managers. For example, Dubai is a place where lot of foreigners is working together under one roof. An MBA degree holder, even if he is graduated from some reputed universities, may not feel comfortable if he happens to work in Dubai because of the extreme challenges he may face due to diversity and multiculturalism. He needs to analyze the Arab work culture, Arab political and employment system, the climatic conditions and also the multi country work force well before implementing his strategies. No academic knowledge or science will help him in such circumstances. The knowledge of social science and its principles will help the manager in such circumstances. Individuals relate to the society in many ways. An individual may be a son, a father, a brother or an uncle. Society has assumed many designations to individuals. It is the duty of the individuals to operate within the frameworks of their designations. A husband should be a husband only for his wife; not for other females. A father should be a father only to the children generated by his wife; not by other females. In short the social freedom of the human is limited. “Social freedom is the concept philosophers, political scientists, and also economists are often concerned with - often without realizing it - when dealing with the subject of liberty” (Oppenheim). Social freedom is a controversial topic from the beginning of the human history itself. Bible says that the God has allowed Adam and Eve to eat everything available in the Aden except the fruit of a particular tree. In other words, God has put a restriction upon the freedom of the human when he started the creation of the world. God has realized that it is not wise to give full freedom to human as this freedom could be misused for selfish purposes. In the current society also we are hearing lot of slogans everyday for increased freedom; feminists argue for more freedom for women, children asking more freedom from the parents, adults asking more liberalized rules in the society for increasing their freedom etc. A free society is a society where people shall have the right to exercise unlimited freedom in their own lives, freedom to live in whatever manner they choose, freedom to pursue their own goals, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal rights of others to do the same. Government's only role is to secure each individual's rights, as Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence. I took an oath to God that my mission in life is to strive to attain a free society (A Free Society) It is difficult to attain absolute freedom in our society because of the interdependence of each and every entity in our society. Man is a social animal and his actions can affect others as well. For example, a person who strives for absolute freedom may think that he wanted to have sex with all the females he likes. On the other hand, it is not necessary that all the females like him same way. So he cannot have such liberties in his life in our social setup which in turn restricts his freedom. It is evident from above discussion that absolute freedom is not possible at all. On the other hand, freedom for doing something which may not disturb others is also restricted in the current society. We need permission from government for constructing a house; we need to pay taxes to government even if we are not getting anything in return, for buying property we have to pay taxes and so on. It is not possible for us to possess a gun even for our self protection without the license from the government. Even for opening a barber shop, permission from the government needed. It is not possible for us to kill certain preserved species animals even if it attacks us. For example, in India like countries killing of wild animals is prohibited even if they destroy the cultivation. In other words, we are not enjoying any social freedom to do something even if it doesn’t create any problems to others. In short, an individual relates to the society in many ways and social sciences help him to identify his roles and responsibilities in the society. Social science deals mostly with the human aspects of our life even though its development is associated with the developments of formal science and natural science. Nobody has any doubt about the utility of social science in our public or social life; however, the major concerns of the social science topics at present are how to tackle the changing views of the public with respect to morality and ethics. Works Cited 1. “A Free Society”. 2006. Web. 11 January 2011. 2. Anissimov, Michael. “What are the Social Sciences?”. 2010. Web. 11 January 2011. 3. “Deviance Behaviour and Moral Judgment”. Web. 11 January 2011. 4. Oppenheim, Felix E. “Social freedom: Definition, measurability, valuation”. Web. 11 January 2011. 5. Rosenberg John S., “Want to Be an Entrepreneur?”. 2010. Web. 11 January 2011 6. “Social Science”. Web. 11 January 2011. Read More