What is Social Science? What are the Branches of Social Sciences?

What is Social science? It’s a science that can study human behavior and society. What are the branches of social sciences? There are many branches of social sciences.

What is Social Science?

The social sciences are those that are related to human behavior and society in general. Though social sciences focus on the humanities, these are known as science because they carry out their activities, work, and studies through scientific methods.

If you want to know what they study, what are the branches of social sciences and why they are so important, stay with us until the end of this article!

 

What is Studied by Social Science?

These are sciences that study how human societies are organized and the behavior of each of its members.

In general, its mission is to determine the objective, concrete, and precise realities of different situations, facts, and experiences of human life. Also, many of these focus on analyzing the impacts of experiences and contexts on the behavior and development of social groups. 

To understand more precisely what is social science, you must know the different branches of social sciences their disciplines, and the primary approaches of each one.

 

What are the branches of Social Sciences?

Among the edges of the social sciences are those branches and disciplines that are interested in knowing the human reality and the behavior of the members of societies, as well as their evolution over time.

Specifically, these are some of the fields of knowledge of the social sciences:

 

Economy

Contrary to popular belief, this science does not focus primarily on describing how to produce riches and money.

Economics is a socially conscious academic field that was established to research societal production processes, consumer behavior, and the dynamics of daily living as a consequence of purchasing power and the availability of economic resources.

In addition, through multiple indicators and statistics, it seeks to determine what the characteristics and conditions of life are like in a certain place and how they could be in the future.

 

Geography

This science means, in Greek, “description of the earth”, and that is its main objective.

Thanks to geography we know what the political limits of countries and continents are and, in general, how areas and regions are distributed and segmented. Also, this science analyzes and studies the environment of each place, identifying its main natural characteristics.

In fact, the studies and scope of this discipline are so broad that it has different branches, such as environmental geography, political geography, physical geography, and human geography.

 

Political Sciences

These sciences study the systems of government, the organizations of the State, and the thoughts and political philosophies.

In other words, it analyzes how power is distributed and under what principles and dogmas it is exercised. When evaluating all these aspects with scientific rigor, specialists in this area always seek objectivity and try to determine the reality of political events and systems beyond their personal beliefs and perceptions.

 

Psychology

This is one of the most interesting and exciting social sciences. It immerses itself in the human mind as a means of understanding societies and the behavior of their members.

Among other things, it studies mental processes, the cognitive development of human beings, and how environmental factors impact each individual. It also focuses on the analysis of the personality and the description of the types of temperaments.

 

Anthropology

It is a very broad field of knowledge, which studies different elements and aspects of societies throughout their history, such as:

• Culture
• Values
• Beliefs
• Architecture
• Political systems

It is even in charge of analyzing the biological development of human beings.

 

Sociology (An Important Branches of Social Sciences)

This science groups together elements of anthropology and psychology, as it studies the different phenomena that human societies experience in areas such as politics, economics, sports, and the arts.

In addition, it evaluates how these aspects impact people’s lives and their behavior and perceptions.

 

History

Simply, it is the science of past events, which analyzes everything related to them.

However, although it is said simply, it is one of the broadest fields of knowledge that exists, since it studies economic, cultural, political, academic, geographical, and many other aspects from before our era to recent times.

 

Demography (A Usual Branches of Social sciences)

It is a social science with a statistical approach that uses numbers to reach conclusions about populations and their organization.

For example, thanks to demographic techniques and practices, we know that Mexico is one of the most populated countries in the world, with more than 125 million inhabitants.

In addition to these disciplines, archeology, and linguistics are also considered social sciences.

 

Why are the social sciences important?

Well! If you have read this far, you already know what the social sciences are about and what are its main branches of study.

What has been said so far allows us to conclude that, without these sciences, we would simply know much less about ourselves and the way we organize ourselves within societies.

Among other things, the social sciences allow us to know what situations have led us to the current reality, what the main characteristics and problems of this time and how certain elements impact the human mind.

Knowing about these and other aspects allows human beings to better cope with the present and to be more prepared for the future.

Research had been done earlier. However, the eighteenth century is the official time to consider the social sciences to have their origins.

The objective of the study of the social sciences is to know the human being and his behaviors at a social and individual level. And also how they manifest themselves in different situations. You just have to know deeply what are the branches of social sciences.

Within the social sciences, there are various branches of social science such as economics, psychology, archaeology, anthropology, etc. A great variety of options aim to know and investigate human beings in all kinds of fields.