controversy in social science

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Controversy in Social sciences

When we talk about the term social science, we elicit several different meanings trying to explain what social science is. This depends on the level of understanding and knowledge one has about the term social science. Basically, Social science means discerning our own societies and how they work across the world. To be precise in the meaning, social science could also mean the study of human society in terms of the level of economic, social and political conditions as well as the social relationships among the human individuals within the society. Social science as an academic discipline has branches which are politics, economics, anthropology, communication and the list cannot be exhausted. Each of these branches is termed as a social science. In general, social sciences encompass human behaviors, reactions, well-beings, economic and health situations and ways or dynamics of how these happen.

First and foremost, Social science has unlimited applications to everyday life. This is evident by the fact that social science has been recognized as a major category of academic discipline in many new universities. Here, we learn about factors that influence the human social life such as obedience and prejudice conformity in the case of social psychology studies. This renders a smooth functioning of the human social institutions. Secondly, social science helps people to understand the social world through interaction and make the social life work. This is the primary benefit of social science and it’s depicted through critical thinking, ways of thinking about how to solve problems, the relationships from a lot different point of views. It also makes people learn and appreciate different communities and their cultures as well as the religions. With social science, there is no doubt that people will not acknowledge each other in the society. This is because it covers the understanding of the social life and the social patterning hence, a good social co-existence. In addition, every happening is by motive in the sense that whatever someone does is by decision and not because of other forces as depicted in natural sciences. Furthermore social sciences have the power of influence on people’s behavior and this can best be explained by phenomena such as why people obey their leaders, government or why did they obey Hitler during the world war. Truly, social sciences have absolute power and strengths and, therefore, should be advocated for especially in many universities and other learning institutions.

Conversely, as much as social science is strongly advocated for by many, there is another group of people that is against it due to its negative aspects of it which essentially focuses on its weaknesses. Indeed social science has the element of reductionism which means that it rarely acknowledges the differences that may exist between human individuals in a social setting. In social sciences, it is difficult to formulate and pose questions and at the same time provide concrete answers in the same aspect as it is in the natural sciences. (Andrew scornfield, 1997). Most of the time we do not agree with this fact that indeed social science leads us in the wrong direction. We can conclude by saying that social sciences entirely relies on the relationships between the variables which we draw conclusions from basing on the assumptions or a measurable guesswork. However, this guesswork is relied upon to produce results of the work in this field. Social science has both the brighter and the dark side of it but the ball still remains in everyone’s coat to make a favorable choice. Should social science be part and parcel of our lives?

References

1. Martindale, Don. Functionalism in the Social Sciences: The Strength and Limits of Functionalism in Anthropology, Economics, Political Science, and Sociology. Philadelphia: American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1965. Print.

2. Halbersma, and Joseph D. "Christian Fleck, Andreas Hess, and E. Stina Lyon, Eds., Intellectuals and Their Publics: Perspectives from the Social Sciences." Canadian Journal of Sociology 1 Jan. 2010. Print.