The 10 branches of Social Sciences

The social sciences can be divided into distinct fields of knowledge.

The main interest of the social sciences is to study human social behavior. More specifically, the social sciences study subjectivity and its relationship to the structural aspects of society. This is divided into many specialties that are responsible for analyzing and describing the specificity of different social processes as well as their impact on individuals.

In the following we explain what are the social sciences and the characteristics of their branches..

What are the social sciences?

The social sciences are a set of academic disciplines that study aspects of the human related to individual behavior and the functions and elements of social organization.

Unlike the formal sciences, such as mathematics, logic or physics, the social sciences study living systems. In turn, they differ from the natural sciences, such as mathematics, logic or physics, differ from the natural sciences (which also study living systems) (which also study living systems), in that the social sciences study such systems on the basis of the complexity of behavior and its effects in social terms.

They are, on the other hand, more closely related to the human sciences (the humanities), because they both study a large part of subjectivity and collectivity, however, they are different in that the social sciences emphasize the use of scientific methods, while the humanities use more artistic and aesthetic methods.

In terms of science, "the social" formally appeared until the 19th century, when its disciplines were consolidated as fields of research with their own distinct objects of study. Initially, the term "social science" was used to group together studies on culture and society. studies of culture and society, with anthropology and sociology being two of the pioneers.anthropology and sociology were two of the pioneers.

However, its antecedents can be traced back even centuries, in the curiosity we have to understand what makes us human beings, the nature of our behaviors, our relationship with the environment, how we organize ourselves socially, etcetera.

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The 10 main branches of social sciences

Social sciences can be divided into different disciplines, which varies according to the intention of whoever defines and uses them. For example, according to the specific social science tradition, one of these disciplines can be considered a social science, or a human science, or even a natural science.

Likewise, and according to the needs of each context, there may be more or less disciplines within the social sciences. This is the case, for example, of the limits that exist between some sub-disciplines within medicine (such as social medicine), sociobiology, neuropsychology or philosophy itself.

Nevertheless, we can broadly divide the social sciences we can divide the social sciences into 10 fundamental disciplinesAnthropology, sociology, geography, history, history, law, political science, economics, communication, pedagogy and psychology.

Anthropology

Anthropology is the discipline that studies the social behavior of human beings in relation to their physical characteristics and the cultural elements in which they are embedded. This involves the forms and norms that culture takes in different societies both in the past and in the present.

It is a holistic discipline because it integrates different knowledge of various branches of the social sciences and natural sciences. It can be subdivided into different branches, such as physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology, or archaeology.

Sociology

Sociology is concerned with the study of human social relations and institutions. This implies that its objects of study are very diverse. They can range, for example, from religion to the family, passing through social class divisions or racial divisions and the organization of states, among many others. It seeks to understand both social stability and processes of change and transformation.

At the individual level, sociology allows us to understand the consequences of social phenomena on individuals (e.g. gender identities, religious faith, family institutions). And at the global level, sociology can help us to understand phenomena such as migration, population growth, wars, economic development, among others.among others.

Geography

Geography is the social science that studies the different environments and spaces that make up the earth's surface, as well as the interactions that occur between and within them. It is in charge of describing the main characteristics of the places where our life develops, especially paying attention to the natural environments and in natural environments and how we relate to them..

As a result of this discipline have arisen, for example, the maps, which among other things allow us to understand where they are and how are the places where we develop from graphic descriptions of the earth.

4. History

History is the discipline that studies, describes and represents the events of the past, describing and representing the events of the pastThe history of the past, usually, but not necessarily, recorded in written documents. Since "the past" is a rather broad category, history can be divided in many ways.

Such a division begins with defining at what point in time one has moved from prehistory to history. From this, one can study the different periods that have characterized different societies. There is, for example, medieval, modern or contemporary history; but there is also the history of religion, history of art, history of history, history of history. history of religion, history of art, universal history, among many others..

5. Law

Law as a specialty within the social sciences is responsible for studying the set of institutions, their systems of rules and authority related to legality. On many occasions law is separated from the social sciences and understood as a school of its own, however, this area of study is based on the idea that laws and legality are themselves social institutions, and for this reason it is usually considered a branch of social science.

In this sense, law draws from human sciences such as philosophy, but also from politics, economics, sociology and history.sociology or history. The intention is to understand and generate institutional normative orders that impact human behavior and social relations.

6. Political science

Political science is the discipline that studies, describes and analyzes political theories and practices, systems and behaviors. It seeks to understand the transfers of power in political decision-making processes and how these transfers are organized publicly and socially.

In addition to political theory, some of the sub-disciplines that make up this social science are the theories of democracy and governance, the study of national systems, public and administrative policy, international law, among others.

At the methodological levelAt the methodological level, political science performs, for example, analysis of primary sources such as written historical documents or interviews; and secondary sources such as scientific articles, among other methods of empirical collection.

7. Economics

Although there is a tendency to associate the social sciences with studies that dispense with numbers, this is an illusion. A clear example of this is the existence of economics as a scientific discipline.

Economics studies, analyzes and describes the processes of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. It seeks to understand what means we have generated to satisfy our needs and how this impacts us both individually and socially. Since economic activity is very diverse, economics as a social science can be subdivided into different areas. For example, there are studies in public economics, labor economics there are studies in public economics, labor economics, international economics, development economics, among many others.development economics, among many others.

Economics has several levels of analysis, and if we look at the scale of the processes it investigates, we can distinguish between macroeconomics and microeconomics. The former focuses on global economic dynamics, while the latter focuses on the behavior and decision making of individual entities, whether individuals or organizations.

8. Communication

This discipline studies and describes the human processes related to the creation and exchange of symbols that serve to exchange of symbols that serve to communicate with each other.. Specifically, it studies how the messages we elaborate can be interpreted through different political, cultural or economic dimensions in each context.

Among other things, it analyzes how messages are elaborated and transmitted through the mass media, although it can also be through the arts, technology, among other areas. Therefore, progress in communication studies has implications in areas such as public health, management of false rumors or hate campaigns, regulation of propaganda, etc.

9. Pedagogy

Pedagogy is a discipline that studies the teaching-learning processes that occur in different environments, especially within schools, as they are the institutions where education is developed and transmitted. Education has positioned itself as one of the fundamental aspects of culture because it allows socialization and the transmission of knowledge from one generation to another.

In this sense, pedagogy is the science that studies the educational processes and also applies them through different tools that it sharesIt is the science of education, through different tools that it shares with psychology, sociology, communication, among others.

10. Psychology

Psychology is the discipline that studies human or animal behavior and mental processes.. It differs from other social sciences, such as anthropology, in that it seeks to develop generalized explanations of mental functions and individual or group behaviors, rather than cultural or historical processes.

However, it is closely related to other human and social disciplines, since in order to develop explanations of individual functioning, it has been necessary to take into account how we function in relation to others. Thus, different branches have emerged, some of the main ones being clinical psychology, social psychology, educational psychology, organizational psychology or neuropsychology.

On the other hand, psychology collaborates extensively with almost all other social sciences, including those that study the social behavior of animals, such as ethology.