SENIOR HIGH

DISCIPLINES & IDEAS

IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Module 3
Disciplines Within the
Social Sciences
 EXPECTATIONS
In this lesson, you are expected to compare and contrast the various
Social Science disciplines and their fields, main areas, inquiries and methods.

Specifically, this module will help you to:

 Define Anthropology and Economics
 Interpret History and Geography
 Identify the fields, areas of inquiry and methods of Anthropology, Economics,
History, and Geography

LESSON 1: DISCIPLINES WITHIN THE SOCIAL SCIENCE

Let’s Think and Try!

Activity 1. Define anthropology by solving the puzzle below.

If a=1, b=2, and so on, what is the meaning of ANTHROPOLOGY?

ANTHROPOLOGY is…

20 8 5 19 20 21 4 25

15 6 8 21 13 1 14 11 9 14 4

Are you familiar with this

picture? What branch of social
science is responsible for this
image?
 Expanding Horizon

ANTHROPOLOGY
-is the scientific study of humans, human behavior and societies in the past and
present.

Branches of Anthropology

Cultural Anthropology

Cultural anthropology is a branch of

anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation
among humans.

Physical or Biographical Anthropology

Biological anthropology, also known as physical
anthropology, is a scientific discipline concerned with
the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings,
their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-
human primates, particularly from an evolutionary
perspective.

Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of
human activity through the recovery and analysis of
material culture. The archaeological record consists of
artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts and cultural
landscapes.

Methods Used in Studying Anthropology

• Ethnography
• Participant Observation
• Interview
• Focused group discussion
• Life history method
• Ocular inspection

“The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human

differences.”

-Ruth Benedict
 Activity 2. List down 10 things you cannot live without. Then in the
table below, classify which among the listed things falls under the
NEEDS and WANTS.

10 Things I Cannot Live Without

1. 6.
2. 7.
3. 8.
4. 9.
5. 10.
NEEDS WANTS

ECONOMICS
- is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of
goods and services.

Major Fields of Economics

 GEOGRAPHY

-is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and
phenomena of the Earth and planets.

Major Fields of Geography

 Physical Geography
Physical geography is the study of the processes that shape the Earth's surface,
the animals and plants that inhabit it, and the spatial patterns they exhibit.

 Human Geography
Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography that deals
with the study of people and their communities, cultures, economies, and
interactions with the environment by studying their relations with and across
space and place.
 HISTORY

- History is the past as it is described in written documents, and the study thereof.
Events occurring before written records are considered prehistory.

History, the discipline that studies the chronological record of events (as
affecting a nation or people), based on a critical examination of source materials and
usually presenting an explanation of their causes. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Major Fields of History

 Diplomatic History
Diplomatic history deals with the history of international relations between
states. Diplomatic history can concern itself with the foreign policy of one state.
It tends to be more concerned with the history of diplomacy.

 Economic History
is the study of economies or economic phenomena of the past. Analysis in
economic history is undertaken using a combination of historical methods,
statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical
situations and institutions.

 Asian History
The history of Asia can be seen as the collective history of several distinct
peripheral coastal regions such as East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and
the Middle East linked by the interior mass of the Eurasian steppe.

 World History
World history or global history is a field of historical study that emerged
centuries ago. The field became much more active in terms of university
teaching, text books, scholarly journals, and academic associations in the late
20th century. It examines history from a global perspective. It deals with the
history of multiple cultures and nations on a global scale. World history looks
for common patterns that emerge across all cultures.

 European History
The history of Europe covers the people inhabiting Europe from prehistory to
the present.

 Environmental History
Environmental history is the study of human interaction with the natural world
over time, emphasising the active role nature plays in influencing human affairs
and vice versa.
 Military History
Military history is a humanities discipline within the scope of general historical
recording of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the
societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to
local and international relationships.

 Legal History
Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has evolved and why
it changed. Legal history is closely connected to the development of civilizations
and is set in the wider context of social history.

 Cultural History
Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to look
at popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical
experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter,
encompassing the continuum of events (occurring in succession and leading
from the past to the present and even into the future) pertaining to a culture.

 Modern History
Modern history is the history of the world beginning after the Middle Ages.
Generally the term "modern history" refers to the history of the world since the
advent of the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th
centuries and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

 Women History
Women's history is the study of the role that women have played in history and
the methods required to do so. It includes the study of the history of the growth
of woman’s right throughout recorded history, personal achievement over a
period of time, the examination of individual and groups of women of historical
significance, and the effect that historical events have had on women.

Inherent in the study of women's history is the belief that more

traditional recordings of history have minimized or ignored the contributions of
women to different fields and the effect that historical events had on women as
a whole; in this respect, women's history is often a form of historical
revisionism, seeking to challenge or expand the traditional historical consensus.

Tools Used by Historians

 Primary sources
Primary sources include documents or artifacts created by a witness to
or participant in an event.  They can be firsthand testimony or evidence created
during the time period that you are studying.

Examples: diaries, letters, interviews, oral histories, photographs, newspaper

articles, government documents, poems, novels, plays, and music
  Secondary sources
Secondary sources analyze a scholarly question and often use primary sources
as evidence. Secondary sources include books and articles about a topic.  They
may include lists of sources, i.e., bibliographies, that may lead you to other
primary or secondary sources.

What is HISTORIOGRAPHY?

Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history

as an academic discipline, and by extension is anybody of historical work on a
particular subject.

Examine This!
Activity 3. Answer the questions below. Write your answers on the space
provided. You may use extra sheet if necessary. (5 pts each)

1. How does your environment affect your way of living?

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2. Do you find history useful to your daily lives? Why do you say so?
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3. If you are an anthropologist, what specific Filipino tradition will you be interested
in? Why?
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 EVALUATION

How Much Do You Know?

A. Identification
Directions: On the space provided, write the word being described or referred to in the
following sentences.

___________________ 1.It is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features,
inhabitants, and phenomena of the Earth and planets.

___________________ 2. It is the discipline that studies the chronological records of

events.

___________________ 3.It is the social science that studies the production, distribution,
and consumption of goods and services.

___________________ 4.It is the scientific study of humans, human behavior and

societies in the past and present.

___________________ 5.These include documents or artifacts created by a witness to or

participant in an event.

___________________ 6. It is a field in economics that studies the behavior of not only

particular company or industries but whole economy.

___________________ 7.It is a branch of anthropology that studies human activity

through the recovery and analysis of material culture.

___________________ 8.It is the study of the role that women have played in history.

___________________ 9.It is the study of the methods of historians in developing history

as an academic discipline.

___________________ 10.It is the study of economies or economic phenomena of the

past.

B. Definition
Define the following in your own words. (5 pts each)

 HISTORY –

 ANTHROPOLOGY –

 ECONOMICS –

 GEOGRAPHY –

- End of Module 3 -