Science, as one of the forms of knowledge and explanation of the world, is constantly developing: the number of its branches and directions is steadily growing. This trend is especially clearly demonstrated by the development of social sciences, which are opening up more and more new facets of the life of modern society. What are they? What is the subject of their study? Read about this in more detail in the article.

Social Science

This concept appeared relatively recently. Scientists associate its emergence with the development of science in general, which began in the 16-17th century. It was then that science began to own way development, uniting and incorporating the entire system around scientific knowledge, which was formed at that time.

It should be noted that social science is an integral system of scientific knowledge, which at its core contains a number of disciplines. The task of the latter is a comprehensive study of society and its constituent elements.

The rapid development and complication of this category over the past couple of centuries poses new challenges for science. The emergence of new institutions, the complication of social connections and relationships require the introduction of new categories, the establishment of dependencies and patterns, and the opening of new branches and sub-sectors of this type of scientific knowledge.

What is he studying?

The answer to the question of what constitutes the subject of social sciences is already inherent in it. This part of scientific knowledge concentrates its cognitive efforts on such a complex concept as society. Its essence is most fully revealed thanks to the development of sociology.

The latter is quite often presented as a science of society. However, such a broad interpretation of the subject of this discipline does not allow us to get a complete picture of it.

and sociology?

Many researchers of both modern times and past centuries have tried to answer this question. can “boast” of a huge number of theories and concepts that explain the essence of the concept of “society”. The latter cannot consist of only one individual; an indispensable condition here is a collection of several beings, which must certainly be in the process of interaction. That is why today scientists imagine society as a kind of “clump” of all kinds of connections and interactions entangling the world human relations. There are a number of distinctive characteristics of society:

  • The presence of a certain social community that reflects the social side of life, the social uniqueness of relationships and various kinds of interactions.
  • The presence of regulatory bodies, which sociologists call social institutions, the latter are the most stable connections and relationships. A striking example of such an institution is the family.
  • Special Territorial categories are not applicable here, since society can go beyond them.
  • Self-sufficiency is a characteristic that allows one to distinguish a society from other similar social entities.

Taking into account the detailed presentation of the main category of sociology, it is possible to expand the concept of it as a science. This is no longer just a science about society, but also an integrated system of knowledge about various social institutions, relationships, communities.

Social sciences study society, forming a diverse understanding of it. Each considers the object from its own side: political science - political, economics - economic, cultural studies - cultural, etc.

Causes

Starting from the 16th century, the development of scientific knowledge became quite dynamic, and by the middle of the 19th century, a process of differentiation was observed in the already separated science. The essence of the latter was that individual branches began to take shape in the mainstream of scientific knowledge. The foundation for their formation and, in fact, the reason for their separation was the identification of an object, subject and research methods. Based on these components, the disciplines were concentrated around two main areas human life: nature and society.

What are the reasons for the separation from scientific knowledge of what is today known as social science? These are, first of all, the changes that took place in society in the 16-17th century. It was then that its formation began in the form in which it was preserved until today. Outdated structures are being replaced by mass ones, which require increased attention, since there is a need not only to understand but also to be able to manage them.

Another factor contributing to the emergence of social sciences was the active development of natural sciences, which in some way “provoked” the emergence of the former. It is known that one of characteristic features scientific knowledge of the late 19th century was the so-called naturalistic understanding of society and the processes occurring in it. The peculiarity of this approach was that social scientists tried to explain it within the framework of the categories and methods of the natural sciences. Then sociology appears, which its creator, Auguste Comte, calls social physics. A scientist, studying society, tries to apply natural scientific methods to it. Thus, social science is a system of scientific knowledge that emerged later than the natural one and developed under its direct influence.

Development of social sciences

The rapid development of knowledge about society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was due to the desire to find levers to control it in a rapidly changing world. Natural sciences, failing to explain processes, reveal their inconsistency and limitations. The formation and development of social sciences make it possible to obtain answers to many questions of both the past and the present. New processes and phenomena that take place in the world require new approaches to study, as well as application latest technologies and techniques. All this stimulates the development of both scientific knowledge in general and social sciences in particular.

Considering that the natural sciences became the impetus for the development of social sciences, it is necessary to find out how to distinguish one from the other.

Natural and social sciences: distinctive characteristics

The main difference that makes it possible to classify this or that knowledge into a certain group is, of course, the object of research. In other words, what science focuses on, in this case, are two different spheres of existence.

It is known that natural sciences arose earlier than social ones, and their methods influenced the development of the methodology of the latter. Its development took place in a different cognitive direction - through understanding the processes occurring in society, in contrast to the explanation offered by the natural sciences.

Another feature that emphasizes the differences between natural and social sciences is ensuring the objectivity of the cognition process. In the first case, the scientist is outside the subject of research, observing it “from the outside.” In the second, he himself is often a participant in the processes that take place in society. Here objectivity is ensured by comparison with universal human values and norms: cultural, moral, religious, political and others.

What sciences are considered social?

Let us immediately note that there are some difficulties in determining where to classify this or that science. Modern scientific knowledge gravitates towards the so-called interdisciplinarity, when sciences borrow methods from each other. This is why it is sometimes difficult to classify science into one group or another: both social and natural sciences have a number of characteristics that make them similar.

Because social science occurred later than natural ones, then initial stage During its development, many scientists believed that it was possible to study society and the processes occurring in it using natural scientific methods. A striking example is sociology, which was called social physics. Later, with the development of their own system of methods, the social (social) sciences moved away from the natural sciences.

Another feature that unites these is that each of them acquires knowledge in the same ways, including:

  • a system of general scientific methods such as observation, modeling, experiment;
  • logical methods of cognition: analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, etc.;
  • reliance on scientific facts, logic and consistency of judgments, unambiguity of the concepts used and the rigor of their definitions.

Also, both spheres of science have in common the ways in which they differ from other types and forms of knowledge: the validity and consistency of the knowledge obtained, their objectivity, etc.

System of scientific knowledge about society

The entire set of sciences that study society is sometimes combined into one, which is called social science. This discipline, being comprehensive, allows us to form a general idea of ​​society and the place of the individual in it. It is formed on the basis of knowledge about various things: economics, politics, culture, psychology and others. In other words, social science is an integrated system of social sciences that forms an idea of ​​such a complex and diverse phenomenon as society, the roles and functions of humans in it.

Classification of social sciences

Based on which social sciences relate to any level of knowledge about society or give an idea of ​​almost all spheres of its life, scientists have divided them into several groups:

  • the first includes those sciences that give general ideas about society itself, the laws of its development, main components, etc. (sociology, philosophy);
  • the second covers those disciplines that study one aspect of society (economics, political science, cultural studies, ethics, etc.);
  • The third group includes sciences that permeate all areas of social life (history, jurisprudence).

Sometimes social sciences are divided into two areas: social and humanities. Both of them are closely interconnected, since in one way or another they are related to society. The first characterizes the most general patterns of social processes, and the second refers to subjective level, which examines a person with his values, motives, goals, intentions, etc.

Thus, it can be stated that social sciences study society in a general, broader aspect, as part of the material world, as well as in a narrow one - at the level of the state, nation, family, associations or social groups.

The most famous social sciences

Considering that modern society is a rather complex and diverse phenomenon, it is impossible to study it within the framework of one discipline. This situation can be explained based on the fact that the number of relationships and connections in society today is enormous. We all encounter in our lives such areas as: economics, politics, law, culture, language, history, etc. All this diversity is a clear manifestation of how versatile modern society. That is why we can cite at least 10 social sciences, each of which characterizes one of the aspects of society: sociology, political science, history, economics, jurisprudence, pedagogy, cultural studies, psychology, geography, anthropology.

There is no doubt that the source of basic information about society is sociology. It is she who reveals the essence of this multifaceted object of research. In addition, today political science, which characterizes the political sphere, has become quite famous.

Jurisprudence allows you to learn how to regulate relations in society using rules of conduct enshrined by the state in the form of legal norms. And psychology allows you to do this using other mechanisms, studying the psychology of the crowd, group and person.

Thus, each of the 10 social sciences examines society from its own side using its own research methods.

Scientific publications publishing social science research

One of the most famous is the journal “Social Sciences and Modernity”. Today, this is one of the few publications that allows you to get acquainted with a fairly wide range of different areas of modern science about society. There are articles on sociology and history, political science and philosophy, research that raises cultural and psychological issues.

Home distinctive feature publication is an opportunity to post and get acquainted with interdisciplinary research that is carried out at the intersection of various scientific directions. Today, the globalizing world makes its own demands: a scientist must go beyond the narrow confines of his industry and take into account current trends development of world society as a single organism.

The humanities and social sciences represent a complex of many disciplines, the subject of study of which is both society as a whole and man as its member. These include political science, philosophy, philology, psychology, economics, pedagogy, jurisprudence, cultural studies, ethnology and other theoretical knowledge.

Specialists in these areas are trained and graduated by science, which can be a separate educational institution, and be a division of any humanities university.

social sciences

First of all, they explore society. Society is considered as an entity that develops historically and represents associations of people that have developed as a result of joint actions and have their own system of relations. The presence of different groups in society allows us to see how interdependent individuals are on each other.

Social Sciences : research methods

Each of the disciplines listed above applies characteristics unique to it. Thus, political science, when studying society, operates with the category “power”. Culturology considers culture and the forms of its manifestation as an aspect of society that has value. Economics studies the life of society from the perspective of organizing the economy.

For this purpose, it uses categories such as market, money, demand, product, supply and others. Sociology views society as a constantly evolving system of relations that develop between social groups. History studies what has already happened. At the same time, trying to establish the order of events, their relationships, and causes, it is based on all kinds of documentary sources.

The formation of social sciences

IN ancient times social sciences were predominantly included in philosophy, since it studied both man and the entire society at the same time. Only history and jurisprudence were partially separated into separate disciplines. First social theory developed by Aristotle and Plato. During the Middle Ages, social sciences were considered within the framework of theology as knowledge of the undifferentiated and embracing absolutely everything. Their development was influenced by such thinkers as Gregory Palamas, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and John of Damascus.

Starting from the New Age (since the 17th century), some social sciences (psychology, cultural studies, political science, sociology, economics) are completely separated from philosophy. In higher educational institutions Faculties and departments are opened in these subjects, specialized almanacs, magazines, etc. are published.

Natural and social sciences: differences and similarities

This problem has been solved ambiguously in history. Thus, Kant’s followers divided all sciences into two types: those studying nature and culture. Representatives of such a movement as the “philosophy of life” generally sharply contrasted history with nature. They believed that culture is the result of the spiritual activity of mankind, and it can only be understood by experiencing and understanding those eras and the motives of their behavior. On modern science and natural ones are not only opposed, but also have points of contact. This is, for example, using mathematical methods research in philosophy, political science, history; application of knowledge from the field of biology, physics, astronomy in order to establish the exact date of events that occurred in the distant past.

Social Sciences

Philosophy. Philosophy studies society from the point of view of its essence: structure, ideological foundations, the relationship between spiritual and material factors in it. Since it is society that generates, develops and transmits meanings, philosophy that studies meanings pays central attention to society and its problems. Any philosophical study necessarily touches on the topic of society, since human thought always unfolds in a social context that predetermines its structure.

Story. History examines the progressive development of societies, giving a description of the phases of their development, structure, structure, features and characteristics. Different schools of historical knowledge place emphasis on different aspects of history. The focus of the classical historical school is religion, culture, worldview, social and political system society, a description of the periods of its development and the most important events And characters social history.

Anthropology. Anthropology – literally, “the science of man” – typically studies archaic societies, in which it seeks to find the key to understanding more developed cultures. According to evolutionist theory, history is a single linear and unidirectional flow of development of society, etc. " primitive peoples"or "savages" live to this day in the same social conditions as all of humanity in ancient times. Therefore, by studying “primitive societies”, one can obtain “reliable” information about the initial stages of the formation of societies that went through other, later and “developed” stages in their development.

Sociology. Sociology is a discipline whose main object is society itself, studied as an integral phenomenon.

Political science. Political science studies society in its political dimension, exploring the development and change of power systems and institutions of society, the transformation of the political system of states, and the change of political ideologies.

Culturology. Culturology views society as a cultural phenomenon. In this perspective, social content manifests itself through culture generated and developed by society. Society in cultural studies acts as a subject of culture and at the same time as the field on which cultural creativity unfolds and in which cultural phenomena are interpreted. Culture understood in in a broad sense, covers the entire set of social values ​​that create a collective portrait of the identity of each specific society.

Jurisprudence. Jurisprudence primarily considers social relations in the legal aspect, which they acquire when fixed in legislative acts. Legal systems and institutions reflect prevailing trends social development, combine ideological, political, historical, cultural and value attitudes of society.

Economy. Economics studies the economic structure of various societies, explores the influence economic activity on social institutions, structures and relationships. The Marxist method of political economy makes economic analysis the main tool in the study of society, reducing social research to clarifying its economic background.

Social Science. Social science summarizes the approaches of all social disciplines. The discipline “Social Studies” contains elements of all of the above scientific disciplines, helping to understand and correctly interpret basic social meanings, processes and institutions.

Social Sciences – a form of spiritual activity of people, directions for the production of knowledge about society.

Since society is a complex and multidimensional concept, each of the social sciences examines a defining area of ​​social life. The most general knowledge about society as a whole is intended to be provided by such sciences as philosophy and sociology.

Sample assignment

A1. Choose the correct answer. Which science is superfluous in the list of sciences that have as their immediate subject the problem of man?

1) philosophical anthropology

2) economics

3) sociology

4) social

5) psychology

Answer: 2.

Topic 7. Social and humanitarian knowledge

The question of the uniqueness of social knowledge is a subject of debate in the history of philosophical thought.

Social and humanitarian knowledge are interpenetrated. Without a person there is no society. But a person cannot exist without society.

Features of humanitarian knowledge: understanding; appeal to texts letters and public speaking, diaries and policy statements, works of fiction and critical reviews, etc.; the impossibility of reducing knowledge to unambiguous, universally accepted definitions.

Humanitarian knowledge is designed to influence a person, spiritualize, transform his moral, ideological, ideological guidelines, and contribute to the development of his human qualities.

Social and humanitarian knowledge is the result of social cognition.

Social cognition – the process of acquiring and developing knowledge about man and society.

The knowledge of society and the processes occurring in it, along with features common to all cognitive activity, also has significant differences from the knowledge of nature.

Features of social cognition

1. The subject and object of knowledge coincide. Social life is permeated with the consciousness and will of man; it is essentially subject-objective and represents, on the whole, a subjective reality. It turns out that the subject here cognizes the subject (cognition turns out to be self-knowledge).

2. The resulting social knowledge is always associated with the interests of individual subjects of knowledge. Social cognition directly affects people's interests.

3. Social knowledge is always loaded with evaluation; it is value knowledge. Natural science is instrumental through and through, while social science is the service of truth as a value, as truth; natural sciences are “truths of the mind,” social sciences are “truths of the heart.”

4. The complexity of the object of knowledge - society, which has a variety of different structures and is in constant development. Therefore, the establishment of social laws is difficult, and open social laws are probabilistic in nature. Unlike natural science, social science makes predictions impossible (or very limited).

5. Since social life changes very quickly, in the process of social cognition we can talk about establishing only relative truths.

6. The possibility of using such a method of scientific knowledge as experiment is limited. The most common method of social research is scientific abstraction; the role of thinking is extremely important in social cognition.

The correct approach to them allows us to describe and understand social phenomena. This means that social cognition must be based on the following principles.

– consider social reality in development;

– study social phenomena in their diverse connections and interdependence;

– identify the general (historical patterns) and the specific in social phenomena.

Every human knowledge of society begins with perception real facts economic, social, political, spiritual life - the basis of knowledge about society and people’s activities.

Science distinguishes the following types of social facts.

For a fact to become scientific, it must be interpret(Latin interpretatio – interpretation, explanation). First of all, the fact is brought under some scientific concept. Next, all the essential facts that make up the event are studied, as well as the situation (setting) in which it occurred, and the diverse connections of the fact being studied with other facts are traced.

Thus, the interpretation of a social fact is a complex multi-stage procedure for its interpretation, generalization, and explanation. Only an interpreted fact is a truly scientific fact. A fact presented only in the description of its characteristics is just raw material for scientific conclusions.

Associated with the scientific explanation of the fact is its grade, which depends on the following factors:

– properties of the object being studied (event, fact);

– correlation of the object being studied with others, one ordinal, or with an ideal;

– cognitive tasks set by the researcher;

– personal position of the researcher (or just a person);

– interests of the social group to which the researcher belongs.

Sample assignments

Read the text and complete the tasks C1‑C4.

“The specifics of cognition of social phenomena, the specifics of social science are determined by many factors. And, perhaps, the main one among them is society itself (man) as an object of knowledge. Strictly speaking, this is not an object (in the natural scientific sense of the word). The fact is that social life is thoroughly permeated with the consciousness and will of man; it is essentially subject-objective and represents, on the whole, a subjective reality. It turns out that the subject here cognizes the subject (cognition turns out to be self-knowledge). However, this cannot be done using natural scientific methods. Natural science embraces and can master the world only in an objective (as an object-thing) way. It really deals with situations where the object and the subject are, as it were, in different sides barricades and therefore so distinguishable. Natural science turns the subject into an object. But what does it mean to turn a subject (a person, after all, in the final analysis) into an object? This means killing the most important thing in him - his soul, making him into some kind of lifeless scheme, a lifeless structure.<…>The subject cannot become an object without ceasing to be itself. The subject can only be known in a subjective way - through understanding (and not an abstract general explanation), feeling, survival, empathy, as if from the inside (and not detachedly, from the outside, as in the case of an object).<…>

What is specific in social science is not only the object (subject-object), but also the subject. Everywhere, in any science, passions are in full swing; without passions, emotions and feelings there is no and cannot be a human search for truth. But in social studies their intensity is perhaps the highest” (Grechko P.K. Social studies: for those entering universities. Part I. Society. History. Civilization. M., 1997. pp. 80–81.).

C1. Based on the text, indicate the main factor that determines the specifics of cognition of social phenomena. What, according to the author, are the features of this factor?

Answer: The main factor that determines the specifics of cognition of social phenomena is its object – society itself. The features of the object of knowledge are associated with the uniqueness of society, which is permeated with the consciousness and will of man, which makes it a subjective reality: the subject knows the subject, i.e. knowledge turns out to be self-knowledge.

Answer: According to the author, the difference between social science and natural science lies in the difference in the objects of knowledge and its methods. Thus, in social science, the object and subject of knowledge coincide, but in natural science they are either separated or significantly different; natural science is a monological form of knowledge: the intellect contemplates a thing and speaks about it; social science is a dialogical form of knowledge: the subject as such cannot be perceived and studied as a thing, because as a subject he cannot, while remaining a subject, become voiceless; in social science, knowledge is carried out as if from within, in natural science - from the outside, detached, with the help of abstract general explanations.

C3. Why does the author believe that in social science the intensity of passions, emotions and feelings is the highest? Give your explanation and, based on knowledge of the social science course and the facts of social life, give three examples of the “emotionality” of cognition of social phenomena.

Answer: The author believes that in social science the intensity of passions, emotions and feelings is the highest, since here there is always a personal attitude of the subject to the object, a vital interest in what is being learned. As examples of the “emotionality” of cognition of social phenomena, the following can be cited: supporters of the republic, studying the forms of the state, will seek confirmation of the advantages of the republican system over the monarchical one; monarchists will pay special attention to proving the shortcomings of the republican form of government and the merits of the monarchical one; The world-historical process has been considered in our country for a long time from the point of view of the class approach, etc.

C4. The specificity of social cognition, as the author notes, is characterized by a number of features, two of which are revealed in the text. Based on your knowledge of the social science course, indicate any three features of social cognition that are not reflected in the fragment.

Answer: As examples of the features of social cognition, the following can be cited: the object of cognition, which is society, is complex in its structure and is in constant development, which makes it difficult to establish social laws, and open social laws are probabilistic in nature; in social cognition the possibility of using such a method of scientific research as experiment is limited; in social cognition the role of thinking, its principles and methods (for example, scientific abstraction) is extremely important; Since social life changes quite quickly, in the process of social cognition we can talk about establishing only relative truths, etc.

Society is an incredibly interesting subject to study, as understanding how it works helps ordinary people significantly improve your life and provide positive influence to the world. To begin to consider society as a historically and culturally established phenomenon, it is necessary to understand what sciences study society. And to get an answer to this question, it is necessary to turn to such a complex of sciences as social science, which includes at least six main scientific disciplines.

This is all that is usually studied in universities: philosophy, social psychology, political science, economics, jurisprudence, and sociology. Everything is from one side or another. Here are the sciences that representatives of socionomic professions (related to people) study! Social science is a large-scale discipline, the purpose of which is not to consider individual social phenomena, but as a whole, from the perspective of different sciences.

But it is important to understand that studying aspects of social life of this kind will be superficial, since many of them, upon closer examination, turn out to be contradictory. But general education You can get through studying social science, and then amaze poorly educated people with your erudition. Moreover, this discipline allows you to know the direction of searching for an answer to the question of what sciences study society.

What are the specifics of cognition of social phenomena?

In general, the features of a person’s knowledge of the world around him are always the same. But when studying a certain object (it is society in our case), a number of features should be taken into account that will help or, perhaps, hinder delving into any topic considered by science. And therefore, it is important to understand the specifics of cognition of social phenomena, which lies in the fact that the object and subject of study are one.

After all, everything is provoked by people who can influence them even by the very fact of studying these events and properties. For example, a failed experiment shook the public so much that the conditions for confirming or disproving the hypothesis disappeared completely. The problem of studying social phenomena is that regardless of what sciences study society, the personal factor operates. Consequently, it is difficult for an object to look at many phenomena reliably. And such subjectivity does not allow us to put everything together into a whole picture, even within the framework of one science. And as for social science as a complex of disciplines, even more so. That is personal experience, the researcher’s worldview significantly affects the results of the experiments, which distorts objective reality.

Philosophy

What sciences study society and man? One of them is philosophy, which considers the universal laws of development of the world as an integrity. There are other definitions. Thus, philosophy is the name given to the special branch of the world that studies the most general properties and phenomena of the surrounding reality. Modern researchers do not like to call philosophy a science, since it often contains completely contradictory provisions that researchers do not even try to reconcile or find out which of them is correct. Just like in physics they try general theory relativity to reconcile with quantum theory fields with varying degrees of success.

But within the framework of philosophy, both atheistic materialism and agnostic idealism can exist simultaneously. That is, philosophy can be called the answer to the question “what sciences study society” only conditionally. This form of knowledge of the world poses such questions.

  • Do we know the world? Those who believe that it is possible to consider all of reality in its entirety are called Gnostics. And those who deny are agnostics.
  • What is truth? Here philosophy approached quite scientifically. Thus, full-fledged ones were developed within the framework of epistemology - the science of knowledge.
  • What is good? This question is directly related to human values, and therefore refers to such as axiology.

In general, philosophy is an excellent discipline, but in answer to the question “what sciences study society” there are others. These should also be considered.

Sociology

What sciences study society, man, social relations and institutions? That's right, disciplines related to sociology. These include not only the science discussed in this subsection, but also, for example, social work. But sociology is the science of society, social institutions (historically established forms of its self-regulation), which sets as its task the explanation and prediction of certain social phenomena.

Jurisprudence

One aspect of the study of most socionomic sciences (the study of society) is the system of social norms. They are religious, moral, group. And there is a special category of them - legal norms, which are a means of expressing the will of the state. Actually, jurisprudence is a science that studies legal norms and the peculiarities of their functioning in relation to a particular state or as a whole. This discipline has the closest connection with social psychology, social work and sociology.

Economy

Economics is the science that studies economic activity society, relations related to money and property, production, distribution, exchange and consumption. This discipline is a mechanism that regulates the material side of life of each member of society.

Political science

Political science is the science of a special form of human activity associated with power relations, as well as possible political systems, institutions and norms. This science also studies the relationship between the state and its individual citizens.