Page 6 - DLIS407_INFORMATION AND LITERATURE SURVEY IN SOCIAL SCIENCES

Unit 1: Introduction to Social Science Disciplines
Jovita Kaur, Lovely Professional University

Unit 1: Introduction to Social Science Disciplines Notes

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
1.1 Scope of Major Subjects
1.2 Economics
1.2.1 Microeconomics
1.2.2 Macroeconomics

1.3 Political Science
1.4 Summary
1.5 Keywords
1.6 Review Questions
1.7 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
y Discuss scope of major subjects
y Define economics
y Explain political science.

Introduction

According to Peter T.Manicas a persistent assumption of disciplinary histories of the social sciences
is the idea that each of the main branches of today’s social sciences reflects at least reasonably firm
strata of the social world. There is, thus, a ‘natural’ division of labour which was finally realized with
the maturation of the distinct social sciences. Explaining the emergence of the disciplines, then, takes
the form of showing how pathfinders, interested in constituting analogues to the successful modern
natural sciences, broke from the pre-scientific past and established restricted domains for controlled
inquiry. Each story is different, of course, and some are stormier than others. Some, for example
psychology, are even less settled than others. P. Wagner, B. Wittrock, and R. Whitely (eds.) Discourses
on Society: Volume XV, 1990, 45-71.

1.1 Scope of Major Subjects

Sciences are broadly divided into natural (or physical) sciences and social sciences. Social Sciences
include various disciplines dealing with human life, human behaviour, social groups and social
institutions. They consist of Anthropology, Behaviour Science, Commerce, Demography, Economics,
Education, Geography, History, Law, Linguistics, Management, Political Science, Psychology, Public

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