Sociology vs Social Sciences

What is it that you want to do? Do you want to study the insides of animals? Then study veterinary medicine or animal science. Do you want to build bridges? Then you should probably look into structural engineering. What if your desire is to organize the word pictures in your head into something the entire world can enjoy? How about creative writing?

However, if you want to understand people as social animals and why society functions the way it does, then you need to take courses in sociology. Why? Because sociology is the study of how society has developed, how it is arranged and how it functions. This definition is what sets sociology apart from the other social sciences.

What Are Social Sciences?

The title social sciences is made up of two words. 'Social' refers to the fact that these subjects are related in some way to humanity. 'Sciences' is appended to provide the understanding that these disciplines use the scientific method when conducting research. The following is a list of the various social sciences, with the exception of sociology, and what those disciplines entail:

Some would add philosophy (the study of thought and logic) and other disciplines. In addition, some might argue that psychology is constantly developing sub-fields, particularly biopsychology, neuropsychology and behavioral genetics, that are becoming more closely aligned with biological sciences. They might also add that many fields in economics are more rooted in statistical calculation and objective measurement. Nevertheless, this list contains most social science subjects that are still considered to be part of the social sciences.

What Is Sociology?

It may seem that some of the subjects are similar, but each has a unique focus. Sociology and psychology are often paired, and they are similar, but they have distinct features. Psychology deals with the individual, whereas sociology is concerned with groups. It has been said that sociology is the psychology of groups.

In many ways, groups act like an individual, and sociology is concerned with how the different parts of the group interact with one another. Sociology also looks at how one group is influenced and influences other groups. The information sociological study provides is useful to government, industry, the military and individual citizens.

How the Fields Relate

Sociology may be unique among the social sciences because it alone seeks to study all of the other disciplines. The reason is that society, the concern of sociology, contains all of the other disciplines. Sociology may want to understand the history of a society and relate it to the present. Similarly, it could look at the government or political science of a society to uncover important implications concerning how a society conducts itself. A sociologist may also be interested in how individual units within society have a psychology that affects the whole.

All of the other disciplines have similar relationships to sociology. For example, economics is basically the people's confidence in a monetary system. Sociology looks at how society and monetary policy build this confidence. With regard to government, sociology looks at political parties and how factors affect voting and other political issues.

Anthropology and sociology intersect in the fact that both look at society at large. Anthropology looks at how cultures are formed and sociology at how that formation becomes a coherent society. It is fascinating to see how different disciplines within the social sciences interact with sociology.

Lesson Rundown…

Let's take a moment to review what we've learned!

Within the social sciences is the study of sociology: the study of how society has developed, how it's arranged, and how it functions. The social sciences are subjects concerned with how humans interact with the world, and sociology is interested in the study of society.

Within the social sciences are such disciplines as economics, psychology, anthropology, education and many others. Each is concerned with a piece of global human concerns. Sociology is interested in all of the others. Sociology relates to the other social sciences in that it is an overarching look at the specific subjects the other disciplines are concerned with.