Social Sciences: Geography, Anthropology, Sociology, Eeconomics and Psychology

Geography is the study of the physical parts of the earth and its atmosphere, geography can also be the study of the human activity. Every day, geography affects our daily lives. Examples of geography affecting us on a regular basis are shown from everyday experiences. The environment constantly affects us, whether it be by weather and climate change or giving us natural resources like energy and water. The study of geography lets us work with our planet to better ourselves and itself. Geography helps us with what we know about our earth now and what we will know about our earth later.

Anthropology is the study of various aspects of humans within the past and present societies and culture,”(“anthropology”. Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 10 August 2013.), everyone wants to know where we all came from, where all of it started. we can apply anthropology in our lives with some examples like, “when we get up in the morning and choose what to wear; or, how to style our hair. What we choose to eat; or, what we choose to throw away– consciously or otherwise. Where we choose to work, how we choose to get there. Getting home at the end of the day, tired, yet unsatisfied by a nagging curiosity of why humans do the things they do, day in and day out that collectively contribute to a repository of a life lived and a life contributed to a greater whole of existence. By taking a moment of pause and asking ‘Why?’– this is the chief application of an anthropological perspective and lays the groundwork for puzzle-solving and the anthropological theory.”(Retrieved from Department of Anthropology University Of Colorado Boulder website.) Its unique contribution to studying the bonds of human social relations and human culture.

“Sociology is the scientific study of society, including patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and culture.” (“Sociology: A 21st Century Major” (PDF). American Sociological Association. Retrieved 19 July 2017 – via Colgate.edu) You can apply sociology theories and ideas to any scenario of our daily lives dealing with any human interaction. For example, when you start acting the way other people act, you become part of the “normal crowd” or the “social norm”. That means you won’t act too differently from other people. Relating to the normal crowd is the idea of conformity. “Conformity is a change in behavior or belief toward a group standard as a result of the group’s influence on an individual. As this definition indicates, conformity is a type of social influence through which group members come to share similar beliefs and standards of behavior.” (Compliance and Conformity.” Encyclopedia of Sociology.

Retrieved September 12, 2017 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/compliance-and-conformity) That means you may find yourself doing things you might not normally do just because other people are doing it. A good example of this is middle school. Middle school is packed with social norms, everyone separated into different groups, each group usually consists of one leader and the leaders two main friends. Whatever the leader does, the main friends do, and whatever the main friends do, the other kids in the group do. It’s very weird how it works too because it doesn’t matter what the norm is. It could be something as insane as self-harm. If the main kid and their two friends are cutting themselves or something else bizarre, everyone else in the group starts doing it. Social norms can also expand out of groups and into trends. A simple trend that everyone can follow usually will spread fast. For example, one girl decided to make her eyebrows wavy, and then everyone else started doing it, it became a trend, and then it became normal. This is why sociology is so important, it influences large amounts of people quickly because things spread fast through any type of social interaction.

“Political science, also called government, is a social science which deals with systems of governance, and the analysis of political activities, political thoughts, and political behavior. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics which is commonly thought of as determining the distribution of power and resources.”(Political Science. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (22 February 1999). Retrieved on 27 May 2014.) It’s the study of political activity and behavior. its how much you pay for gas, drinks, and food, it’s the cost of fines and its what we learn in school.

Economics is “a social science concerned chiefly with description and analysis of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services”(“economics”. Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) Economics is very important for money and businesses.
History is the study of past events. History tells us which ideas and actions were successful in history, and which ones weren’t. It also helps us with documenting tactics that were very effective before for later dates. For example, enslaving African Americans. In the past, we had used Africans as slaves. We now realize people of color deserve to have the same rights people who aren’t of color have. Because we have history to document that, were able to learn from our past mistakes.

“Psychology is the science of behavior and mind, embracing all aspects of conscious and unconscious experience as well as thought. It is an academic discipline and a social science which seeks to understand individuals and groups by establishing general principles and researching specific cases.”(Fernald LD (2008). Psychology: Six perspectives (pp. 12–15). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.) Psychology means the scientific study of the human mind and its functions.
In conclusion, the seven social sciences are important for daily life and career, they all impact us one way in another, but I stand by with my ranking of the seven social sciences.