Social Science Essay: Ways of Learning about the Social World
Question
Task: Write a social science essay of 1200 words (+/-10%) which answers the following question:
How can social science help us to better understand our lives and the lives of others in society?
Your essay should identify and discuss relevant concepts and theories. Use real world examples or other empirical evidence to illustrate or support your arguments. Support your discussion with references to social science literature.
Answer
Introduction
The concept of social science discussed in the segments of social science essay is the branch of science that is devoted to the study of societal relations, and it helps people know their duties towards human society. Social science helps people understand about the lives of oneself and the other living in the society (Browne, 2011). Social science can make people understand better by informing them about the religion and culture of the society and the duties and responsibilities towards the society. It develops the human qualities and positive attitude in the minds and actions of the people by enhancing critical thinking about society. This essay will discuss the concept of social science that helps people to know and understand the social world. For this purpose, two topics will be taken into consideration; the first topic is "Professionalism and the use of social media sites", and the second topic is "Ethical issue in nursing”.
Identification and Discussion of Relevant Concepts
In this rapidly changing world, social science is a way to know about the social world through scientific examinations regarding social communication, governance and the environment. Social science also gives solution to the problems that arise in society regarding societal relations and procedures (Eller, 2014). Social science teaches rational and critical thinking habits in the people that help them to explore the social world. Social science is a way of knowing about the social world because it is closely associated with the things that are close to human beings and the aspects and elements that directly concerns humans. Social science provides ways to solve societal issues related to production, communication, and governance.
Furthermore, social science helps to analyses the relationship between society and the individual through which people can develop and operate the society so that it can prosper. Social science is inclusive of economics, anthropology, sociology, social psychology and political science. The social science people can know about how society works, and it can shape and organize their society so that it can grow and develop. Therefore, it can be said that social science is a way of knowing the social world (Ferris and Stein, 2018).
The first topic that will be used to explain how social science helps people to understand the social world is “professionalism and the use of social media sites”.This topic can be cited as an example to show how social science is a way of knowing about the social world. This is because, through social media sites, people can get information about the world and know about what is happening in different parts of the world.
Through social media, people can get answers regarding the different queries related to social science. For example, Twitter gives information about various opinions of the people, the nature of the people and flexibility of the social technology (Felt, 2016). Researchers employ big data analytics on social media sites to extract information about social science. Professionalism and the use of social media sites have a significant impact on social science since the usage of the internet has become common. It allows social scientists to interact with each other and discuss the theories and ideas regarding social science with each other. Through social media sites, they can develop their communications and relations with their peers and supervisors who are in a faraway place. With the help of social media sites, social scientists can stay updated, and they can stay informed regarding new and different theories. Social scientists can make use of the articles present in the digital archives and use Twitter to get real-time reports and messages. Through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, people can stay connected with will help them to know about the social world they are living in.
Social media provides interactivity and connectedness among the people in today's society, and people are heavily reliant on social media for various purposes. The use of social media has grown from mere personal use to a worldwide professional use for varied purposes. However, when different professions use social media for their work purpose, they try to enhance their credentials related to their relevant areas of professionalism. With everything shifting online in today's society, it has become easy to know about the societies, but at the same time, there is a high risk of losing privacy. It is well known that privacy safety is a significant issue when it comes to online social media sites, and this can be a significant issue.This gives rise to the concept of principles of confidentiality, which is applicable whether a person is communicating online or offline. The principles of confidentiality state that when a piece of information is transferred from one place to another, it has to be scrutinized, the identity of the people involved in the communication process should not be disclosed (Collier and Collier, 2019). The use of information that can disclose the information of the people communicating should be minimized. The information regarding the people communicating should be given only to the authorized people for a specified purpose. The person who has the information should be aware of the law and responsible enough to know that they are carrying crucial information that has to be protected.
The second topic that has been chosen is the “ethical issue in nursing” because nursing is considered to be a discipline that lies between social science and medical science. In the nursing field, it is considered disrespectful to withhold information or deceiving the patient. However, there are many instances where it is difficult for the nurses to disclose a critical medical condition of the patient. This creates an issue for the ethical practice in nursing this is because nursing is considered to be social science as the nurse needs to educate the patients about their sickness and the medication. Nurses are responsible for teaching the patients how to take injections and how to consume medicines at home. The ethical issues of nursing can be used to understand social science because sociology has a significant impact on the healthcare sector. The goals of nurses are to prevent health issues, and at the same time, they aim to restore the health of their patients (HadianJazi, Peyrovi and Zareian, 2019).
The example of Iraq can be taken where there is widespread terrorism, violence, crimes, illiteracy and public unrest. As a country that promotes terrorism, there is a need for nursing facilities in this country to improve the social structure of the country. However, there has always been a low number of nurses in Iraq, and only three universities in Iraq facilitates quality nursing education. In recent time there has been an integration of military nurses in the public health system because of the rising terrorism. Due to three international wars in the past two decades, there has been a considerable amount of damage to the nursing education in Iraq. Due to these wars, there was prolonged unrest between the military and the civilians. There was a massive number of wounded patients, and it was being difficult to handle them, which made it difficult for the nurses to fulfil their duties (Firouzkouhi, et. al., 2017). There was a shortage of nurses in the field, which created an issue while the available nurses had to do multiple interventions simultaneously. During the Iran-Iraq war, military nurses and the civilian nurses in triage face many challenges. Through the topic of ethical issues in nursing, the social and political structure of Iraq could be analyzed.
It can be said that nursing can also give an idea about social science through which information regarding the social world can be extracted. Through social science research, many sociologists have said that nursing can be considered a social science. This is because nursing involves the handling of interpersonal relationships by the nurses, which is developed through continuous practices and skills. Along with that, the patients also must trust the nurses so that they can fulfil their duties and responsibilities (Lampert, 2016). The principle of fidelity ensures that the nurses keep up the trust of their patients. The principle guides the nurses to be faithful and honest in their profession, and they should fulfil their professional oaths and promises of providing quality services to society. Therefore, nursing is considered to be a social science by many socialist because their service is focused on the well being of society.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said the social science is a scientific study the gives information about how society functions. This includes relationship patterns, social communication, culture and religion. Social science helps people to analyze the relationship between two or more people and complex interaction between different nations so that people can be aware of the social world. Through social science research, many sociologists are of the opinion that nursing can be considered as a social science. This is because the nursing profession is concerned with the practice that is focused on the well-being of society as a whole. Another topic that was taken into consideration was social media because through social media, and people can be aware of what is happening around the world. It helps people to connect and interact with each other so that they can learn about the social world.
References
Browne, K., 2011. An introduction to sociology. 4th ed. Cambridge: Polity.
Collier, E. and Collier, E., 2019. Confidentiality in Health & Social Care | Can You Break It?. [online] The Hub | High Speed Training. Available at:
Eller, D., 2014. Social Science and Historical Perspectives: Society, Science, and Ways of Knowing. [online] ResearchGate. Available at:
Felt, M., 2016. Social media and the social sciences: How researchers employ Big Data analytics. Big Data & Society, 3(1), p.205395171664582. Ferris, K. and Stein, J., 2018. The real world. 6th ed. London: W.W. Norton.
Firouzkouhi, M., Zargham-Boroujeni, A., Kako, M. and Abdollahimohammad, A., 2017. Experiences of civilian nurses in triage during the Iran-Iraq War: An oral history. Chinese Journal of Traumatology, 20(5), pp.288-292.
HadianJazi, Z., Peyrovi, H. and Zareian, A., 2019. Nurse’s social responsibility: A hybrid concept analysis in Iran. Medical Journal of The Islamic Republic of Iran. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5831327/ [Accessed 1 April 2021].
Lampert, L., 2016. Why Are Nurses So Trusted? | Ausmed. [online] Ausmed.com. Available at:
