Social studies can be defined as the study of man and his environment. Social studies can also be defined as the totality of man’s physical and social environment.
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SCOPE OF SOCIAL STUDIES
The word “man” in the definition given above connotes human beings while man’s environment has a huge influence on mankind in all spheres of life. Man’s environment affect their language, dressing, food and every other thing one can think of in the society.
Man also interacts with two environments which are:
- Physical environment (Natural)
- Social environment (Artificial)
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
The grassland, mountains, rivers, deserts, seas, oceans, valleys are created by God for the benefit of mankind and it has a great influence on man in so many ways. For example, those who live in riverine areas like the Ijaws and Ilaje’s often take fishing and farming as their occupation while those who are surrounded by forest like those living in the rural area often become hunters.
SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
These are man-made social ways of life which include: religion, tribe, customs, language, ways of dressing, morals, values etc. For example, if an adult who had never spoken Hausa language relocates from Yoruba land to Northern parts of the country in Nigeria, within few years he may find himself unconsciously taking an Hausa culture just as the way of greeting, eating, language, dressing etc. All these happens because of his daily interaction with the environment he finds himself.
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MAN.
SCIENCE: This is the systematic way of acquiring knowledge through observation and experiment.
TECHNOLOGY: This is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes.
The scope of social studies has a wider range in the area of science and technology. This innovation has greatly influence man by making life more comfortable for mankind.
For example, it has helped man to be connected with happenings world-wide through internet, television, cable, telephone etc. It has also helped to dam rivers and from that get electricity which makes life more comfortable for man.
NATURE OF SOCIAL STUDIES
There are subjects that makes-up social studies. Such subjects includes;
- Geography
- History
- Civics
- Government
- Sociology
- Economics
- The combination of all these subjects helps in reflecting how man uses the resources within his environment to profound solution to his problems and improve his life generally.
- Moreso, social studies as a subject studies how man live together in harmony in the society and how people interact and make a great influence on one another.
- Furthermore, social studies helps to know about conflicts and its causes in the society.
- It gives a better understanding of the effects and ways of resolving such conflict in the society.
Evaluation
- Define social studies
- Man interact with how many environments?
- Explain the concept of science and technology
- Highlight the subjects that makes up social studies
- State 3 importance of social studies
See also
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