Social science is of great
importance to national development. It’s imperative to define the two key
concepts which are “social science and national development” before delving
further. National development is the gradual political, social and economical
growth or development in a nation which makes such nation stronger and more
advanced, in other words development can come to a nation as a result of
social, political and economical development. Social science on the other hand
is the scientific and systematic study of the behavior of man and his interrelationship
with other groups in the society, it is an in-depth and critical look at human behavior
and it could use scientific analysis which could be qualitative or quantitative.
Social science could be objective or subjective unlike natural sciences.
The contribution of social
science can be seen in its disciplines which include economics, psychology,
sociology, mass communication, political science, language etc. Geography is
the spatial distribution of phenomena on the earth surface, geography helps
because it knows where minerals are located which can call for exploration of
such resources, mass communication is simply broadcasting information to a
large group of people at the same time, knowledge of this aids because
government can disseminate news to a lot of people at the same time. Social development which is a bane
of sociology is connected with the advancement in the mode of human interaction
and relationship in the nation.
Political Science is the study of
how men acquire, execute, distribute and manage power and authority in a state.
The central focus of political science is on power and it studies the way this
power is utilized for maximum national development. Power, when utilized as
supposed or expected brings about national development. Example, a democratic
system of government is a political system where people are allowed to voice
their opinion or the government seeks for the majority opinion of the public. A
government under this system) that provides this as supposed, will find out
that there will be state stability, economic progress, social cohesion.
Political science gives the information on how power and authority can be
secured, managed to bring about national development.
Economics is a social
science concerned with the behavior of man in relation to efficient allocation
of scarce resources to achieve maximum optimization of resources. Economical
development includes good economic policy aiding economic development and
growth. With the right policy there will be efficient allocation of resources
which will reduce poverty, create employment, increase balance of payment i.e.
more export and less import as a result of knowing commodities have favourable
comparative advantage on commodities which would make the nation have more
nation wealth and have more money for spending on capital projects which will
benefit citizens of the nation
Each day thousands of
extraordinarily gifted economists, lawyers, historians, linguists,
philosophers, mass communicators, psychologists, critics, archaeologists,
geographers, sociologists, anthropologists and psychologists make important
contributions to our shared public life. How can we tackle terrorism without a
deep cultural understanding of it? How can we make medical and scientific
advances without analysing their human and ethical implications? Their
endeavours extend beyond the immediate needs of the economy, underpinning the
culture of open and informed debate essential to any civilized, democratic
society.
