Lesson One: Introduction to the Social Sciences

Lesson One: Introduction to the Social Sciences

This course is what is knows as a “survey” course; one which covers a broad range of topics, gibing the student a taste for what each of the three social science is all about, with the hope that in the future, a student might choose to continue their studies in one of the three disciplines!

Key Question # 1

A) Read the brief section titled “Three Social Sciences” on pages 5 - 6 of the textbook and the attached piece titled “Three Ways to Study Human Behaviour”. Create a chart like the one below in your notes and use YOUR OWN WORDS to fill in each section with the appropriate information. This should be done in point form!

Anthropology / Psychology / Sociology
What is it?
What do ‘social scientists’ study in this discipline?
What sort of question would a social scientist in this discipline as about education? (hint: see Figure 1.1)

READING: “Three Ways To Study Human Behaviour”

We seem to record our lives with pictures in the 21st century. This is helpful for all three branches of the social sciences for a variety of reasons. Photographs provide evidence, and sometimes a starting point for social science researchers to begin asking questions and formulating plans for research.

Some pictures show individuals acting alone. A social scientist might wonder about the inner workings of the human mind when looking at such photos. For example, they would ask how the individual emotions, needs and the brain itself lead to certain behaviours. The social science that focuses on the individual is called PSYCHOLOGY.

Other pictures show people doing things that are usually done in groups. A social scientist in this branch would expand his or her view to include not only the individual people in the picture, but groups and the society in which that person lives. He or she would be interested in how groups work in terms of how they influence the behaviour of their members. The social science that focuses on groups is called SOCIOLOGY

Finally, some pictures show behaviour that involve whole cultures or the entire human race in some way. A social scientist would want to discover how and why human beings as a species are both similar and different. This would lead him or her to come up with important questions related to the origins and development of the human race. The social science that focuses on human culture or the human species as a whole is called ANTHROPOLOGY.

Key Question # 2

Read the attached article, published in January of 1997 in the Toronto Star. Answer the following questions below based on the article. You MUST answer the questions in a way that makes the original question CLEAR to your reader! (i.e. full sentences, incorporating the question into your answer)

A) Summarize the article in your own words, in no more than one paragraph (approximately 8-10 sentences/100 words)

B) What types of questions would an anthropologist, psychologist or sociologist ask about this case? Formulate at least one question for each discipline, based on the article.

C) What areas of the case would be of most interest to an anthropologist, a psychologist or a sociologist?

D) Think about the methods that police officers use to solve crimes. Formulate at least TWO questions that an anthropologist, a psychologist and a sociologist might ask in order to help police solve the crime (i.e. 6 questions total, two for each branch).

READING: “Two Dangerous Criminals: Three Innocent Victims”

Paul Bernardo, a dangerous criminal, and his accomplice/wife, Karla Homolka, claimed three lives and were Canada’s most reviled criminals. They looked like a Barbie and Ken pair to others. After the two met in Scarborough in 1987, where Bernardo was already the unknown perpetrator of a series of rapes being investigated in part by the FBI, they began a relationship marked by escalating fantasies. In fact some of which involved Homolka’s fifteen-year-old sister, Tammy. Those fantasies were tragically realised on December 23, 1990 when the two drugged the girl unconscious while alone with her in the Homolka’s St. Catherine’s home. During the ordeal the two taped the crimes including some sexual acts. Tammy (Karla’s sister) was later found dead having choked on her own vomit. The murder was ruled accidental when an autopsy revealed nothing suspicious.

Undeterred by the close call, Bernardo brought home two abducted girls before his eventual capture. The first was fourteen-year-old Leslie Mahaffy, kidnapped during a late-night chance encounter with Bernardo during June of 1991. She was assaulted and beaten for over 24 hours before being strangled with an electrical cord, dismembered, and encased in blocks of cement. Her remains were dumped in a nearby lake where they were discovered on June 29 because the cement had broken apart underwater and revealed the grim contents. That very same day, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka were married.

Next was Kristen French, 15, nabbed after school by the killer couple on April 16, 1992. The two took turns abusing the innocent girl at their home while, of course, capturing the assault on tape. French was subjected to painful humiliations repeatedly before she was finally strangled by Bernardo and his trusty cord more than two days after her abduction. Her body was discarded and discovered in an illegal trash dump near Burlington.

It was a DNA test by the investigators of the Scarborough rape spree that finally brought Bernardo to justice. The lab work had unfortunately been caught in backlog since well before their suspects’ first killing. Homolka, who has just recently left her twisted husband, was sought out by investigators looking into Mahaffy and French’s slayings and she soon cut a deal which would eventually sentence her to twelve years in prison. Bernardo’s tapes had not yet been located, forcing authorities to cut the lenient deal with Homolka in return for her testimony. Bernardo was arrested and put on trial, the tapes were later discovered, and were nearly unbeatable evidence against the serial killer. He earned a life sentence for the murders of Tammy Homolka, Mahaffy and French. The trial will forever be remembered due to the graphic content of the murder tapes, which were deemed so awful that the gallery was only allowed to listen while the prosecution, defense, judge and jury watched.

Homolka has since become the focal point of the two due to the public outcry concerning her generous plea deal, which would have never been necessary if Bernardo’s lawyer had turned the damning video evidence over immediately after discovering the tapes hidden (police had not been able to locate them previously) behind a light fixture in a drop ceiling in Bernardo and Homolka’s home. It was eventually decided that she could be deemed a dangerous sex offender and would not be eligible for parole of any sort, forcing her to serve out her twelve year sentence no matter what the circumstances.

Key Question # 3

Now that you have started to get an idea of what each of the three social sciences involves, which of the three do you think you might be the MOST interested in learning about? Which of the three do you think you will have the LEAST interest in? Give at least ONE reason for each choice. Remember: you MUST answer questions in a way that makes the original question CLEAR to your reader! (i.e. full sentences, incorporating the question into your answer)