Societals

A paradigm shift in the societal human exchange landscape is in progress with the emergence of social networks and communication tools. This topic is of a high importance as it guarantees the sustainability of virtues, cultures, and identities...

Timeline of social science

Prehistoric - Before 500 BC

The core idea was the divine order where Religion explained social structure represented by a divine kingship in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China. We note the appearance of the code of Hammurabi.

Classical - 500 BC – 500 AD

This era features the beginning of Reason. The appearance of political theory and rational analysis with e.g. the ideal state of Plato, the empirical political observations of Aristotle, and the natural law of Cicero. In parallel, Ethics and moral governance systems appeared in Asia with the harmony and the hierarchy ideas of Confucius.

Medieval - 500 AD – 1500 AD

Theology dominates in this era, and society is explained through divine will. The writings of Augustine of Hippo are a representative example. Faith and reason appear in works of Thomas Aquinas and Ibn Khaldun with an early sociology describing social cycles and group solidarity allowing a transition toward analytical thinking.

Early Modern - 1500 AD – 1800 AD

In this era, the thinking shifts to become Human-centered. Society is studied as human-made, not divine. ‘The prince’ of Niccolò Machiavelli represents the evolution made during the Renaissance.

Modern - 1800 AD – Present

The Enlightenment era followed with the growing of Reason and the universal laws. Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the social contract, Montesquieu and the separation of powers, Adam Smith and the concept of free markets mark the birth of modern political and economic theory.

In the industrial revolution, sociology becomes a discipline. Among the most cited people in sociology, Auguste Comte (positivism), Karl Marx (class conflict) Émile Durkheim (social cohesion), and Max Weber (bureaucracy).

The rise of psychology and modern economics started with Sigmund Freud (unconscious mind), and John Maynard Keynes (state intervention).

The focus on inequality and social structures appear later in the works Michel Foucault (power and knowledge), Pierre Bourdieu (social capital), and Simone de Beauvoir (gender theory)

The complexity and globalization of societies made Social science global and data-focused nowadays.