Social Sciences Week

Hi everyone,  

Next week marks national social science week! This week is all about acknowledging and gaining insight into the impact that social science has on our humanity, society and in our daily lives. Often these are a subconscious realisation, which makes studying social science all the more interesting as we start to question how much agency and free will we actually have (or rather, do not have!). By looking at the several disciplines within social sciences; legal studies, political science, sociology, history, geography, economics, history, and anthropology amongst many more, we are able to see how humanity has evolved and continues to evolve to shape the world we live in.   

In the nature of social science and challenging social norms, here is an experiment I posed to my year 10 sociology class (they looked me like I was crazy, but it proves a point!) 

The elevator experiment is a classic example of exposing the taken-for-granted social nature of our daily lives. Next time you go into an elevator, instead of facing the doors and ignoring all the occupants (as social norms dictate), do the opposite. Stand in front of the doors, face everyone and attempt to make eye contact. Notice body language and see what observations you make about how people respond when faced with something not socially ‘normal’. 

If you would like to know more please go to https://socialsciences.org.au/socialsciencesweek/events/. They are offering approximately 30 webinars, panels and online lectures covering a plethora of topics – there’s something for everyone, even if you don’t study the social sciences!