Often, advertisements use unethical messages to attract buyers. The most common practice is the use of gender biases. These biases are systemic since there is an inherent tendency to favor one side of the human or social system in such ads. This question is important because ads target personal assumptions, beliefs, and values, such as love, happiness, and social awareness. Therefore, unethical advertisements that appeal to human weaknesses and vices may damage people’s value systems. It is important to me as a member of society because the value systems unite communities from local to a global scale, and I am part of these communities. Therefore, understanding the relationship between personal and global contexts will allow me to perceive the world around me consciously and preserve my inherited and acquired beliefs.
Significant developments in social science thinking impacted how scholars study individuals and their behavior. Even more, Facebook became a research tool allowing scholars to observe the individual in naturalistic settings, test hypotheses, and recruit study participants. Therefore, new developments transformed the way academia understands the broad society. On the other hand, new communication modes brought new threats to state-level cybersecurity, private data safety, and human relationships. Individuals have become vulnerable to trolling, bots, spam, political propaganda, and the online activity of various paramilitary groups, such as ISIS or IRA. These threats have spanned scientific knowledge to design new rules for developers of social media platforms and state governments to make Internet communication ethical and safe.
Finding the answer to my question can make humans more responsible for their everyday communicational choices. The human factor can have both negative and positive expressions. Love expressed towards other people, which is the most important spiritual virtue, is also a human way. People’s participation in various social campaigns, volunteering, and disseminating socially significant and useful information unites communities at all levels. This activity benefits the most vulnerable members of society and individuals with independent thinking who strive to serve public ideals – writers, filmmakers, opinion leaders, public figures.
Neil Ward, the Provost Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of East Anglia, says that some social scientists, such as psychologists or experimental economists, are focused on studying individuals (Ward, 2015). According to Ward, these scholars are interested in how individual people relate to each other. Other social scientists study international relations and think about how nation-states engage with each other, so they are more concerned with analyzing people’s groups and their connections. Areas of interest for such scientists may be environmental issues, such as climate change, which affects all states and nations. They can also study the implementation of more environmentally friendly agricultural and economic practices.
Studying human behavior and identity is a valuable human endeavor since social scientists find the most critical points for subsequent application of efforts. Therefore, this endeavor allows humans to solve seemingly unsolvable personal and community problems. Besides, scientists draw society’s attention to the issues and opportunities that enrich, or distort and damage various communities, setting a meaningful vector for developing small villages, cities, states, and regions. Hence, the scientific approach allows multiple public and private institutions to create aid and funding programs that improve people’s quality of life worldwide.
There are numerous significant developments in social science thinking that support the study and advancement of the social sciences as necessary and valuable. For example, investigations in political science help make electoral choices and understand one’s choice responsibilities when campaigning for this or that candidate. Besides, discoveries in the psychology field enable individuals and groups of people to have more gratifying relationships with friends, pursue more successful careers, and raise happier children. Then, experimental economic developments help individuals spend money more profitably and peacefully and allow companies to be more competitive while contributing to overall economic growth.
In economists’ language, research in the social sciences allows humanity to create a win-win situation when people interact more effectively in all social relations. Social science thinking also affects education, developing new approaches that enable schoolchildren and students to live more harmonious lives and quickly find their place in the world. Nursing and medical practices also widely apply the achievements assembled by social scientists. Besides, the social sciences make a vast contribution to the development of world cultures and the understanding of cultural heritage. Understanding cultural continuity allows individuals to better experience the modern world and evaluate different nations and communities’ contributions more fairly. Therefore, the study of the social sciences allows humanity to look at itself and see its strengths and weaknesses. In other words, social science is a way of reflection for humankind, and reflective thinking is necessary for the constructive development of both an individual and a civilization.
References
Ward, N. (2015). The importance of social science [Video file]. Web.
Wilson, R., Gosling, S., & Graham, L. (2012). A review of Facebook research in the social sciences. Perspectives on Psychological Sciences, 7(3), 203 – 220.