How would we distinguish the various disciplines within social
sciences? What qualifies someone as an Anthropologist and the other
as a Sociologist, though they pursue the same academic training in
the same department? Do the old disciplinary boundaries still
determine the division between disciplines? The difference between
disciplines, as I feel, do not exist any more in social sciences.
The whole of social sciences could be regarded as one single
discipline taking into account the inter-disciplinary approach that
have dominated the social science research today. There existed
differences in the way we looked at social phenomena. The approach
and methodology of the various social scientists were different and
that created compartmentalization among disciplines. However, I am
not arguing that this difference in approach in social sciences do
not exist anymore. It certainly does. But the research in social
sciences has become more inter-disciplinary. It freely borrows from
other disciplines where the individual disciplines lose their
separate identity and create a shared social science discipline.
Earlier, Anthropology was considered as the study of culture and
primitive (village/tribal) communities/ societies. It followed a
very unique tradition of fieldwork and ethnography (qualitative
description) and asked micro level questions. In contrast, Sociology
was the study of social structures, human interactions, and order &
change in society (Auguste Comte). It asked broad and macro level
questions and followed a more quantitative approach. Sociology was
distinguished from Anthropology in terms of its focus and
specialization on modern and industrialized society. As is the case
in India, if Anthropology was introduced by the British to civilize
the tribes, Sociology, not only in India but also world over, was
introduced to understand the problems of modern industrial society.

Similar, is the case with other disciplines. The primacy of `space'
is emphasized in Geography. The primacy of economy is emphasized in
Economics. Psychology studied the behavioral and attitudinal aspect
of human beings. Political Science dealt with the study of power and
politics in society. It specialized in the study of state, political
parties, elections and political behavior of the people in society.
But today, Sociologists also study the state, civil society,
electoral politics and forms of government and state-building which
used to be considered as the purview of Political Scientists.
Similarly, political scientists also study the social structures and
their implications for the state and power structures in society.
The sociologists also have developed sub-disciplines like `political
sociology', `economic sociology', `urban sociology', `cultural
studies', `political economy', etc. The study of `Space' is no
longer the specialization of Geography. Similarly, `social
structure' is no longer the arena of enquiry of Sociology,
or `power' and `politics' of Political Science, and `culture' of
Anthropology. Anthropologists now without restraint use the
political economy approach to study the micro social phenomena in
the community level. What now brings the Sociologist and Geographers
together is the idea of `social space' – a physical territory that
determines human interaction. In this sense, there is nothing today
which is the sole domain of a particular discipline within social
sciences. Same issue is being approached differently by different
disciplines. The water tight divisions/ compartmentalization between
different disciplines, though there exist many (subtle) differences,
do not exist anymore within social sciences. It would be wise, as I
feel, to call the whole social science as one single shared
discipline.