The social sciences are a group of academic disciplines devoted to the study of human behavior, specifically how people interact, behave, evolve as a culture, and affect the world. Four social science disciplines that are offered at ODU are criminal justice, psychology, sociology, and political science. These disciplines have interdisciplinary ties to the field of Cybersecurity.
Criminal Justice studies the system responsible for identifying laws, enforcing laws, catching those that commit crimes, and passing judgment based on those laws. This discipline relates to cybersecurity because with more and more resources, platforms, and devices becoming dependent on and connected to the internet, there has been an increase in personal, private, and confidential information being breached and that data being used for purposes not intended. With these new types of crimes, the criminal justice discipline can help make determinations on what categorizes someone as a cybercriminal and what punishment is appropriate.
Psychology studies the mind and behavior. Psychologists are actively involved in the study and understanding of mental processes, functionalities of the brain, and behavior. This discipline relates to cybersecurity because humans are responsible for programming and controlling. As long as that remains true, the ability to understand the motivation behind their actions when it comes to cybercrimes and observing similar traits between individuals will hopefully lead to being able to detect signs and trends in a proactive manner.
Sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the societal causes and effects of human behavior. Sociologists study the structure of groups, organizations, and societies, and the human interaction within these environments. This discipline relates to cybersecurity similar to psychology but focuses more on the organizational, group, and society levels. Cybercriminals do work alone, but can also choose to work collectively for things like common causes, cultural reasons, and monetary motivation. Understanding the societal structure both domestically and foreign can go a long way in providing effective cybersecurity.
Political Science studies politics and power from domestic, international, and relative viewpoints. It requires an understanding of political thought, philosophies, institutional structure, policies, processes, and behavior, as well as groups, classes, governmental systems, diplomacy, law, strategic planning, and war. This discipline relates to cybersecurity similar to criminal justice when it comes to laws, but focuses more on the government aspect and influence. The government creates policies and enacts laws in conjunction with the justice system. With cybercrime, these entities can come together to counteract these attacks from a legal standpoint. Also, being that cybercrime is international, being able to work together with other countries through diplomatic means to combat cybercrime is more important than ever.
Sources:
What is Sociology? (n.d.). Department of Sociology. Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://sociology.case.edu/what-is-sociology/
Gibbs, M. (2021, January 27). Cyber Security: Criminal Justice for the Digital Age. Cybint. Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://www.cybintsolutions.com/cybersecurity-criminal-justice-for-the-digital-age/
Undergraduate: Department of Political Science – Northwestern University. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://polisci.northwestern.edu/undergraduate/index.html
What is Psychology? | Department of Psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://psychology.osu.edu/about/what-psychology
Social Science: What It Is and the 5 Major Branches. (2022, July 19). Investopedia. Retrieved September 11, 2022, from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-science.asp