4 Concepts/Theories

Throughout my college experience within the interdisciplinary school, I have learned many theories and concepts that have aided in my own understanding of this process. Since I have started my internship at Planned Parenthood (PPH) I have already been able to gain insight into how the interdisciplinary process is reflected within this organization.

When I first learned about the meaning of interdisciplinary studies the more basic concepts are what hit home the most. For example, there are three clusters or categories of disciplines; sciences, social sciences and humanities. At PPH all three of these categories of disciplines play a major role within the operation of this organization. The Sciences work hard to perform the most current and safest medical procedures and the social sciences work to maintain ethical standards for their patients and staff, as well as taking into account the major social differences that are found between each individual. Finally, the humanities aspect of PPH relies on the philosophy that has been established since the birth of this public health organization; the right to choice and support of women's' reproductive rights. These disciplines work interdisciplinary together by using their fields of studies "between or among" one another in order to solve complex problems.

Another concept that is important to the interdisciplinary process is the theory pertaining to what constitutes interdisciplinary "studies". Studies are defined as new and emerging disciplines that do not have all the characteristics of an established discipline, therefore studies expand on disciplinary knowledge's but also transcend them at the same time. PPH can be viewed as in interdisciplinary study within itself through many ways but one of the most prominent being that this organization seeks to integrate knowledge and reveal gaps that may exist. I saw this in live action when I attended a meeting with the top three 'disciplines' of PPH; communications, marketing and public policy. The meeting was held to discuss internal versus external methods that can be used to better unite PPH as one living organism. This was very interesting to me because there was a well known public health facility that was using the very process of integrating knowledge from various disciplines to solve an "issue".

Another concept that is easily seen within PPH is the idea of interdisciplinary studies being used to describe 'work' or more specifically the work of recognizing and confronting differences found among disciplines. Without the differences that exist within each field of knowledge there would be nothing to learn and nothing to integrate because everything would be the same. PPH has spent it's entire historical lifespan readily recognizing the continual differences that arise between various areas of the organization and this has made it possible for them to collectively work towards the same goal.

Finally, that leads into how interdisciplinarity is used to describe a process, a "process" that has a similar particular end in view. The goal of the organization is to be completely aware of all similarities and differences that exist thus having a more comprehensive understanding of a specific problem through the use of integration.