View source for Social science

{{Short description|Branch of science that studies society and its relationships}}
{{About||the integrated field of study intended to promote civic competence|Social studies|the social-political-economic theory first pioneered by Karl Marx|Scientific socialism}}
{{Redirect|Social Sciences}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Science|Branches}}

'''Social science''' (often rendered in the plural as the '''social sciences''') is one of the [[branches of science]], devoted to the study of [[society|societies]] and the [[Social relation|relationships]] among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of [[sociology]], the original "science of society", established in the 18th century. It now encompasses a wide array of additional [[academic discipline]]s, including [[anthropology]], [[archaeology]], [[economics]], [[geography]], [[history]], [[linguistics]], [[management]], [[communication studies]], [[psychology]], [[culturology]], and [[political science]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-science|title = Social science: History, Disciplines, Future Development, & Facts |encyclopedia=Britannica|date = April 27, 2023 }}</ref>

The majority of [[Positivism|positivist]] social scientists use methods resembling those used in the [[natural science]]s as tools for understanding societies, and so define science in its stricter [[Modern science|modern sense]]. Speculative social scientists, otherwise known as [[Antipositivism|interpretivist]] scientists, by contrast, may use social critique or symbolic interpretation rather than constructing [[Empiricism|empirically]] falsifiable theories, and thus treat science in its broader sense.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Little |first=William |url=https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/ |title=Introduction to Sociology – 1st Canadian Edition |date=November 6, 2014 |publisher=BCampus |chapter=1}}</ref> In modern academic practice, researchers are often [[Eclecticism|eclectic]], using multiple [[Methodology|methodologies]] (combining both [[quantitative research|quantitative]] and [[qualitative research]]).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Timans |first1=Rob |last2=Wouters |first2=Paul |last3=Heilbron |first3=Johan |title=Mixed methods research: what it is and what it could be |journal=Theory and Society |date=April 2019 |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=193–216 |doi=10.1007/s11186-019-09345-5 |hdl=1887/78033 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> To gain a deeper understanding of complex human behavior in digital environments, social science disciplines have increasingly integrated interdisciplinary approaches, big data, and computational tools.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zhou |first1=Hongyu |last2=Guns |first2=Raf |last3=Engels |first3=Tim C. E. |date=2022 |title=Are social sciences becoming more interdisciplinary? Evidence from publications 1960–2014 |url=https://asistdl.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.24627 |journal=Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology |language=en |volume=73 |issue=9 |pages=1201–1221 |doi=10.1002/asi.24627 |issn=2330-1643|hdl=10067/1862090151162165141 |hdl-access=free |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The term [[social research]] has also acquired a degree of autonomy as practitioners from various disciplines share similar goals and methods.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bhattacherjee |first=Anol |url=https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=oa_textbooks |title=Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, and Practices |date=2012 |publisher=University of South Florida}}</ref>

==History==
{{Main|History of the social sciences}}
The history of the social sciences began in the [[Age of Enlightenment]] after 1651,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S3zZ18tt3gkC|title=The Social Science Encyclopedia|last=Kuper|first=Adam|date=1996|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-10829-4|language=en}}</ref> which saw a revolution within [[natural philosophy]], changing the basic framework by which individuals understood what was scientific. Social sciences came forth from the [[moral philosophy]] of the time and were influenced by the [[Age of Revolution]]s, such as the [[Industrial Revolution]] and the [[French Revolution]].<ref name="Kuper1985" /> The ''social sciences'' developed from the sciences ([[experimental science|experimental]] and [[applied science|applied]]), or the systematic knowledge-bases or prescriptive practices, relating to the [[social improvement]] of a [[community|group of interacting entities]].<ref name="SocialColumbian1897"/><ref name="Peck1897"/>

The beginnings of the social sciences in the 18th century are reflected in the [[Encyclopédie|grand encyclopedia of Diderot]], with articles from [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] and other pioneers. The growth of the social sciences is also reflected in other specialized encyclopedias. The term "social science" was coined in French by [[Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau|Mirabeau]] in 1767, before becoming a distinct conceptual field in the nineteenth century.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lalevée |first1=Thomas |title=Three Versions of Social Science in Late Eighteenth-Century France |journal=Modern Intellectual History |date=30 May 2023 |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=1023–1043 |doi=10.1017/S1479244323000100 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Social science was influenced by positivism,<ref name="Kuper1985" /> focusing on knowledge based on actual positive sense experience and avoiding the negative; [[Metaphysics|metaphysical]] speculation was avoided. [[Auguste Comte]] used the term {{lang|fr|science sociale}} to describe the field, taken from the ideas of [[Charles Fourier]]; Comte also referred to the field as [[social physics]].<ref name="Kuper1985" /><ref>According to Comte, the ''social physics'' field was similar to that of [[natural sciences]].</ref>

Following this period, five paths of development sprang forth in the social sciences, influenced by Comte in other fields.<ref name="Kuper1985" /> One route that was taken was the rise of social research. Large [[statistical survey]]s were undertaken in various parts of the [[United States]] and [[Europe]]. Another route undertaken was initiated by [[Émile Durkheim]], studying "social facts", and [[Vilfredo Pareto]], opening metatheoretical ideas and individual theories. A third means developed, arising from the methodological dichotomy present, in which [[social phenomena]] were identified with and understood; this was championed by figures such as [[Max Weber]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Weber |first=Max |title=Methodology of Social Sciences |year=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-12444-5 |doi=10.4324/9781315124445 }}</ref> The fourth route taken, based in economics, was developed and furthered economic knowledge as a [[hard science]]. The last path was the [[correlation]] of knowledge and [[Value (ethics)|social values]]; the [[antipositivism]] and [[verstehen]] sociology of Max Weber firmly demanded this distinction. In this route, theory (description) and prescription were non-overlapping formal discussions of a subject.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tucker |first=William T. |date=1965 |title=Max Weber's 'Verstehen' |journal=The Sociological Quarterly |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=157–165 |doi=10.1111/j.1533-8525.1965.tb01649.x |jstor=4105245 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yadav |first=Yogendra |date=1986 |title=Political 'Science': Positivist Method and Philosophic Critiques |journal=The Indian Journal of Political Science |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=502–517 |jstor=41855267 }}</ref>

The foundation of social sciences in the West implies conditioned relationships between progressive and traditional spheres of knowledge. In some contexts, such as the Italian one, sociology slowly affirms itself and experiences the difficulty of affirming a strategic knowledge beyond philosophy and theology.<ref>[[Cf.]] {{citation|first=Guglielmo |last=Rinzivillo |title=La scienza e l'oggetto. Autocritica del sapere strategico |location=[[Milan]] |editor-first=Franco |editor-last=Angeli |year=2010 |pages=51–  |isbn=978-88-568-2487-2}}</ref>

Around the start of the 20th century, [[Enlightenment philosophy]] was challenged in various quarters. After the use of classical theories since the end of the scientific revolution, various fields substituted mathematics studies for experimental studies and examining equations to build a theoretical structure. The development of social science subfields became very quantitative in methodology. The [[interdisciplinary]] and cross-disciplinary nature of [[Scientific method|scientific inquiry]] into human behaviour, social and environmental factors affecting it, made many of the natural sciences interested in some aspects of social science methodology.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vessuri |first1=Hebe |title=Ethical Challenges for the Social Sciences on the Threshold of the 21st Century |journal=Current Sociology |date=January 2002 |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=135–150 |doi=10.1177/0011392102050001010 }}</ref> Examples of boundary blurring include emerging disciplines like social research of [[medicine]], [[sociobiology]], [[neuropsychology]], [[bioeconomics (biophysical)|bioeconomics]] and the [[history of science|history]] and [[sociology of science]]. Increasingly, quantitative research and qualitative methods are being integrated in the study of human action and its implications and consequences. In the first half of the 20th century, statistics became a free-standing discipline of applied mathematics.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Turner |first=Stephen |date=1987 |title=Review of The History of Statistics: The Measurement of Uncertainty Before 1900 |journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=92 |issue=6 |pages=1510–1512 |doi=10.1086/228675 |jstor=2779847 }}</ref> Statistical methods were used confidently.

In the contemporary period, [[Karl Popper]] and [[Talcott Parsons]] influenced the furtherance of the social sciences.<ref name="Kuper1985" /> Researchers continue to search for a unified consensus on what methodology might have the power and refinement to connect a proposed "grand theory" with the various midrange theories that, with considerable success, continue to provide usable frameworks for massive, growing data banks; for more, see [[consilience]]. The social sciences will for the foreseeable future be composed of different zones in the research of, and sometimes distinct in approach toward, the field.<ref name="Kuper1985" />

The term "social science" may refer either to the specific ''sciences of society'' established by thinkers such as Comte, Durkheim, Marx, and Weber, or more generally to all disciplines outside of "noble science" and [[arts]]. By the late 19th century, the academic social sciences were constituted of five fields: [[jurisprudence]] and amendment of the [[law]], [[education]], [[health]], [[economy]] and [[trade]], and [[art]].<ref name="SocialColumbian1897" />

Around the start of the 21st century, the expanding domain of economics in the social sciences has been described as [[economic imperialism (economics)|economic imperialism]].<ref name="Imperialism"/>

A distinction is usually drawn between the social sciences and the [[humanities]]. Classicist [[Allan Bloom]] writes in ''[[The Closing of the American Mind]]'' (1987):
{{blockquote|Social science and humanities have a mutual contempt for one another, the former looking down on the latter as unscientific, the latter regarding the former as [[Philistinism|philistine]]. [...] The difference comes down to the fact that social science really wants to be predictive, meaning that man is predictable, while the humanities say that he is not.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bloom |first=Allan |title=The Closing of the American Mind |date=2012 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4516-8320-2 |pages=357}}</ref>}}

==Branches==
{{For outline|Outline of social science#Branches of social science}}
The social science disciplines are branches of knowledge taught and researched at the college or university level. Social science disciplines are defined and recognized by the [[academic journal]]s in which research is published, and the learned social science societies and academic departments or faculties to which their practitioners belong. Social science fields of study usually have several sub-disciplines or branches, and the distinguishing lines between these are often both arbitrary and ambiguous.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-20 |title=The 12 Branches of Social Sciences (explained) {{!}} 2025 |url=https://psychologyfor.com/the-12-branches-of-social-sciences-explained/ |access-date=2025-02-26 |language=en-US}}</ref> The following are widely-considered to be social sciences:<ref name="Kuper1985" />
{{columns-list|colwidth=25em|
* [[Accounting]]
* [[Anthropology]]
* [[Archaeology]]
* [[Archival science]]
* [[Area studies]]
* [[Behavioural science]]
* [[Business studies]]
* [[Cartography]]
* [[Cognitive science]]
* [[Commerce]]
* [[Communication studies]]
* [[Crime science]]
* [[Criminology]]
* [[Cultural studies]]
* [[Culturology]]
* [[Demography]]
* [[Development studies]]
* [[Discourse analysis]]
* [[Economics]]
* [[Education]]
* [[Education science]]
* [[Environmental science]]
* [[Environmental social science]]
* [[Environmental studies]]
* [[Ethics]]
* [[Ethnobotany]]
* [[Ethnography]]
* [[Ethnology]]
* [[Finance]]
* [[Folklore studies]]
* [[Futures studies]]
* [[Gender studies]]
* [[Geography]]
* [[Global studies]]
* [[History]]
* [[Home economics]]
* [[Human resource management]]
* [[Industrial relations]]
* [[Information sciences]]
* [[International relations]]
* [[Journalism]]
* [[Landscape ecology]]
* [[Law]]
* [[Legal management]]
* [[Library science]]
* [[Linguistics]]
* [[Management]]
* [[Management science]]
* [[Marketing]]
* [[Media studies]]
* [[Military science]]
* [[Organizational behavior]]
* [[Organizational studies]]
* [[Paralegal studies]]
* [[Penology]]
* [[Philosophy]]
* [[Political science]]
* [[Public administration]]
* [[Public health]]
* [[Public policy]]
* [[Public relations]]
* [[Psychology]]
* [[Religious studies]]
* [[Social work]]
* [[Sociology]]
* [[Strategic studies]]
* [[Strategic management]]
* [[Sustainable development]]
* [[Sustainability studies]]
* [[Theology]]
}}

===Anthropology===
{{Main|Anthropology|Outline of anthropology}}

Anthropology is the holistic "science of man", a science of the totality of human existence. The discipline deals with the integration of different aspects of the social sciences, [[humanities]], and [[human biology]]. In the twentieth century, academic disciplines have often been institutionally divided into three broad domains. Firstly, the natural sciences seek to derive general laws through reproducible and verifiable experiments. Secondly, the humanities generally study local traditions, through their history, literature, music, and arts, with an emphasis on understanding particular individuals, events, or eras. Finally, the social sciences have generally attempted to develop scientific methods to understand social phenomena in a generalizable way, though usually with methods distinct from those of the natural sciences.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

The anthropological social sciences often develop nuanced descriptions rather than the general laws derived in physics or chemistry, or they may explain individual cases through more general principles, as in many fields of psychology. Anthropology (like some fields of history) does not easily fit into one of these categories, and different branches of anthropology draw on one or more of these domains.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Wallerstein | first1 = I. | title = Anthropology, Sociology, and Other Dubious Disciplines | doi = 10.1086/375868 | journal = Current Anthropology | volume = 44 | issue = 4 | pages = 453–65 | year = 2003 | url = http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/42294/1/__Libfile_repository_Content_Calhoun%2CC_Comment%20on_Comment%20on%28lsero%29.pdf }}</ref> Within the United States, anthropology is divided into four sub-fields: archaeology, [[Physical Anthropology|physical or biological anthropology]], [[anthropological linguistics]], and [[cultural anthropology]]. It is an area that is offered at most undergraduate institutions. The word {{lang|grc-Latn|anthropos}} ({{lang|grc|ἄνθρωπος}}) in Ancient Greek means "human being" or "person". [[Eric Wolf]] described sociocultural anthropology as "the most scientific of the humanities, and the most humanistic of the sciences".{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

The goal of anthropology is to provide a [[Holism|holistic]] account of humans and human nature. This means that, though anthropologists generally specialize in only one sub-field, they always keep in mind the biological, linguistic, historic and cultural aspects of any problem. Since anthropology arose as a science in Western societies that were complex and industrial, a major trend within anthropology has been a methodological drive to study peoples in societies with more simple social organization, sometimes called "primitive" in anthropological literature, but without any connotation of "inferior".<ref>{{cite book |last=Lowie |first=Robert |title=Primitive Religion |publisher=Routledge and Sons |year=1924}}; {{cite book |last=Tylor |first=Edward |year=1920 |orig-year=1871 |title=Primitive Culture |location=New York |publisher=J.P. Putnam's Sons}}</ref> Today, anthropologists use terms such as "less complex" societies or refer to specific modes of [[subsistence]] or [[Modes of production|production]], such as "pastoralist" or "forager" or "horticulturalist" to refer to humans living in non-industrial, non-Western cultures, such people or folk ({{lang|und-Latn|ethnos}}) remaining of great interest within anthropology.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

The quest for holism leads most anthropologists to study a people in detail, using biogenetic, archaeological, and linguistic data alongside direct observation of contemporary customs.<ref>{{citation |author-link1=Serena Nanda|last1=Nanda |first1=Serena |first2=Richard |last2=Warms |title=Culture Counts |publisher=Wadsworth |year=2008 |chapter=Chapter One}}</ref> In the 1990s and 2000s, calls for clarification of what constitutes a [[culture]], of how an observer knows where his or her own culture ends and another begins, and other crucial topics in writing anthropology were heard. It is possible to view all human cultures as part of one large, evolving global culture. These dynamic relationships, between what can be observed on the ground, as opposed to what can be observed by compiling many local observations remain fundamental in any kind of anthropology, whether cultural, biological, linguistic or archaeological.<ref>{{citation |last=Rosaldo |first=Renato |title=Culture and Truth: The remaking of social analysis |publisher=Beacon Press |year=1993}}; {{citation |last1=Inda |first1=John Xavier |first2=Renato |last2=Rosaldo |title=The Anthropology of Globalization |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2007}}</ref>

===Communication studies===
{{Main|Communication studies|History of communication studies}}
Communication studies deals with processes of human [[communication]], commonly defined as the sharing of symbols to create [[meaning (linguistics)|meaning]]. The discipline encompasses a range of topics, from face-to-face conversation to mass media outlets such as television broadcasting. Communication studies also examine how messages are interpreted through the political, cultural, economic, and social dimensions of their contexts. Communication is institutionalized under many different names at different universities, including ''communication'', ''communication studies'', ''speech communication'', ''rhetorical studies'', ''communication science'', ''media studies'', ''communication arts'', [[mass communication]], [[media ecology]], and ''communication and media science''.{{cn|date=September 2025}}

Communication studies integrate aspects of both social sciences and the humanities. As a social science, the discipline often overlaps with sociology, psychology, anthropology, biology, political science, economics, and public policy, among others. From a humanities perspective, communication is concerned with rhetoric and persuasion (traditional graduate programs in communication studies trace their history to the rhetoricians of [[Ancient Greece]]). The field applies to outside disciplines as well, including engineering, architecture, mathematics, and information science.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

===Economics===
{{Main|Economics|Outline of economics}}
Economics is a social science that seeks to analyze and describe the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9109547?query=Economics&ct=|title=economics – Britannica Online Encyclopedia}}</ref> The word "economics" is from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|οἶκος}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|oikos}}, "family, household, estate") and {{lang|grc|νόμος}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|nomos}}, "custom, law"), and hence means "household management" or "management of the state". An [[economist]] is a person using economic concepts and data in the course of employment, or someone who has earned a [[academic degree|degree]] in the subject. The classic brief definition of economics, set out by [[Lionel Robbins]] in 1932, is "the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses". Without scarcity and alternative uses, there is no [[economic problem]]. Briefer yet is "the study of how people seek to satisfy needs and wants" and "the study of the financial aspects of human behavior".{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}
[[File:Market-Chichicastenango.jpg|thumb|right|Buyers bargain for good prices while sellers put forth their best front in [[Chichicastenango]] Market, [[Guatemala]].]]
Economics has two broad branches: [[microeconomics]], where the unit of analysis is the individual agent, such as a household or firm, and [[macroeconomics]], where the unit of analysis is an economy as a whole. Another division of the subject distinguishes [[positive (social sciences)|positive]] economics, which seeks to predict and explain economic phenomena, from [[normative economics]], which orders choices and actions by some criterion; such orderings necessarily involve [[Subjectivity|subjective]] value judgments. Since the early part of the 20th century, economics has focused largely on measurable quantities, employing both theoretical models and empirical analysis. Quantitative models, however, can be traced as far back as the [[physiocrats|physiocratic school]]. Economic reasoning has been increasingly applied in recent decades to other social situations such as [[public choice theory|politics]], law, [[Experimental economics|psychology]], [[Economic history|history]], [[religion]], marriage and family life, and other social interactions.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

The expanding domain of economics in the social sciences has been described as economic imperialism.<ref name="Imperialism"/><ref>[[Gary Becker|Becker, Gary S.]] (1976). [https://books.google.com/books?id=iwEOFKSKbMgC&dq=%22The+Economic+Approach+to+Human+Behavior%22+Introduction&lr=&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 ''The Economic Approach to Human Behavior'']. University of Chicago Press.</ref>

===Education===
{{Main|Education|Outline of education}}
[[File:Laurentius de Voltolina Vorlesung vor Studenten - Min 1233 - Kupferstichkabinett Berlin.jpg|thumb|right|A depiction of world's oldest university, the [[University of Bologna]], in Italy]]
Education [[List of education topics|encompasses]] teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgement and well-developed wisdom. Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation (see [[socialization]]). To educate means 'to draw out', from the [[Latin]] ''educare'', or to facilitate the realization of an individual's potential and talents. It is an application of [[pedagogy]], a body of theoretical and applied research relating to teaching and learning and draws on many disciplines such as psychology, [[philosophy]], [[computer science]], linguistics, [[neuroscience]], sociology and anthropology.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.teachersmind.com/education.htm|title=An overview of education|website=teachersmind.com}}</ref>

===Geography===
{{Main|Geography|Outline of geography}}
[[File:Physical World Map.svg|thumb|right|Map of the Earth]]
Geography as a discipline can be split broadly into two main sub fields: [[human geography]] and [[physical geography]]. The former focuses largely on the [[built environment]] and how space is created, viewed and managed by humans as well as the influence humans have on the space they occupy. This may involve [[cultural geography]], [[Transportation geography|transportation]], [[Health geography|health]], [[Military geography|military operations]], and [[Urban geography|cities]]. The latter examines the natural environment and how the climate, vegetation and life, soil, [[Oceanography|oceans]], water and [[landforms]] are produced and interact (is also commonly regarded as an [[Earth Science]]).<ref name="What is geography?"/> Physical geography examines phenomena related to the [[Geodesy|measurement of earth]]. As a result of the two subfields using different approaches a third field has emerged, which is [[environmental geography]]. Environmental geography combines physical and human geography and looks at the interactions between the environment and humans.<ref name="Hayes-Bohanan"/> Other [[Geography#Branches|branches of geography]] include [[social geography]], [[regional geography]], and [[geomatics]].

Geographers attempt to understand the Earth in terms of physical and spatial relationships. The first geographers focused on the science of [[mapmaking]] and finding ways to precisely [[Map projection|project]] the surface of the earth. In this sense, geography bridges some gaps between the natural sciences and social sciences. [[Historical geography]] is often taught in a college in a unified Department of Geography.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

Modern geography is an all-encompassing discipline, closely related to [[Geographic Information Science]], that seeks to understand humanity and its natural environment. The fields of [[urban planning]], [[regional science]], and [[planetology]] are closely related to geography. Practitioners of geography use many technologies and methods to collect data such as [[Geographic Information Systems]], [[remote sensing]], [[aerial photography]], [[statistics]], and [[global positioning systems]].

===History===
{{Main|History|Outline of history}}

History is the continuous, systematic narrative and research into past human events as interpreted through historiographical paradigms or theories. When used as the name of a [[field of study]], ''history'' refers to the study and interpretation of the record of [[human]]s, societies, institutions, and any topic that has changed over time.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

Traditionally, the study of history has been considered a part of the [[humanities]]. In modern [[academia]], whether or not history remains a humanities-based subject is contested. In the United States the [[National Endowment for the Humanities]] includes history in its definition of humanities (as it does for applied linguistics).<ref>{{cite web |title=About NEH |publisher=National Endowment for the Humanities |url=http://www.neh.gov/about}}</ref> However, the [[United States National Research Council|National Research Council]] classifies history as a social science.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://books.nap.edu/readingroom/books/researchdoc/summary.html| title = Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States: Continuity and Change}}</ref> The [[historical method]] comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use [[primary source]]s and other evidence to research and then to [[historiography|write history]]. The [[Social Science History Association]], formed in 1976, brings together scholars from numerous disciplines interested in [[social history]].<ref>See [http://www.ssha.org/ the SSHA website]</ref>

===Law===
{{Main|Law|Outline of law}}
[[File:Microcosm of London Plate 058 - Old Bailey edited.jpg|thumb|right|A trial at a criminal court, the [[Old Bailey]] in London]]
The social science of law, jurisprudence, in common parlance, means a rule that (unlike a rule of [[ethics]]) is capable of enforcement through institutions.<ref name="Crimes Against Humanity"/> However, many laws are based on [[norm (philosophy)|norms]] accepted by a community and thus have an ethical foundation. The study of law crosses the boundaries between the social sciences and humanities, depending on one's view of research into its objectives and effects. Law is not always enforceable, especially in the international relations context. It has been defined as a "system of rules",<ref name="hhc"/> as an "interpretive concept"<ref name="rdl"/> to achieve justice, as an "authority"<ref name="jra"/> to mediate people's interests, and even as "the command of a sovereign, backed by the threat of a sanction".<ref name="jap"/> However one likes to think of law, it is a completely central social institution. Legal policy incorporates the practical manifestation of thinking from almost every social science and the humanities. Laws are politics, because politicians create them. Law is philosophy, because moral and ethical persuasions shape their ideas. Law tells many of history's stories, because statutes, case law and codifications build up over time. And law is economics, because any rule about [[contract]], [[tort]], [[property law]], [[labour law]], [[company law]] and many more can have long-lasting effects on the distribution of wealth. The noun ''law'' derives from the [[Old English language|Old English]] {{lang|ang|lagu}}, meaning something laid down or fixed<ref>see [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=law&searchmode=none ''Etymonline Dictionary'']</ref> and the adjective ''legal'' comes from the [[Latin]] word {{lang|la|lex}}.<ref>see [http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/legal ''Merriam-Webster's Dictionary'']</ref>

===Linguistics===
{{Main|Linguistics|Outline of linguistics}}
[[File:Ferdinand de Saussure.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ferdinand de Saussure]], recognized as the father of modern [[linguistics]]]]
Linguistics investigates the cognitive and social aspects of human language. The field is divided into areas that focus on aspects of the linguistic signal, such as [[syntax]] (the study of the rules that govern the structure of sentences), [[semantics]] (the study of meaning), [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] (the study of the structure of words), [[phonetics]] (the study of speech sounds) and [[phonology]] (the study of the abstract sound system of a particular language); however, work in areas like [[evolutionary linguistics]] (the study of the origins and evolution of language) and [[psycholinguistics]] (the study of psychological factors in human language) cut across these divisions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Anonymous |date=2022-03-02 |title=What is Linguistics? {{!}} linguistics |url=https://linguistics.ucdavis.edu/what-linguistics |access-date=2024-07-13 |website=linguistics.ucdavis.edu |language=en}}</ref>

The overwhelming majority of modern research in linguistics takes a predominantly [[wikt:synchronic|synchronic]] perspective (focusing on language at a particular point in time), and a great deal of it—partly owing to the influence of [[Noam Chomsky]]—aims at formulating theories of the cognitive processing of language. However, language does not exist in a vacuum, or only in the brain, and approaches like contact linguistics, [[Creole language|creole]] studies, [[discourse analysis]], social interactional linguistics, and [[sociolinguistics]] explore language in its social context. Sociolinguistics often makes use of traditional quantitative analysis and statistics in investigating the frequency of features, while some disciplines, like contact linguistics, focus on qualitative analysis. While certain areas of linguistics can thus be understood as clearly falling within the social sciences, other areas, like [[acoustic phonetics]] and [[neurolinguistics]], draw on the natural sciences. Linguistics draws only secondarily on the humanities, which played a rather greater role in linguistic inquiry in the 19th and early 20th centuries. [[Ferdinand Saussure]] was one of the founders of 20th century linguistics.<ref>Justin Wintle, ''Makers of modern culture'', Routledge, 2002, p. 467.</ref><ref>David Lodge, Nigel Wood, ''Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader'', Pearson Education, 2008, p. 42.</ref><ref>Thomas, Margaret. 2011. Fifty Key Thinkers on Language and Linguistics. Routledge: London and New York. p. 145 ff.</ref><ref>Chapman, S. and C. Routledge. 2005. Key Thinkers in Linguistics and the Philosophy of Language. Edinburgh University Press. p.241 ff.</ref>

===Political science===
{{Main|Political science|Outline of political science|Politics}}
[[File:Aristoteles Louvre.jpg|thumb|right|[[Aristotle]] asserted that man is a political animal in his ''[[Politics (Aristotle)|Politics]]''.<ref>Ebenstein, Alan (2002). Introduction to Political Thinkers. Boston, Massachusetts: Wadsworth.</ref>]]
Political science is an academic and research discipline that deals with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of [[political system]]s and political behaviour. Fields and subfields of political science include [[political economy]], [[political philosophy|political theory and philosophy]], civics and [[comparative politics]], theory of [[direct democracy]], apolitical governance, participatory direct democracy, national systems, cross-national political analysis, political development, international relations, [[foreign policy]], [[international law]], politics, public administration, administrative behaviour, public law, judicial behaviour, and [[Policy|public policy]]. Political science also studies [[power in international relations]] and the theory of [[great powers]] and [[superpower]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Steinmetz |first=Jay |date=2019 |title=Chapter 7: International Relations |url=https://fhsu.pressbooks.pub/orientationpolisci/chapter/chapter-7-international-relations-and-comparative-politics/ |language=en}}</ref>                          ri

Political science is methodologically diverse, although recent years have witnessed an upsurge in the use of the [[scientific method]],<ref>{{Cite book|isbn = 978-1-4039-3422-2|title = Rational Choice|last1 = Hindmoor|first1 = Andrew|year = 2006| publisher=Palgrave Macmillan }}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2014}} that is, the proliferation of formal-deductive model building and quantitative hypothesis testing. Approaches to the discipline include [[rational choice]], classical political philosophy, [[Interpretivism (social science)|interpretivism]], [[structuralism]], and [[behavioralism|behaviouralism]], [[Philosophical realism|realism]], pluralism, and institutionalism. Political science, as one of the social sciences, uses methods and techniques that relate to the kinds of inquiries sought: primary sources such as historical documents, interviews, and official records, as well as secondary sources such as [[scholarly article]]s, are used in building and testing theories. Empirical methods include [[sample survey|survey]] research, [[statistical analysis]] [[econometrics|or econometrics]], [[case studies]], experiments, and model building.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

===Psychology===
{{Main|Psychology|Outline of psychology}}
[[File:Wundt-research-group.jpg|thumb|right|[[Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt]] was the founder of [[experimental psychology]].]]
Psychology is an academic and applied field involving the study of behaviour and mental processes.<ref>[https://www.apa.org/support/about-apa Frequently asked questions about APA] Retrieved on November 28th, 2023.</ref>  Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including problems of individuals' daily lives and the treatment of [[mental illness]].<ref name="APA_mission">"The mission of the APA [American Psychological Association] is to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives"; APA (2010). [http://www.apa.org/about/index.aspx ''About APA''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902193306/http://www.apa.org/about/index.aspx |date=2 September 2017 }} Retrieved 20 October 2010.</ref><ref>Peter E. Nathan & James Langenbucher, "Diagnosis and Classification", in Weiner (ed.), ''Handbook of Psychology'' (2003), Volume 8: ''Clinical Psychology''.</ref> The word ''psychology'' comes from the [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|ψυχή}} ''([[Psyche (psychology)|psyche]]'', "soul" or "mind") and the suffix ''[[-logy|logy]]'' ("study").<ref name="OED">Online Etymology Dictionary. (2001). [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=psychology "Psychology"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170718053840/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=psychology |date=18 July 2017 }}.</ref>

Psychology differs from anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology in seeking to capture explanatory generalizations about the [[mental function]] and overt behaviour of individuals, while the other disciplines focus on creating descriptive generalizations about the functioning of social groups or situation-specific human behaviour. In practice, however, there is quite a lot of cross-fertilization that takes place among the various fields. Psychology differs from [[biology]] and neuroscience in that it is primarily concerned with the interaction of mental processes and behaviour, and of the overall processes of a system, and not simply the biological or neural processes themselves, though the subfield of [[neuropsychology]] combines the study of the actual neural processes with the study of the mental effects they have subjectively produced.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pinel |first=John |title=Biopsychology |publisher=Prentice Hall |location=New York |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-205-83256-9}}</ref>

Many people associate psychology with [[clinical psychology]],<ref name="brain">Brain, Christine. (2002). ''Advanced psychology: applications, issues and perspectives.'' Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes. {{ISBN|0-17-490058-9}}</ref> which focuses on assessment and treatment of problems in living and psychopathology. In reality, psychology has myriad specialties including [[social psychology]], [[developmental psychology]], [[cognitive psychology]], [[educational psychology]], [[Industrial and organizational psychology|industrial-organizational psychology]], [[mathematical psychology]], neuropsychology, and [[Quantitative research|quantitative]] analysis of behaviour.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013 |title=Psychology Subfields |url=https://www.apa.org/education-career/guide/subfields |access-date=January 17, 2024 |website=American Psychological Association}}</ref>

Psychology is a very broad science that is rarely tackled as a whole, major block. Although some subfields encompass a natural science base and a social science application, others can be clearly distinguished as having little to do with the social sciences or having a lot to do with the social sciences. For example, biological psychology<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hill |first=Jonathan |date=2002 |title=Biological, psychological and social processes in the conduct disorders |url=https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1469-7610.00007 |journal=Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry |language=en |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=133–164 |doi=10.1111/1469-7610.00007 |pmid=11848334 |issn=1469-7610|url-access=subscription }}</ref> is considered a natural science with a social scientific application (as is clinical medicine), social and occupational psychology are, generally speaking, purely social sciences, whereas neuropsychology is a natural science that lacks application out of the scientific tradition entirely.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mitchell |first=Jason P. |date=June 2009 |title=Social psychology as a natural kind |journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences |volume=13 |issue=6 |pages=246–251 |doi=10.1016/j.tics.2009.03.008 |issn=1364-6613 |pmc=2935896 |pmid=19427258}}</ref>

In British universities, emphasis on what tenet of psychology a student has studied and/or concentrated is communicated through the degree conferred: [[Bachelor of Psychology|BPsy]] indicates a balance between natural and social sciences, [[BSc]] indicates a strong (or entire) scientific concentration, whereas a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] underlines a majority of social science credits. This is not always necessarily the case however, and in many UK institutions students studying the [[Bachelor of Psychology|BPsy]], [[BSc]], and [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] follow the same curriculum as outlined by The [[British Psychological Society]] and have the same options of specialism open to them regardless of whether they choose a balance, a heavy science basis, or heavy social science basis to their degree. If they applied to read the [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]]. for example, but specialized in heavily science-based modules, then they will still generally be awarded the [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]].{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

===Sociology===
{{Main|Sociology|Outline of sociology}}{{More citations needed section|date=December 2023}}[[File:Emile Durkheim.jpg|thumb|right|[[Émile Durkheim]] is considered one of the founding fathers of sociology.]]
Sociology is the systematic study of society, individuals' relationship to their societies, the consequences of difference, and other aspects of human [[social action]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=SOC 218|last=Witt|first=Jon|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=2018|isbn=978-1-259-70272-3|page=2}}</ref> The meaning of the word comes from the suffix ''-logy'', which means "study of", derived from Ancient Greek, and the stem ''soci-'', which is from the Latin word {{lang|la|socius}}, meaning "companion", or society in general.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Oxford English dictionary. 15: Ser - soosy |date=1991 |publisher=Clarendon Pr |isbn=978-0-19-861227-8 |edition=2. ed., reprint. (with corr.) |location=Oxford |pages=914–916}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Oxford English dictionary. 8: Interval - looie |date=1991 |publisher=Clarendon Pr |isbn=978-0-19-861220-9 |edition=2. ed., reprint. (with corr.) |location=Oxford |pages=1114}}</ref>

Auguste Comte (1798–1857) coined the term ''sociology'' to describe a way to apply natural science principles and techniques to the social world in 1838.<ref>''A Dictionary of Sociology'', Article: Comte, Auguste</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=SOC 2018|last=Witt|first=Jon|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=2018|isbn=978-1-259-70272-3}}</ref> Comte endeavoured to unify history, psychology and economics through the descriptive understanding of the social realm. He proposed that social ills could be remedied through sociological positivism, an epistemological approach outlined in ''The Course in Positive Philosophy'' [1830–1842] and ''[[A General View of Positivism]]'' (1844). Though Comte is generally regarded as the "Father of Sociology", the discipline was formally established by another French thinker, Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), who developed positivism as a foundation to practical social research. Durkheim set up the first European department of sociology at the [[University of Bordeaux]] in 1895, publishing his ''[[Rules of the Sociological Method]]''. In 1896, he established the journal {{lang|fr|[[L'Année sociologique]]}}. Durkheim's seminal monograph, ''[[Suicide (Durkheim book)|Suicide]]'' (1897), a case study of suicide rates among [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] and [[Protestant]] populations, distinguished sociological analysis from psychology or philosophy.<ref>Gianfranco Poggi (2000). ''Durkheim.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 1.</ref>

[[Karl Marx]] rejected Comte's positivism but nevertheless aimed to establish a ''science of society'' based on [[historical materialism]], becoming recognized as a founding figure of sociology posthumously as the term gained broader meaning. Around the start of the 20th century, the first wave of German sociologists, including Max Weber and [[Georg Simmel]], developed sociological antipositivism. The field may be broadly recognized as an amalgam of three modes of social thought in particular: Durkheimian positivism and [[structural functionalism]]; Marxist historical materialism and [[conflict theory]]; and Weberian antipositivism and verstehen analysis. American sociology broadly arose on a separate trajectory, with little Marxist influence, an emphasis on rigorous experimental methodology, and a closer association with [[pragmatism]] and [[social psychology]]. In the 1920s, the [[Chicago school (sociology)|Chicago school]] developed [[symbolic interactionism]]. Meanwhile, in the 1930s, the [[Frankfurt School]] pioneered the idea of [[critical theory]], an interdisciplinary form of [[Marxist sociology]] drawing upon thinkers as diverse as [[Sigmund Freud]] and [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]. Critical theory would take on something of a life of its own after World War II, influencing [[literary criticism]] and the [[Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies|Birmingham School]] establishment of [[cultural studies]].{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

Sociology evolved as an academic response to the challenges of [[modernity]], such as [[industrialization]], [[urbanization]], [[secularization]], and a perceived process of enveloping [[Rationalization (sociology)|rationalization]].<ref>Habermas, Jürgen, ''[[The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity]]: Modernity's Consciousness of Time'', Polity Press (1990), paperback, {{ISBN|978-0-7456-0830-3}}, p. 2.</ref> The field generally concerns the [[social rule]]s and processes that bind and separate people not only as individuals, but as members of [[Voluntary association|associations]], [[Group (sociology)|groups]], [[Community|communities]] and [[social institution|institutions]], and includes the examination of the organization and development of human social life. The sociological field of interest ranges from the analysis of short [[Social relation|contacts]] between anonymous individuals on the street to the study of [[globalization|global social processes]]. In the terms of sociologists [[Peter L. Berger]] and [[Thomas Luckmann]], social scientists seek an understanding of the ''[[Social Construction of Reality]]''. Most sociologists work in one or more [[Subfields of sociology|subfields]]. One useful way to describe the discipline is as a cluster of sub-fields that examine different dimensions of society. For example, [[social stratification]] studies inequality and class structure; demography studies changes in population size or type; criminology examines criminal behaviour and deviance; and [[political sociology]] studies the interaction between society and state.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Sakamoto |first1=Arthur |title=Demography of Social Stratification |date=2005 |work=Handbook of Population |pages=383–416 |editor-last=Poston |editor-first=Dudley L. |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/0-387-23106-4_14 |access-date=2025-04-09 |place=Boston, MA |publisher=Springer US |language=en |doi=10.1007/0-387-23106-4_14 |isbn=978-0-387-23106-8 |last2=Powers |first2=Daniel A. |editor2-last=Micklin |editor2-first=Michael|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Since its inception, sociological epistemologies, methods, and frames of enquiry, have significantly expanded and diverged.<ref name="Giddens Intro"/> Sociologists use a diversity of research methods, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, draw upon empirical techniques, and engage critical theory.<ref name=":0" /> Common modern methods include case studies, [[historiography|historical research]], interviewing, [[participant observation]], [[social network analysis]], survey research, statistical analysis, and model building, among other approaches. Since the late 1970s, many sociologists have tried to make the discipline useful for purposes beyond the academy. The results of sociological research aid educators, lawmakers, administrators, developers, and others interested in resolving social problems and formulating public policy, through subdisciplinary areas such as [[evaluation research]], methodological assessment, and [[public sociology]].{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

In the early 1970s, women sociologists began to question sociological paradigms and the invisibility of women in sociological studies, analysis, and courses.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Paradoxes of Gender|last=Lorber|first=Judith|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1994|isbn=978-0-300-06497-1|location=New Haven, CT}}</ref> In 1969, feminist sociologists challenged the discipline's [[androcentrism]] at the American Sociological Association's annual conference.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://socwomen.org/sws-activism/|title=The Founding of SWS|last1=Laube|first1=Heather|last2=Hess|first2=Bess B.|date=2001|website=Sociologists for Women in Society|access-date=February 5, 2018}}</ref> This led to the founding of the organization Sociologists for Women in Society, and, eventually, a new sociology journal, [[Gender & Society]]. Today, the [[sociology of gender]] is considered to be one of the most prominent sub-fields in the discipline.<ref>{{Cite web |title=All About the Sociology of Gender |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/sociology-of-gender-3026282 |access-date=2024-06-14 |website=ThoughtCo |language=en}}</ref>

New sociological sub-fields continue to appear&nbsp;— such as [[community studies]], [[computational sociology]], [[environmental sociology]], network analysis, [[actor-network theory]], gender studies, and a growing list, many of which are [[List of academic disciplines|cross-disciplinary]] in nature.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j0K5DwAAQBAJ|title=The Vietnamese Social Sciences at a Fork in the Road|last=Vuong|first=Quan-Hoang|date=2019|publisher=De Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-068608-1|language=en}}</ref>

==Additional fields of study==
{{See also|Auxiliary sciences of history}}
Additional applied or interdisciplinary fields related to the social sciences or are applied social sciences include:
* [[Archaeology]], a science that is focused on the study of human cultures by means of the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, features, and landscapes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is Archaeology |url=https://www.saa.org/about-archaeology/what-is-archaeology |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Society for American Archaeology |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Area studies]], interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/federal, or cultural regions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Area studies {{!}} Social Research, Interdisciplinary Analysis & Global Perspectivesca |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/area-studies |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Britannica |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Behavioural science]], which encompasses disciplines that explore the activities of and interactions among organisms in the natural world.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Behavioral science {{!}} Definition, Examples, & Facts  |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/behavioral-science |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Britannica |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Computational Social Science|Computational social science]], an umbrella field encompassing computational approaches within the social sciences.<ref>{{Citation |last=Amaral |first=Ines |title=Computational Social Sciences |date=2017 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-32001-4_41-1 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Big Data |pages=1–3 |editor-last=Schintler |editor-first=Laurie A. |access-date=2024-01-18 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-32001-4_41-1 |isbn=978-3-319-32001-4 |editor2-last=McNeely |editor2-first=Connie L.|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* [[Demography]], the statistical study of human populations.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-11 |title=Demography {{!}} Population Trends, Migration & Age Structure  |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/demography |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Britannica |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Development studies]], a branch of social science that addresses issues of concern to developing countries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Development Studies • Centre for Samoan Studies |url=https://centreforsamoanstudies.ws/teaching/development-studies/ |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Centre for Samoan Studies |language=en-US}}</ref>
* [[Environmental social science]], the broad study of interrelations between humans and the natural environment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Environmental social sciences - Latest research and news {{!}} Nature |url=https://www.nature.com/subjects/environmental-social-sciences |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=www.nature.com}}</ref>
* [[Environmental studies]], which integrates social, humanistic, and natural science perspectives on the relation between humans and the natural environment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Environmental Studies {{!}} Course Catalogue |url=https://www.wesleyancollege.edu/registrar/catalog/Environmental-Studies.cfm |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=www.wesleyancollege.edu |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Gender studies]], which is focused on the study of gender identity, masculinity, femininity, [[transgender]] issues, and [[sexuality]].<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1016/B978-0-444-51747-0.50015-9 |chapter=Linguistics and Gender Studies |title=Philosophy of Linguistics |date=2012 |last1=McConnell-Ginet |first1=Sally |pages=503–530 |isbn=978-0-444-51747-0 }}</ref>
* [[Information science]], an interdisciplinary science primarily concerned with the collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Information science {{!}} Definition & Facts  |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/information-science |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Britannica |language=en}}</ref>
* [[International studies]], which covers both international relations (the study of foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system) and [[international education]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=International Studies |url=https://converge.colorado.edu/social-sciences/international-studies/ |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=CONVERGE {{!}} Natural Hazards Center |language=en-US}}</ref>
* [[Legal management (academic discipline)|Legal management]], a social sciences discipline that is designed for students interested in the study of state and legal elements.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Secretariat |first=Treasury Board of Canada |date=2015-10-27 |title=Law Management |url=https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/collective-agreements/occupational-groups/law-management.html |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Canada}}</ref>
* [[Library science]], a field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and other areas to libraries; and the collection, organization, preservation and dissemination of information resources.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kowarski |first=Ilana |date=June 21, 2021 |title=Library Science and How to Become a Librarian |url=https://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/articles/what-library-science-is-and-how-to-become-a-librarian}}</ref>
* [[Management]], which consists of various levels of leadership and administration of an organization in all business and human organizations. It is the effective execution of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives through adequate planning, executing and controlling activities.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Primary Functions of Management {{!}} Principles of Management |url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-principlesmanagement/chapter/primary-functions-of-management/ |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=courses.lumenlearning.com}}</ref>
* [[Marketing]], the identification of human needs and wants, defines and measures their magnitude for demand and understanding the process of consumer buying behaviour to formulate products and services, pricing, promotion and distribution to satisfy these needs and wants through exchange processes and building long-term relationships.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Albrecht |first1=Maria Gomez |url=https://openstax.org/books/principles-marketing/pages/1-1-marketing-and-the-marketing-process |title=Principles of Marketing |last2=Green |first2=Mark |last3=Hoffman |first3=Linda |date=Jan 25, 2023 |publisher=OpenStax |isbn=978-1-951693-88-6}}</ref>
* [[Political economy]], the study of production, buying and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-02-22 |title=8.1: What is Political Economy? |url=https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Political_Science_and_Civics/Introduction_to_Comparative_Government_and_Politics_(Bozonelos_et_al.)/08%3A_Political_Economy/8.01%3A_What_is_Political_Economy |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=Social Sci LibreTexts |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Public administration]], the development, implementation and study of branches of government policy. Though public administration has been historically referred to as government management,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of the Social Sciences – Oxford Reference|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195123715.001.0001|year = 2002|isbn = 978-0-19-512371-5|last1 = Zaki Badawi|first1 = A}}</ref> it increasingly encompasses [[non-governmental organization]]s (NGOs) that also operate with a similar, primary dedication to the betterment of humanity.
* [[Religious studies]] and [[Academic study of Western esotericism|Western esoteric studies]], which incorporate social-scientific research on phenomena deemed religious.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Josephson-Storm | first = Jason | title = The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences | location = Chicago | publisher = University of Chicago Press | date = 2017 |pages = 101–14 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xZ5yDgAAQBAJ | isbn = 978-0-226-40336-6 }}</ref>

==Methodology==

===Social research===
{{Main|Social research}}
The origin of the survey can be traced back at least as early as the [[Domesday Book]] in 1086,<ref>A.H. Halsey (2004), ''A history of sociology in Britain: science, literature, and society'', p. 34</ref><ref>Geoffrey Duncan Mitchell (1970), ''A new dictionary of sociology'', p. 201</ref> while some scholars pinpoint the origin of demography to 1663 with the publication of [[John Graunt]]'s ''Natural and Political Observations upon the Bills of Mortality''.<ref>Willcox, Walter (1938) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1400906 ''The Founder of Statistics''.]</ref> Social research began most intentionally, however, with the [[positivist]] [[philosophy of science]] in the 19th century.

In contemporary usage, "social research" is a relatively autonomous term, encompassing the work of practitioners from various disciplines that share in its aims and methods. Social scientists employ a range of methods in order to analyse a vast breadth of social phenomena; from [[census]] survey data derived from millions of individuals, to the in-depth analysis of a single agent's social experiences; from monitoring what is happening on contemporary streets, to the investigation of ancient historical documents. The methods originally rooted in classical sociology and statistical mathematics have formed the basis for research in other disciplines, such as political science, media studies, and marketing and [[market research]].

Social research methods may be divided into two broad schools:
* [[Quantitative method|Quantitative designs]] approach social phenomena through quantifiable evidence, and often rely on statistical analysis of many cases (or across intentionally designed treatments in an experiment) to create valid and reliable general claims.
* [[Qualitative research|Qualitative designs]] emphasize understanding of social phenomena through direct observation, communication with participants, or analysis of texts, and may stress contextual and subjective accuracy over generality.

Social scientists will commonly combine quantitative and qualitative approaches as part of a multi-strategy design. Questionnaires, field-based data collection, archival database information and laboratory-based data collections are some of the measurement techniques used. It is noted the importance of measurement and analysis, focusing on the (difficult to achieve) goal of objective research or [[statistical hypothesis testing]]. A [[mathematical model]] uses mathematical language to describe a system. The process of developing a mathematical model is termed 'mathematical modelling' (also modeling). A ''mathematical model'' is "a representation of the essential aspects of an existing [[system]] (or a system to be constructed) that presents knowledge of that system in usable form".<ref>Eykhoff, Pieter ''System Identification: Parameter and State Estimation'', Wiley & Sons, (1974). {{ISBN|978-0-471-24980-1}}</ref> Mathematical models can take many forms, including but not limited to [[dynamical systems]], [[statistical model]]s, [[differential equations]], or [[Game theory|game theoretic models]].

These and other types of models can overlap, with a given model involving a variety of abstract structures. The system is a set of interacting or interdependent entities, real or abstract, forming an integrated whole. The concept of an ''integrated whole'' can also be stated in terms of a system embodying a set of relationships that are differentiated from relationships of the set to other elements, and from relationships between an element of the set and elements not a part of the relational regime. A [[dynamical system]] modeled as a [[mathematics|mathematical]] [[formal system|formalization]] has a fixed "rule" that describes the time dependence of a point's position in its [[ambient space]]. Small changes in the state of the system correspond to small changes in the numbers. The ''evolution rule'' of the dynamical system is a [[function (mathematics)|fixed rule]] that describes what future states follow from the current state. The rule is [[Deterministic system (mathematics)|deterministic]]: for a given time interval only one future state follows from the current state.

Social scientists often conduct [[program evaluation]], which is a systematic method for collecting, analyzing, and using information to answer questions about projects, policies and programs,<ref>Administration for Children and Families (2010) ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20051105021406/http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/other_resrch/pm_guide_eval/index.html The Program Manager's Guide to Evaluation]. Chapter 2: What is program evaluation?''.</ref> particularly about their effectiveness and efficiency. In both the public and private sectors, stakeholders often want to know whether the programs they are funding, implementing, voting for, receiving or objecting to are producing the intended effect. While program evaluation first focuses around this definition, important considerations often include how much the program costs per participant, how the program could be improved, whether the program is worthwhile, whether there are better alternatives, if there are unintended outcomes, and whether the program goals are appropriate and useful.<ref>{{citation |last=Shackman |first=Gene |title=What Is Program Evaluation: A Beginner's Guide |publisher=The Global Social Change Research Project |ssrn=3060080 |date=February 11, 2018 |type=Presentation Slides}}<!-- it has since been updated --></ref>

===Theory===
{{Main|Social theory}}
Some social theorists emphasize the subjective nature of research. These writers espouse social theory perspectives that include various types of the following:
* [[Critical theory]] is the examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across social sciences and humanities disciplines.
* [[Dialectical materialism]] is the philosophy of Karl Marx, which he formulated by taking the dialectic of Hegel and joining it to the materialism of Feuerbach.
* [[Feminist theory]] is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse; it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality.
* [[Marxist philosophy|Marxist theories]], such as [[Proletarian revolution|revolutionary theory]], [[scientific socialism]], and [[Class conflict|class theory]], cover work in philosophy that is strongly influenced by Karl Marx's materialist approach to theory or is written by Marxists.
* [[Phronetic social science]] is a theory and methodology for doing social science focusing on ethics and political power, based on a contemporary interpretation of Aristotelian phronesis.
* [[Post-colonialism|Post-colonial theory]] is a reaction to the cultural legacy of colonialism.
* [[Postmodernism]] refers to a point of departure for works of literature, drama, architecture, cinema, and design, as well as in marketing and business and in the interpretation of history, law, culture and religion in the late 20th century.
* [[Rational choice theory]] is a framework for understanding and often formally modeling social and economic behaviour.
* [[Social constructionism]] considers how social phenomena develop in social contexts.
* [[Structuralism]] is an approach to the human sciences that attempts to analyze a specific field (for instance, mythology) as a complex system of interrelated parts.
* [[Structural functionalism]] is a sociological paradigm that addresses what social functions various elements of the social system perform in regard to the entire system.

Other fringe social theorists delve into the alternative nature of research. These writers share social theory perspectives that include various types of the following:
* [[Anti-intellectualism]] describes a sentiment of critique towards, or evaluation of, intellectuals and intellectual pursuits.
* [[Antiscience]] is a position critical of science and the scientific method.

===Recursivity===
Authors use the concept of ''recursivity'' to foreground the situation in which social scientists find themselves when producing knowledge about the world they are always already part of.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bourdieu |first=Pierre |year=1992 |title=Double Bind et Conversion |journal=Pour Une Anthropologie Réflexive |publisher=Le Seuil |publication-place=Paris}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Giddens |first=Anthony |title=Social Theory and Modern Sociology |publisher=Polity Press |year=1987}}</ref> According to Audrey Alejandro, "as social scientists, the recursivity of our condition deals with the fact that we are both subjects (as discourses are the medium through which we analyse) and objects of the academic discourses we produce (as we are social agents belonging to the world we analyse)."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alejandro |first=Audrey |date=2021 |title=Reflexive discourse analysis: A methodology for the practice of reflexivity |journal=European Journal of International Relations |volume=27 |issue=1 |page=171 |doi=10.1177/1354066120969789 |doi-access=free }}</ref> From this basis, she identifies in recursivity a fundamental challenge in the production of emancipatory knowledge which calls for the exercise of [[Reflexivity (social theory)|reflexive]] efforts:

{{blockquote|we are socialised into discourses and dispositions produced by the socio-political order we aim to challenge, a socio-political order that we may, therefore, reproduce unconsciously while aiming to do the contrary. The recursivity of our situation as scholars – and, more precisely, the fact that the dispositional tools we use to produce knowledge about the world are themselves produced by this world – both evinces the vital necessity of implementing reflexivity in practice and poses the main challenge in doing so.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Alejandro |first=Audrey |date=2021 |title=Reflexive discourse analysis: A methodology for the practice of reflexivity |journal=European Journal of International Relations |volume=27 |issue=1 |page=154 |doi=10.1177/1354066120969789 |doi-access=free }}</ref>}}

== Education and degrees ==
Most universities offer degrees in social science fields.<ref>Peterson's (Firm&nbsp;: 2006– ). (2007). Peterson's graduate programs in the humanities, arts, & social sciences, 2007. Lawrenceville, New Jersey: Peterson's.</ref> The [[Bachelor of Social Science]] is a degree targeted at the social sciences in particular, it is often more flexible and in-depth than other degrees that include social science subjects.{{efn|A Bachelor of Social Science degree can be earned at the [[University of Adelaide]], [[University of Waikato]] ([[Hamilton, New Zealand]]), [[University of Sydney]], [[University of New South Wales]], [[University of Hong Kong]], [[University of Manchester]], [[Lincoln University, New Zealand]], [[National University of Malaysia]] and [[University of Queensland]].}}

In the United States, a university may offer a student who studies a social sciences field a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree, particularly if the field is within one of the traditional [[liberal arts]] such as history, or a BSc: Bachelor of Science degree such as those given by the [[London School of Economics]], as the social sciences constitute one of the two main branches of science (the other being the [[natural sciences]]). In addition, some institutions have degrees for a particular social science, such as the [[Bachelor of Economics]] degree, though such specialized degrees are relatively rare in the United States.

Graduate students may receive a [[master's degree]] ([[Master of Arts]], [[Master of Science]] or a field-specific degree such as [[Master of Public Administration]]) or a doctoral degree (e.g. [[PhD]]).

== Funding ==

The funding of social science programs varies across countries and includes both private and public financing. The development of such programs typically see an increased funding and attention when their topics coincide with national political activities or economic policies.<ref name=":2" /> In South America, namely [[Brazil]], the institutionalisation of social sciences took place in a political context where the state struggled to assert its territorial power, and the social scientific field was expected to produce investigation but also political inputs towards the construction of a new nation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Trindade |first1=Hélgio |title=Social sciences in Brazil in perspective: foundation, consolidation and diversification |journal=Social Science Information |date=June 2005 |volume=44 |issue=2–3 |pages=283–357 |doi=10.1177/0539018405053291 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jatobá |first=Daniel |year=2013 |title=Los Desarrollos Académicos de Las Relaciones Internacionales EnBrasil: Elementos Sociológicos, Institucionales Y Epistemológicos |journal=Relaciones Internacionales |volume=22 |issue=22 |pages=27–47 |doi=10.15366/relacionesinternacionales2013.22.002 |hdl=10486/677456 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Immediately following the [[Brazilian Revolution of 1930|1932 Brazilian revolution]], social science programs experience a surge in funding, later becoming the largest of such capital expenditure in South America.<ref name=":2" /> Subsequently, these developments led to the deployment of university programs and the institution of national associations in anthropology, economics, sociology and political science.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Alejandro |first=Audrey |title=Western Dominance in International Relations? |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-17048-0 |page=60 |doi=10.4324/9781315170480 }}</ref>

==People associated with the social sciences==

{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Al-Kindi]]
* [[Augustine]]
* [[Franz Boas]]
* [[Manuel Castells]]
* [[Confucius]]
* [[Wade Davis (anthropologist)|Wade Davis]]
* [[W. E. B. Du Bois]]
* [[Louis Dumont]]
* [[Norbert Elias]]
* [[Friedrich Engels]]
* [[Frantz Fanon]]
* [[Milton Friedman]]
* [[Anthony Giddens]]
* [[Erving Goffman]]
* [[Thomas Hobbes]]
* [[Arlie Hochschild]]
* [[David Hume]]
* [[Marie Jahoda]]
* [[John Maynard Keynes]]
* [[Ibn Khaldun]]
* [[Paul F. Lazarsfeld]]
* [[John Locke]]
* [[John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury]]
* [[Niklas Luhmann]]
* [[Niccolò Machiavelli]]
* [[Karl Marx]]
* [[Marcel Mauss]]
* [[Margaret Mead]]
* [[John Stuart Mill]]
* [[Montesquieu]]
* [[Jean Piaget]]
* [[Steven Pinker]]
* [[Plato]]
* [[John Rawls]]
* [[David Ricardo]]
* [[Edward Said]]
* [[Jean-Baptiste Say]]
* [[Alfred Schutz]]
* [[B.F. Skinner]]
* [[Adam Smith]]
* [[Herbert Spencer]]
* [[Deborah Tannen]]
* [[Victor Turner]]
{{div col end}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Society|Science}}

{{div col}}

===General===
* [[Outline of social science]]
* [[Humanities]]
* [[Structure and agency]]

===Methods===
* [[Ethnography]]
* [[Participatory action research]]
* [[Representation theory]]

===Other===
* [[Ethnology]]
* [[Gulbenkian commission]]
* [[Labelling]]
* [[Obshchestvovedeniye|Obshestvovedeny]]
* [[Philosophy of social sciences]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist
|refs =

<ref name="Crimes Against Humanity">{{cite book |title = Crimes Against Humanity |first=Geoffrey |last=Robertson |author-link = Geoffrey Robertson |year=2006 |publisher=Penguin |page = 90 |isbn=978-0-14-102463-9 }}</ref>

<ref name="Giddens Intro">Giddens, Anthony, Duneier, Mitchell, Applebaum, Richard. 2007. ''Introduction to Sociology. Sixth Edition.'' New York: W.W. Norton and Company. Chapter 1.</ref>

<ref name="Hayes-Bohanan">{{cite web |last=Hayes-Bohanan |first=James |title=What is Environmental Geography, Anyway? |url = http://webhost.bridgew.edu/jhayesboh/environmentalgeography.htm |access-date=October 9, 2006 }}</ref>

<ref name="Imperialism">{{Cite journal | last1 = Lazear | first1 = E.P. | doi = 10.1162/003355300554683 | title = Economic Imperialism | journal = The Quarterly Journal of Economics | volume = 115 | pages = 99–146 | year = 2000 }}</ref>

<ref name="Kuper1985">Kuper, A., and Kuper, J. (1985). ''The Social Science Encyclopaedia''.</ref>

<ref name="Peck1897">Peck, H.T., Peabody, S.H., and Richardson, C.F. (1897). ''The International Cyclopedia, A Compendium of Human Knowledge''. Rev. with large additions. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company.</ref>

<ref name="SocialColumbian1897">Social sciences, ''Columbian Cyclopedia''. (1897). Buffalo: Garretson, Cox & Company. p. 227.</ref>

<ref name="What is geography?">{{cite web|title=What is geography? |website=AAG Career Guide: Jobs in Geography and Related Geographical Sciences |publisher=Association of American Geographers |url = http://www.aag.org/Careers/What_is_geog.html |access-date=October 9, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061006152742/http://www.aag.org/Careers/What_is_geog.html |archive-date=October 6, 2006 }}</ref>

<ref name="hhc">{{cite book |last=Hart |first=H.L.A. |author-link=H. L. A. Hart |title=The Concept of Law |year=1961 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-876122-8|title-link=The Concept of Law }}</ref>
<!-- Unused citations
<ref name="issues">Verheggen et al. 1999. "From shared representations to consensually coordinated actions", in "Theoretical Issues in Psychology", John Morrs ''et al.'', ed., International Society for Theoretical Psychology</ref>
-->
<ref name="jap">{{cite book |last=Austin |first=John |author-link=John Austin (legal philosopher) |title=The Providence of Jurisprudence Determined |year=1831 }}</ref>

<ref name="jra">{{cite book |last=Raz |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Raz |title=The Authority of Law |year=1979 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-956268-8 }}</ref>

<ref name="rdl">{{cite book |last=Dworkin |first=Ronald |author-link=Ronald Dworkin |title=Law's Empire |year=1986 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-51836-0}}</ref>
}}

==Bibliography==
* Michie, Jonathan, ed. ''Reader's Guide to the Social Sciences'' (2 vol. 2001) 1970 pages annotating the major topics in the late 20th century in all the social sciences.

===20th and 21st centuries sources===
<!-- Listed by date; newest to oldest -->
* [[Neil J. Smelser]] and [[Paul B. Baltes]] (2001). ''[[International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences]]'', Amsterdam: Elsevier.
* Byrne, D.S. (1998). [https://books.google.com/books?id=NaVSZXVdc-0C ''Complexity theory and the social sciences: an introduction'']. Routledge. {{ISBN|978-0-415-16296-8}}
* Kuper, A., and Kuper, J. (1985). ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. (ed., a limited preview of the [https://books.google.com/books?id=S3zZ18tt3gkC 1996 version] is available)
* Lave, C.A., and March, J.G. (1993). [https://books.google.com/books?id=dcL3JqFkUvQC ''An introduction to models in the social sciences'']. Lanham, Md: University Press of America.
* Perry, John and Erna Perry. ''Contemporary Society: An Introduction to Social Science'' (12th Edition, 2008), college textbook
* Potter, D. (1988). [https://books.google.com/books?id=EssOAAAAQAAJ ''Society and the social sciences: An introduction'']. London: Routledge [u.a.].
* David L. Sills and [[Robert K. Merton]] (1968). ''[[International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences]]''.
* Seligman, Edwin R.A. and Alvin Johnson (1934). ''Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences.'' (13 vol.)
* Ward, L.F. (1924). [https://books.google.com/books?id=qvUtAAAAIAAJ ''Dynamic sociology, or applied social science: As based upon statical sociology and the less complex sciences'']. New York: D. Appleton.
* Leavitt, F.M., and Brown, E. (1920). [https://books.google.com/books?id=pz5FAAAAIAAJ ''Elementary social science'']. New York: Macmillan.
* Bogardus, E.S. (1913). [https://books.google.com/books?id=nohDAAAAIAAJ ''Introduction to the social sciences: A textbook outline'']. Los Angeles: Ralston Press.
* Small, A.W. (1910). [https://books.google.com/books?id=UEYWAAAAYAAJ ''The meaning of social science'']. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

===19th century sources===
<!-- Listed by date; newest to oldest -->
* Andrews, S.P. (1888). [https://books.google.com/books?id=0_8dAAAAIAAJ ''The science of society'']. Boston, Mass: Sarah E. Holmes.
* Denslow, V.B. (1882). [https://archive.org/details/modernthinkerspr00densuoft ''Modern thinkers principally upon social science: What they think, and why'']. Chicago: Belford, Clarke & Co.
* [[William Torrey Harris|Harris, William Torrey]] (1879). [https://books.google.com/books?id=MUUWAAAAYAAJ ''Method of Study in Social Science'']: A Lecture Delivered Before the St. Louis Social Science Association, March 4, 1879. St. Louis: G.I. Jones and Co, 1879.
* Hamilton, R.S. (1873). [https://archive.org/details/presentstatusofs00hami ''Present status of social science. A review, historical and critical, of the progress of thought in social philosophy'']. New York: H.L. Hinton.
* Carey, H.C. (1867). ''Principles of social science''. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co. [etc.]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=0RsWAAAAYAAJ Volume I], [https://books.google.com/books?id=LSEWAAAAYAAJ Volume II], [https://books.google.com/books?id=-yAWAAAAYAAJ Volume III].
* Calvert, G.H. (1856). [https://archive.org/details/introductiontos00calvgoog ''Introduction to social science: A discourse in three parts'']. New York: Redfield.

===General sources===
* Backhouse, Roger E., and Philippe Fontaine, eds. ''A historiography of the modern social sciences'' (Cambridge University Press, 2014).
* {{cite book |editor-first1=Roger E.|editor-last1= Backhouse|editor-first2= Philippe|editor-last2= Fontaine|date=2010|title=The History of the Social Sciences Since 1945|publisher=Cambridge University Press|ref= 256 pages}}; covers the conceptual, institutional, and wider histories of economics, political science, sociology, social anthropology, psychology, and human geography.
* {{cite book|last=Delanty|first=G.|date=1997|title=Social science: Beyond constructivism and realism|place= Minneapolis|publisher=Univ. of Minnesota Press}}
* {{cite book|last=Hargittai|first= E.|date=2009|url=http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=268873|title=Research Confidential: Solutions to Problems Most Social Scientists Pretend They Never Have|place=Ann Arbor|publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]]|isbn= 978-0472026531}}
* Heim, K. M. (1987). Social Scientific Information Needs for Numeric Data: The Evolution of the International Data Archive Infrastructure. ''Collection Management'', 9(1), 1–53.
* {{cite book|last1=Hunt|first1= E.F.|last2= Colander|first2= D.C.|date=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWofAAAACAAJ|title=Social science: An introduction to the study of society|place=Boston|publisher=Peason/Allyn and Bacon|isbn= 978-0-205-52406-8}}
* {{cite book|last1=Carey|first1= H.C.|last2= McKean|first2=K.|date=1883|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ckEVAAAAYAAJ|title=Manual of social science; Being a condensation of the Principles of social science|author-link=H.C. Carey|place=Philadelphia|publisher=Baird}}
* {{cite book|last=Galavotti|first= M.C.|author-link= Maria Carla Galavotti |date=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VpForyYAYy0C|title= Observation and experiment in the natural and social sciences|series= Boston studies in the philosophy of science|volume= 232|place=Dordrecht|publisher=Kluwer Academic|isbn= 978-1-4020-1251-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Gorton|first= W.A.|date=2006|title=Karl Popper and the social sciences|series=SUNY series in the philosophy of the social sciences|place=Albany|publisher=State University of New York Press}}
* {{cite book|last=Harris|first=F.R.|date=1973|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mqQ9vf0JS_YC|title=Social science and national policy|place=New Brunswick, N.J.|publisher=Transaction Books|isbn=978-1-4128-3445-2}} distributed by Dutton
* {{cite book|last=Krimerman|first= L.I.|date=1969|title=The nature and scope of social science: A critical anthology|url=https://archive.org/details/naturescopeofsoc0000krim|url-access=registration|place= New York|publisher=Appleton-Century-Crofts|isbn= 978-0-390-52678-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Rule|first= J.B.|date=1997|title=Theory and progress in social science|url=https://archive.org/details/theoryprogressin0000rule|url-access=registration|place=Cambridge|publisher= Cambridge University Press|isbn= 978-0-521-57365-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Shionoya|first= Y. |date=1997|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fakFiE79qTAC|title=Schumpeter and the idea of social science: A metatheoretical study. Historical perspectives on modern economics|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Singleton|first1=Royce, A.|last2=Straits|first2=Bruce C.|date=1988|url=http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Sociology/TheoryMethods/~~/dmlldz11c2EmY2k9OTc4MDE5NTE0Nzk0MA==|title=Approaches to Social Research|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-514794-0|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070303032753/http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Sociology/TheoryMethods/~~/dmlldz11c2EmY2k9OTc4MDE5NTE0Nzk0MA%3D%3D|archive-date=March 3, 2007}}
* {{cite book|last=Thomas|first=D.|date=1979|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-mY4AAAAIAAJ|title=Naturalism and social science: a post-empiricist philosophy of social science|publisher=CUP Archive|isbn=978-0-521-29660-1}}
* {{cite book|last=Trigg|first= R.|date=2001|title=Understanding social science: A philosophical introduction to the social sciences|place=Malden, Mass|publisher=Blackwell Publishers}}
* {{cite book|author=Weber, M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N14BAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA725|title=The Relations of the Rural Community to Other Branches of Social Science, Congress of Arts and Science: Universal Exposition|place=St. Louis|orig-year=1904|publisher=Houghton, Mifflin and Company|date=1906|author-link = Max Weber}}
* {{Cite book|last=Creswell |first=John W.|title=Educational research: planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research|isbn=978-1-299-95719-0|oclc=859836343}}

===Academic resources===
<!-- Listed by date; newest to oldest -->
* ''The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science'', {{ISSN|1552-3349}} (electronic) {{ISSN|0002-7162}} (paper), Sage Publications
* {{cite journal |last1=Efferson |first1=Charles |last2=Richerson |first2=Peter J. |title=A prolegomenon to nonlinear empiricism in the human behavioral sciences |journal=Biology & Philosophy |date=16 March 2007 |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=1–33 |doi=10.1007/s10539-005-9013-7 }}

===Opponents and critics===
<!-- Listed by date; newest to oldest -->
* [[George H. Smith]] (2014). [http://www.libertarianism.org/columns/intellectuals-libertarianism-thomas-sowell-robert-nisbet ''Intellectuals and Libertarianism: Thomas Sowell and Robert Nisbet'']
* Phil Hutchinson, [[Rupert Read]] and Wes Sharrock (2008). [https://books.google.com/books?id=IF01zvRg9ekC ''There's No Such Thing as a Social Science'']. {{ISBN|978-0-7546-4776-8}}
* Sabia, D.R., and Wallulis, J. (1983). [https://books.google.com/books?id=IgDtHi4Sq-wC ''Changing social science: Critical theory and other critical perspectives'']. Albany: State University of New York Press.

==External links==
{{Sister project links|commons=Category:Social sciences|s=Category:Social sciences|d=Q34749}}
* [http://icrhs.tsukuba.ac.jp/en/ Institute for Comparative Research in Human and Social Sciences (ICR)] (JAPAN)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091028070226/http://www.uel.ac.uk/cswr/index.htm Centre for Social Work Research]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080312160638/http://www.sobiad.org/icss-conference/icss-main.htm International Conference on Social Sciences]
* [http://www.unesco.org/ngo/issc International Social Science Council]
* [http://www.ashgate.com/pdf/SamplePages/There_is_No_Such_Thing_as_a_Social_Science_Intro.pdf Introduction to Hutchinson et al., ''There's No Such Thing as a Social Science'']
* [http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/ Intute: Social Sciences (UK)]
* [http://www.sobiad.org/english.html Social Science Research Society]
* [http://www.vl-site.org/index.html Social Science Virtual Library]
* [http://www.canaktan.org/ Social Science Virtual Library: Canaktanweb (Turkish)]
* [http://social-sciences-and-humanities.com/ Social Sciences And Humanities]
* [http://xlab.berkeley.edu UC Berkeley Experimental Social Science Laboratory]
* [http://monthlyreview.org/100501baran.php The Dialectic of Social Science] by Paul A. Baran
* [http://www.humanitiescommission.org/ American Academy ''Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences'']
* [https://socialsci.libretexts.org/  The Social Sciences Library]

{{Social sciences |expanded}}
{{Positivism}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=August 2016}}

[[Category:Social sciences| ]]
[[Category:Academic disciplines]]
[[Category:Branches of science]]
[[Category:Administrative theory]]