The social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that study human aspects of the world. They diverge from the arts and humanities in that the social sciences tend to emphasize the use of the scientific method in the study of humanity, including quantitative and qualitative methods. The Arts is a broad subdivision of culture, comprised of many expressive disciplines. ... The humanities are those academic disciplines which study the human condition using methods that are largely analytic, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural and social sciences. ... Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Quantitative research. ... The qualitative method in sociology is a research method. ...

The social sciences,^[1] in studying subjective, inter-subjective and objective or structural aspects of society, were traditionally referred to as soft sciences. This is in contrast to hard sciences, such as the natural science, which may focus exclusively on objective aspects of nature. Nowadays, however, the distinction between the so-called soft and hard sciences is blurred. Some social science subfields have become very quantitative in methodology or behavioral in approach. Conversely, the interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary nature of scientific inquiry into human behavior and social and environmental factors affecting it have made many of the so-called hard sciences dependent on social science methodology. Examples of boundary blurring include emerging disciplines like social studies of medicine, neuropsychology, bioeconomics and the history and sociology of science. Increasingly, quantitative and qualitative methods are being integrated in the study of human action and its implications and consequences. The humanities are a group of academic subjects united by a commitment to studying aspects of the human condition and a qualitative approach that generally prevents a single paradigm from coming to define any discipline. ... Hard science is a term which often is used to describe certain fields of the natural sciences, usually physics, chemistry, and many fields of biology. ... The Michelson–Morley experiment was used to disprove that light propagated through a luminiferous aether. ... For the chemical substances known as medicines, see medication. ... Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology and neurology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relate to specific psychological processes and overt behaviors. ... Bioeconomics is a field of resource economics including the dynamics of living resources in economical modelling. ...

History of the social sciences

Main article: History of the social sciences

The word "science" is older than its modern use, which is as a short-form for "natural science". Uses of the word "science", in contexts other than those of the natural sciences, are historically valid, so long as they are describing an art or organized body of knowledge which can be taught objectively. The use of the word "science" is not therefore always an attempt to claim that the subject in question ought to stand on the same footing of inquiry as a natural science. For more, see: Social science#History In ancient philosophy, there was no difference between the liberal arts of mathematics and the study of history, poetry or politics—only with the development of mathematical proof did there gradually arise a perceived difference between scientific disciplines and others, the humanities or liberal...

Ancient Greece

See also: Ancient Greece

In ancient philosophy, there was no difference between mathematics and the study of history, poetry or politics. Only with the development of mathematical proof did there gradually arise a perceived difference between "scientific" disciplines and others, the "humanities" or the liberal arts. Thus, Aristotle studied planetary motion and poetry with the same methods, and Plato mixes geometrical proofs with his demonstration on the state of intrinsic knowledge. Ancient Greece is a period in Greek history that lasted for around nine hundred years. ... This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, although for Western thinkers prior to Socrates, see Pre-Socratic philosophy. ... Euclid, Greek mathematician, 3rd century BC, as imagined by by Raphael in this detail from The School of Athens. ... History studies time in human terms. ... This article is about the art form. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. ... In mathematics, a proof is a demonstration that, assuming certain axioms, some statement is necessarily true. ... In the history of education, the seven liberal arts comprise two groups of studies, the trivium and the quadrivium. ... Aristotle (Greek: AristotélÄ“s) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ... Two bodies with a slight difference in mass orbiting around a common barycenter. ... PLATO was one of the first generalized Computer assisted instruction systems, originally built by the University of Illinois (U of I) and later taken over by Control Data Corporation (CDC), who provided the machines it ran on. ... Geometry (from the Greek words Ge = earth and metro = measure) is the branch of mathematics first introduced by Theaetetus dealing with spatial relationships. ...

Islamic civilization

Further information: Early Muslim sociology and Historiography of early Islam

Significant contributions to the social sciences were made by Muslim scientists in the Islamic civilization. Al-Biruni (973-1048) has been described as "the first anthropologist".^[2]I DONT KNOWHe wrote detailed comparative studies on the anthropology of peoples, religions and cultures in the Middle East, Mediterranean and South Asia. Al-Biruni's anthropology of religion was only possible for a scholar deeply immersed in the lore of other nations.^[3] Biruni has also been praised by several scholars for his Islamic anthropology.^[4] Early Muslim sociology responded to the challenges of social organization of diverse peoples all under common religious organization in the Islamic caliphate, the Abbasid and later Mamluk period in Egypt. ... The historiography of early Islam is the study of how various historians have treated the events of the first two centuries of Islamic history. ... In the history of science, Islamic science refers to the science developed under the Islamic civilisation between the 8th and 15th centuries (the Islamic Golden Age). ... Photo taken from medieval manuscript by Qotbeddin Shirazi (1236–1311), a Persian Astronomer. ... (September 15, 973 in Kath, Khwarezm – December 13, 1048 in Ghazni) was a Persian (Tājīk)[1][2][3] mathematician, physicist, scholar, encyclopedist, philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, traveller, historian, anthropologist, pharmacist, and teacher, who contributed greatly to the fields of mathematics, philosophy, history, anthropology, medicine, and science. ... Anthropology (from Greek: ἀνθρωπος, anthropos, human being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of humanity. ... Anthropology (from Greek: ἀνθρωπος, anthropos, human being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of humanity. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... The Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around and surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. ... Map of South Asia (see note on Kashmir). ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ...

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) is regarded as the father of demography,^[5] historiography,^[6] the philosophy of history,^[7] sociology,^[5][7] and the social sciences,^[8] and is viewed as one of the forerunners of modern economics. He is best known for his Muqaddimah (Prolegomenon in Greek). Ibn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun (full name Arabic: , ) (May 27, 1332/732AH – March 19, 1406/808AH), was a famous Arab Muslim historian, historiographer, demographer, economist, philosopher and sociologist born in present-day Tunisia. ... Map of countries by population Population growth showing projections for later this century Demography is the statistical study of human populations. ... Historiography is a term with multiple meanings that has changed with time, place and observer, and is thus resistant to a single encompassing meaning. ... Philosophy of History is an area of philosophy concerning the eventual significance, if any, of human history. ... Sociology (from Latin: socius, companion; and the suffix -ology, the study of, from Greek λόγος, lógos, knowledge) is an academic and applied discipline that studies society and human social interaction. ... ‹ The template below is being considered for deletion. ... The Muqaddimah, or the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun (Arabic: مقدّمة ابن خلدون), records an early Muslim view of universal history. Many modern thinkers view it as one of the first works of sociology. ...

European enlightenment

See also: Age of Enlightenment

During the European Age of Enlightenment, this unity of science as descriptive remains, for example, in the time of Thomas Hobbes who argued that deductive reasoning from axioms created a scientific framework, and hence his Leviathan was a scientific description of a political commonwealth. What would happen within decades of his work was a revolution in what constituted "science", particularly the work of Isaac Newton in physics. Newton, by revolutionizing what was then called "natural philosophy", changed the basic framework by which individuals understood what was "scientific". The Enlightenment (French: ; German: ) was an eighteenth-century movement in European and American philosophy, or the longer period including the Age of Reason. ... The Enlightenment (French: ; German: ) was an eighteenth-century movement in European and American philosophy, or the longer period including the Age of Reason. ... “Hobbes” redirects here. ... Deductive reasoning is the kind of reasoning where the conclusion is necessitated or implied by previously known premises. ... This article is about a logical statement. ... Frontispiece of Leviathan, etching by Abraham Bosse, with input from Hobbes For other uses, see Leviathan (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Commonwealth (disambiguation). ... Sir Isaac Newton FRS (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [ OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727][1] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, and alchemist. ...

While he was merely the archetype of an accelerating trend, the important distinction is that for Newton, the mathematical flowed from a presumed reality independent of the observer, and working by its own rules. For philosophers of the same period, mathematical expression of philosophical ideals was taken to be symbolic of natural human relationships as well: the same laws moved physical and spiritual realities. For examples see Blaise Pascal, Gottfried Leibniz and Johannes Kepler, each of whom took mathematical examples as models for human behavior directly. In Pascal's case, the famous wager; for Leibniz, the invention of binary computation; and for Kepler, the intervention of angels to guide the planets. For other uses, see Reality (disambiguation). ... Blaise Pascal (pronounced ), (June 19, 1623 – August 19, 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. ... “Leibniz” redirects here. ... Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630) was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, and a key figure in the 17th century astronomical revolution. ... Pascals Wager (or Pascals Gambit) is the application by the French philosopher Blaise Pascal of decision theory to the belief in God. ... The binary numeral system, or base-2 number system, is a numeral system that represents numeric values using two symbols, usually 0 and 1. ... This article is about the supernatural being. ... This article is about the astronomical term. ...

In the realm of other disciplines, this created a pressure to express ideas in the form of mathematical relationships. Such relationships, called "Laws" after the usage of the time (see philosophy of science) became the model which other disciplines would emulate. Philosophy of science is the study of assumptions, foundations, and implications of science, especially in the natural sciences and social sciences. ...

Nineteenth century

See also: Nineteenth century

The term "social science" first appeared in the 1824 book An Inquiry into the Principles of the Distribution of Wealth Most Conducive to Human Happiness; applied to the Newly Proposed System of Voluntary Equality of Wealth by William Thompson (1775-1833). Auguste Comte (1797-1857) argued that ideas pass through three rising stages, Theological, Philosophical and Scientific. He defined the difference as the first being rooted in assumption, the second in critical thinking, and the third in positive observation. This framework, still rejected by many, encapsulates the thinking which was to push economic study from being a descriptive to a mathematically based discipline. Karl Marx was one of the first writers to claim that his methods of research represented a scientific view of history in this model. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... William Thompson (1775 Cork City, - March 28, 1833 Rosscarbery, Co. ... Auguste Comte (full name: Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte; January 17, 1798 - September 5, 1857) was a French thinker who coined the term sociology. ... Theology is literally rational discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, rational discourse). By extension, it also refers to the study of other religious topics. ... Philosophy (from the Greek words philos and sophia meaning love of wisdom) is understood in different ways historically and by different philosophers. ... For the scientific journal named Science, see Science (journal). ... are you kiddin ? i was lookin for it for hours ... Economics (deriving from the Greek words οίκω [okos], house, and νέμω [nemo], rules hence household management) is the social science that studies the allocation of scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) was a 19th century philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ... Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ...

With the late 19th century, attempts to apply equations to statements about human behavior became increasingly common. Among the first were the "Laws" of philology, which attempted to map the change over time of sounds in a language. For the Björk song, see Human Behaviour Human behavior is the collection of behaviors exhibited by human beings and influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, values, ethics, authority, rapport, hypnosis, persuasion, coercion and/or genetics. ... Philology, etymologically, is the love of words. ...

It was with the work of Charles Darwin that the descriptive version of social theory received another shock. Biology had, seemingly, resisted mathematical study, and yet the Theory of Natural Selection and the implied idea of Genetic inheritance - later found to have been enunciated by Gregor Mendel, seemed to point in the direction of a scientific biology based, like physics and chemistry, on mathematical relationships. For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ... Social theory refers to the use of abstract and often complex theoretical frameworks to explain and analyze social patterns and large-scale social structures. ... Biology studies the variety of life (clockwise from top-left) E. coli, tree fern, gazelle, Goliath beetle Biology (from Greek: βίος, bio, life; and λόγος, logos, knowledge), also referred to as the biological sciences, is the study of living organisms utilizing the scientific method. ... For other uses, see Natural selection (disambiguation). ... Biological inheritance is the process by which an offspring cell or organism acquires or becomes predisposed to characteristics of its parent cell or organism. ... “Mendel” redirects here. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... For other uses, see Chemistry (disambiguation). ...

Twentieth century

See also: Twentieth century

In the first half of the 20th century, statistics became a free-standing discipline of applied mathematics. Statistical methods were used confidently, for example in an increasingly statistical view of biology. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar (often from (1900 to 1999 in common usage). ... This article is about the field of statistics. ... Applied mathematics is a branch of mathematics that concerns itself with the mathematical techniques typically used in the application of mathematical knowledge to other domains. ...

The first thinkers to attempt to combine inquiry of the type they saw in Darwin with exploration of human relationships, which, evolutionary theory implied, would be based on selective forces, were Freud in Austria and William James in the United States. Freud's theory of the functioning of the mind, and James' work on experimental psychology would have enormous impact on those that followed. Freud, in particular, created a framework which would appeal not only to those studying psychology, but artists and writers as well. This article is about evolution in biology. ... Sigmund Freud His famous couch Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 - September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, a movement that popularized the theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... For other uses, see Mind (disambiguation). ... Psychology (from Greek: ψυχή, psukhē, spirit, soul; λόγος, logos, knowledge) is both an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ...

One of the most persuasive advocates for the view of scientific treatment of philosophy would be John Dewey (1859-1952). He began, as Marx did, in an attempt to weld Hegelian idealism and logic to experimental science, for example in his Psychology of 1887. However, he abandoned Hegelian constructs. Influenced by both Charles Sanders Peirce and William James, he joined the movement in America called Pragmatism. He then formulated his basic doctrine, enunciated in essays such as The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy (1910). John Dewey (October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer, whose thoughts and ideas have been greatly influential in the United States and around the world. ... Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (August 27, 1770 - November 14, 1831) was a German philosopher born in Stuttgart, Württemberg, in present-day southwest Germany. ... This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedias quality standards. ... Logic (from Classical Greek λόγος logos; meaning word, thought, idea, argument, account, reason, or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. ... Charles Sanders Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce (September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American logician, philosopher, scientist, and mathematician. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Pragmatism is a philosophic school that originated in the late nineteenth century with Charles Sanders Peirce, who first stated the pragmatic maxim. ...

This idea, based on his theory of how organisms respond, states that there are three phases to the process of inquiry: “Life on Earth” redirects here. ...

1. Problematic Situation, where the typical response is inadequate.
2. Isolation of Data or subject matter.
3. Reflective, which is tested empirically.

With the rise of the idea of quantitative measurement in the physical sciences, for example Lord Rutherford's famous maxim that any knowledge that one cannot measure numerically "is a poor sort of knowledge", the stage was set for the conception of the humanities as being precursors to "social science." Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM, PC, FRS (August 30, 1871 – October 19, 1937), was a New Zealand nuclear physicist. ...

This change was not, and is not, without its detractors, both inside of academia and outside. The range of critiques begin from those who believe that the physical sciences are qualitatively different from social sciences ^{[citation needed]}, through those who do not believe in statistical science of any kind ^{[citation needed]}, through those who disagree with the methodology and kinds of conclusion of social science ^{[citation needed]}, to those who believe the entire framework of scientificizing these disciplines is solely, or mostly, from a desire for prestige and to alienate the public ^{[citation needed]}. Physical science is the branch of science including chemistry and physics, usually contrasted with the social sciences and sometimes including and sometimes contrasted with natural or biological science. ... Methodology is defined as the analysis of the // == Headline text == principles of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline or the development of methods, to be applied within a discipline a particular procedure or set of procedures. [1]. It should be noted that methodology is frequently used when method...

Rise

Theodore Porter argued in The Rise of Statistical Thinking that the effort to provide a synthetic social science is a matter of both administration and discovery combined, and that the rise of social science was, therefore, marked by both pragmatic needs as much as by theoretical purity. An example of this is the rise of the concept of Intelligence Quotient, or IQ. It is unclear precisely what is being measured, but the measurement is useful in that it predicts success in various endeavors. Theodore M. Porter is a professor who specializes in the history of science in the Department of History at UCLA. He has authored several books, including The Rise of Statistical Thinking, 1820-1900; and Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life. ... IQ redirects here; for other uses of that term, see IQ (disambiguation). ...

The rise of industrialism had created a series of social, economic, and political problems, particularly in managing supply and demand in their political economy, the management of resources for military and developmental use, the creation of mass education systems to train individuals in symbolic reasoning and problems in managing the effects of industrialization itself. The perceived senselessness of the "Great War" as it was then called, of 1914-1918, now called World War I, based in what were perceived to be "emotional" and "irrational" decisions, provided an immediate impetus for a form of decision making that was more "scientific" and easier to manage. Simply put, to manage the new multi-national enterprises, private and governmental, required more data. More data required a means of reducing it to information upon which to make decisions. Numbers and charts could be interpreted more quickly and moved more efficiently than long texts. Although the term social is a crucial category in social science and often used in public discourse, its meaning is often vague, suggesting that it is a fuzzy concept. ... Economics (deriving from the Greek words οίκω [okos], house, and νέμω [nemo], rules hence household management) is the social science that studies the allocation of scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants. ... Politics is the process by which decisions are made within groups. ... This article is confusing for some readers, and needs to be edited for clarity. ... Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, good judgement and wisdom. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ...

In the 1930s this new model of managing decision making became cemented with the New Deal in the US, and in Europe with the increasing need to manage industrial production and governmental affairs. Institutions such as The New School for Social Research, International Institute of Social History, and departments of "social research" at prestigious universities were meant to fill the growing demand for individuals who could quantify human interactions and produce models for decision making on this basis. The New Deal was the title President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to the series of programs he initiated between 1933 and 1938 with the goal of providing relief, recovery, and reform (3 Rs) to the people and economy of the United States during the Great Depression. ... The New School for Social Research is the graduate division of The New School. ... The International Institute of Social History (Dutch: Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis, abbreviation: IISG) is situated in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and was founded in 1935 by Nicolaas Posthumus. ...

Coupled with this pragmatic need was the belief that the clarity and simplicity of mathematical expression avoided systematic errors of holistic thinking and logic rooted in traditional argument. This trend, part of the larger movement known as Modernism provided the rhetorical edge for the expansion of social sciences. For Christian theological modernism, see Liberal Christianity and Modernism (Roman Catholicism). ...

Present state

There continues to be little movement toward consensus on what methodology might have the power and refinement to connect a proposed "grand theory" with the various midrange theories which, with considerable success, continue to provide usable frameworks for massive, growing data banks. See consilience. Look up consilience in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Social science disciplines

Anthropology

Main article: Anthropology

Anthropology is the holistic discipline that deals with the integration of different aspects of the Social Sciences, Humanities, and Human Biology. It includes Archaeology, Prehistory and Paleontology, Physical or Biological Anthropology, Anthropological Linguistics, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Ethnology and Ethnography. The word anthropos (άνθρωπος) is from the Greek for "human being" or "person." Eric Wolf described sociocultural anthropology as "the most scientific of the humanities, and the most humanistic of the sciences." Anthropology (from Greek: ἀνθρωπος, anthropos, human being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of humanity. ... Anthropology (from Greek: ἀνθρωπος, anthropos, human being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of humanity. ... The humanities are those academic disciplines which study the human condition using methods that are largely analytic, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural and social sciences. ... Human biology is an interdisciplinary academic field of biology, biological anthropology, and medicine which focuses on humans; it is closely related to primate biology, and a number of other fields. ... For the magazine about archaeology, see Archaeology (magazine). ... Stonehenge, England, erected by Neolithic peoples ca. ... Paleontology, palaeontology or palæontology (from Greek: paleo, ancient; ontos, being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. ... Physical anthropology, often called biological anthropology, studies the mechanisms of biological evolution, genetic inheritance, human adaptability and variation, primatology, primate morphology, and the fossil record of human evolution. ... Physical anthropology, often called biological anthropology, studies the mechanisms of biological evolution, genetic inheritance, human adaptability and variation, primatology, primate morphology, and the fossil record of human evolution. ... Anthropological linguistics is the study of language through human genetics and human development. ... Cultural anthropology, also called social anthropology or socio-cultural anthropology, is one of four commonly recognized fields of anthropology, the holistic study of humanity. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Ethnology (from the Greek ethnos, meaning people) is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyses the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the racial or national divisions of humanity. ... Ethnography ( ethnos = people and graphein = writing) is the genre of writing that presents varying degrees of qualitative and quantitative descriptions of human social phenomena, based on fieldwork. ... Eric Wolf (1923-1999) was an anthropologist best known for his studies of Latin America and his advocacy of Marxist perspectives within anthropology. ...

Economics

Main article: Economics

Buyers bargain for good prices while sellers put forth their best front in Chichicastenango Market, Guatemala.

Economics is a social science that seeks to analyze and describe the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth.^[9] The word "economics" is from the Greek οἶκος [oikos], "family, household, estate," and νόμος [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 university 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 relation between scarce means having alternative uses." Absent 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 behaviour." ‹ The template below is being considered for deletion. ... Download high resolution version (1200x720, 199 KB)Chichicastenango Market, Guatemala. ... Download high resolution version (1200x720, 199 KB)Chichicastenango Market, Guatemala. ... Chichicastenango, also known as Santo Tomás Chichicastenango, is a town in the El Quiché department of Guatemala, known for its traditional Maya Indian culture. ... ‹ The template below is being considered for deletion. ... Alan Greenspan, former chairman, United States Federal Reserve. ... A B.A. issued as a certificate A degree is any of a wide range of status levels conferred by institutions of higher education, such as universities, normally as the result of successfully completing a program of study. ... Lionel Charles Robbins, Baron Robbins (1898 - 1984) was a British economist of the 20th century who proposed one of the early contemporary definitions of economics, Economics is a science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses. ... The basic economic problem is a term used in economic theory. ...

Economics has two broad branches: microeconomics, where the unit of analysis is the individual agent, such as a household, firm and macroeconomics, where the unit of analysis is an economy as a whole. Another division of the subject distinguishes 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 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 physiocratic school. Economic reasoning has been increasingly applied in recent decades to social situations where there is no monetary consideration, such as politics, law, psychology, history, religion, marriage and family life, and other social interactions. Microeconomics (or price theory) is a branch of economics that studies how individuals, households, and firms make decisions to allocate limited resources,[1] typically in markets where goods or services are being bought and sold. ... Circulation in macroeconomics Macroeconomics is a branch of Economics that deals with the performance, structure, and behavior of the economy as a whole. ... In the humanities and social sciences, the term positive is used in a number of ways. ... In philosophy, normative is usually contrasted with positive, descriptive or explanatory when describing types of theories, beliefs, or statements. ... This article is in need of attention. ... The Physiocrats were a group of economists who believed that the wealth of nations was derived solely from agriculture. ... Public choice theory is a branch of economics that studies the decision-making behavior of voters, politicians and government officials from the perspective of economic theory, namely game theory and decision theory. ... For other uses, see Law (disambiguation). ... Experimental economics is the use of experimental methods to evaluate theoretical predictions of economic behaviour. ... Economic history is the study of economic change, and of economic phenomena in the past. ... Marriage is an interpersonal relationship with governmental, social, or religious recognition, usually intimate and sexual, and often created as a contract, or through civil process. ...

This paradigm crucially assumes (1) that resources are scarce because they are not sufficient to satisfy all wants, and (2) that "economic value" is willingness to pay as revealed for instance by market (arms' length) transactions. Rival schools of thought, such as heterodox economics, institutional economics, Marxist economics, socialism, and green economics, make other grounding assumptions, such as that economics primarily deals with the exchange of value, and that labor (human effort) is the source of all value. In economics, scarcity is defined as a condition of limited resources, where society does not have sufficient resources to produce enough to fulfill subjective wants. ... Heterodox economics [1] refers to approaches or schools of economic thought that do not conform to mainstream economics, which has largely developed from neoclassical economics in the late 19th century. ... Institutional economics focuses on understanding the role of human-made institutions in shaping economic behavior. ... Marxian economics refers to a body of economic thought stemming from the work of Karl Marx. ... Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subjfuck grapesect to control by the community[1] for the purposes of increasing social and economic equality and cooperation. ... Green economics is an approach to economics in which the economy is considered to be a component of, and dependent upon, the natural world within which it resides and of which is it considered a part. ...

Education

Main article: Education

A depiction of Europe's oldest university, the University of Bologna, Italy

Education 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). Education means 'to draw out', facilitating realisation of self-potential and latent talents of an individual. 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. ^[10] Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x1634, 326 KB) Description: Title: de: Liber ethicorum des Henricus de Allemania, Einzelblatt, Szene: Henricus de Allemania vor seinen Schülern Technique: de: Pergament Dimensions: de: 18 × 22 cm Country of origin: de: Italien Current location (city): de: Berlin Current location... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x1634, 326 KB) Description: Title: de: Liber ethicorum des Henricus de Allemania, Einzelblatt, Szene: Henricus de Allemania vor seinen Schülern Technique: de: Pergament Dimensions: de: 18 × 22 cm Country of origin: de: Italien Current location (city): de: Berlin Current location... The University of Bologna (Italian: , UNIBO) is the oldest continually operating degree-granting university in the world, and the second biggest university in Italy. ... This is a list of education topics. ... In education, teachers are those who teach students or pupils, often a course of study or a practical skill. ... Learning is the acquisition and development of memories and behaviors, including skills, knowledge, understanding, values, and wisdom. ... A skill is an ability, usually learned and acquired through training, to perform actions which achieve a desired outcome. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Judgment or judgement implies a balanced weighing up of evidence preparatory to making a decision. ... For the 1986 American crime film, see Wisdom (film). ... For other uses, see Culture (disambiguation). ... The term socialization is used by sociologists, social psychologists and educationalists to refer to the process of learning one’s culture and how to live within it. ... Pedagogy (IPA: ) , the art or science of being a teacher, generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction[1]. The word comes from the Ancient Greek (paidagōgeō; from (child) and (lead)): literally, to lead the child”. In Ancient Greece, was (usually) a slave who supervised the... Psychology (from Greek: ψυχή, psukhē, spirit, soul; λόγος, logos, knowledge) is both an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ... For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ... Computer science, or computing science, is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. ... Linguistics is the scientific study of language, which can be theoretical or applied. ... Drawing of the cells in the chicken cerebellum by S. Ramón y Cajal Neuroscience is a field that is devoted to the scientific study of the nervous system. ... Sociology (from Latin: socius, companion; and the suffix -ology, the study of, from Greek λόγος, lógos, knowledge) is an academic and applied discipline that studies society and human social interaction. ... Anthropology (from Greek: ἀνθρωπος, anthropos, human being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of humanity. ...

The education of an individual human begins at birth and continues throughout life. (Some believe that education begins even before birth, as evidenced by some parents' playing music or reading to the baby in the womb in the hope it will influence the child's development.) For some, the struggles and triumphs of daily life provide far more instruction than does formal schooling (thus Mark Twain's admonition to "never let school interfere with your education"). Family members may have a profound educational effect — often more profound than they realize — though family teaching may function very informally. Personal life (or everyday life or human existence) is an individual humans personal, private career (including, but not the same as, their employment career), and is a common notion in modern existence -- although more so in more prosperous parts of the world, such as Western Europe and North America... Students in Rome, Italy. ... Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1] better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, lecturer and writer. ... a family of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1997 Family is a Western term used to denote a domestic group of people, or a number of domestic groups linked through descent (demonstrated or stipulated) from a common ancestor, marriage or adoption. ...

Geography

Main article: Geography

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. The latter examines the natural environment and how the climate, vegetation & life, soil, water and landforms are produced and interact.^[11] 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.^[12] Image File history File links Physical_world. ... Image File history File links Physical_world. ... Population density by country, 2006 Human geography is a branch of geography that focuses on the study of patterns and processes that shape human interaction with the environment, with particular reference to the causes and consequences of the spatial distribution of human activity on the Earths surface. ... True-color image of the Earths surface and atmosphere Physical geography (also know as geosystems or physiography) is a subfield of geography that focuses on the systematic study of patterns and processes within the hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere. ... Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants, and is, by far, the most abundant biotic element of the biosphere. ... Loess field in Germany Surface-water-gley developed in glacial till, Northern Ireland Technically, soil forms the pedosphere: the interface between the lithosphere (rocky part of the planet) and the biosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. ... Impact from a water drop causes an upward rebound jet surrounded by circular capillary waves. ... A landform comprises a geomorphological unit. ... Environmental geography is the branch of geography that describes the spatial aspects of interactions between humans and the natural world. ...

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 project the surface of the earth. In this sense, geography bridges some gaps between the natural sciences and social sciences. This article is about Earth as a planet. ... Cartography or mapmaking (in Greek chartis = map and graphein = write) is the study and practice of making maps or globes. ... The Mercator projection shows courses of constant bearing as straight lines. ...

Modern geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks to understand how the world has changed in terms of human settlement and natural patterns. The fields of Urban Planning, Regional Science, and Planetology are closely related to geography. Practicioners of geography use many technologies and methods to collect data such as remote sensing, aerial photography, statistics, and global positioning systems (GPS). Urban planning is concerned with the ordering and design of settlements, from the smallest towns to the worlds largest cities. ... Regional science is a field of the social sciences concerned with analytical approaches to problems that are specifically urban, rural, or regional. ... Planetary science, also known as planetology or planetary astronomy, is the science of planets and the solar system, and incorporates an interdisciplinary approach drawing from diverse sciences. ... For the purported psychic ability to sense remotely, see Remote viewing right Synthetic aperture radar image of Death Valley colored using polarimetry In the broadest sense, remote sensing is the short or large-scale acquisition of information of an object or phenomenon, by the use of either recording or real... The Georgian terrace of Royal Crescent (Bath, England) from a hot air balloon Intersection of E42 and E451 from an aircraft soon after takeoff from Frankfurt International Airport Moreton Island in Queensland, Australia Aerial photography is the taking of photographs from the air with a camera mounted, or hand held... This article is about the field of statistics. ... This article is about the US NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS). ...

The field of geography is generally split into two distinct branches: physical and human. Physical geography examines phenomena related to climate, oceans, soils, and the measurement of earth. Human geography focuses on fields as diverse as Cultural geography, transportation, health, military operations, and cities. Other branches of geography include Social geography, regional geography, geomantics, and environmental geography. True-color image of the Earths surface and atmosphere Physical geography (also know as geosystems or physiography) is a subfield of geography that focuses on the systematic study of patterns and processes within the hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere. ... Thermohaline circulation Oceanography (from Ocean + Greek γράφειν = write), also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth Sciences that studies the Earths oceans and seas. ... Pedology (pědǒlōgy), (from Russian: pedologiya, from the Greek pedon = soil, earth), is the study of soils and soil formation. ... Geodetic pillar (1855); Ostend, Belgium Archive with lithography plates for maps of Bavaria in the Landesamt für Vermessung und Geoinformation in Munich Geodesy (IPA North American English ; British, Australian English etc. ... Population density by country, 2006 Human geography is a branch of geography that focuses on the study of patterns and processes that shape human interaction with the environment, with particular reference to the causes and consequences of the spatial distribution of human activity on the Earths surface. ... Cultural geography is a sub-field within human geography. ... ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... Map of the Earth Geography (from the Greek words Geo (γη) or Gaea (γαια), both meaning Earth, and graphein (γραφειν) meaning to describe or to writeor to map) is the study of the earth and its features, inhabitants, and phenomena. ... Social geography studies how society affects geographical features and how environmental factors affect society. ...

Geography traverses the natural and social sciences. Historical geography is often taught in a college in a unified Department of Geography. Historical Geography is the study of the: Human Physical Fictional Theoretical and Real geographies of the past. ...

Law

Main article: Law

A trial at a criminal court, the Old Bailey in London

Law in common parlance, means a rule which (unlike a rule of ethics) is capable of enforcement through institutions.^[13] 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",^[14] as an "interpretive concept"^[15] to achieve justice, as an "authority"^[16] to mediate people's interests, and even as "the command of a sovereign, backed by the threat of a sanction".^[17] 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 sciences and humanity. 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 late Old English lagu, meaning something laid down or fixed^[18] and the adjective legal comes from the Latin word lex.^[19] For other uses, see Law (disambiguation). ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (828x626, 120 KB) A trial at the Old Bailey in London as drawn by Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin for Ackermanns Microcosm of London (1808-11). ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (828x626, 120 KB) A trial at the Old Bailey in London as drawn by Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin for Ackermanns Microcosm of London (1808-11). ... The Old Bailey. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... A contract is a legally binding exchange of promises or agreement between parties that the law will enforce. ... Not to be confused with torte, an iced cake. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Company law refers to the law of a separate legal entities known as the company and governs the most prevalent legal models for firms, for instance limited companies (Ltd or Pty Ltd), publicly limited companies (plc) or incorporated businesses (Inc. ... Old English (also called Anglo-Penis[1], Englisc by its speakers) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ...

Linguistics

Main article: Linguistics

Ferdinand de Saussure, recognized as the father of modern linguistics

Linguistics is a discipline that looks at the cognitive and social aspects of human language. The field is traditionally divided into areas that focus on particular aspects of the linguistic signal, such as syntax (the study of the rules that govern the structure of sentences), semantics (the study of meaning), 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. Linguistics is the scientific study of language, which can be theoretical or applied. ... Image File history File links Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) Image from http://www. ... Image File history File links Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) Image from http://www. ... Saussure Ferdinand de Saussure (pronounced ) (November 26, 1857 – February 22, 1913) was a Geneva-born Swiss linguist whose ideas laid the foundation for many of the significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. ... Linguistics is the scientific study of language, which can be theoretical or applied. ... For other uses, see Syntax (disambiguation). ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone meaning sound, voice) is the study of the sounds of human speech. ... Phonology (Greek phonē = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics which studies the sound system of a specific language (or languages). ... Evolutionary linguistics is the scientific study of the origins and development of language. ... Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, and understand language. ...

The overwhelming majority of modern research in linguistics takes a predominantly 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 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 is considered the father of modern linguistics. Avram Noam Chomsky (Hebrew :אברם נועם חומסקי Yiddish: אברם נועם כאמסקי) (born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, political activist, author, and lecturer. ... Look up Creole, creole in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Discourse analysis (DA), or discourse studies, is a general term for a number of approaches to analyzing written, spoken or signed language use. ... Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context on the way language is used. ... This article is about the field of statistics. ... Acoustic phonetics is a subfield of phonetics which deals with acoustic aspects of speech sounds. ... Neurolinguistics is the science concerned with the human brain mechanisms underlying the comprehension, production, and abstract knowledge of language, be it spoken, signed, or written. ... Ferdinand de Saussure (November 26, 1857 - February 22, 1913) was a Swiss linguist. ...

Political science

Main articles: Political science and Politics

Aristotle asserted that man is a political animal in his book Politics

Political science is an academic and research discipline that deals with the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behavior. Fields and subfields of political science include 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 behavior, public law, judicial behavior, and public policy. Political science also studies power in international relations and the theory of Great powers and Superpowers. The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Political Science is the field concerning the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behaviour. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (600x800, 231 KB) Suject : Portrait of Aristoteles ; Origin : Imperial Roman copy (1st or 2nd century) of a lost bronze sculpture made by Lysippos ; Material : Marble of the Penteli, region of Athens ; Location : Louvre museum, Paris, France, #MA 80 bis ; Author : Eric... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (600x800, 231 KB) Suject : Portrait of Aristoteles ; Origin : Imperial Roman copy (1st or 2nd century) of a lost bronze sculpture made by Lysippos ; Material : Marble of the Penteli, region of Athens ; Location : Louvre museum, Paris, France, #MA 80 bis ; Author : Eric... Aristotle (Greek: AristotélÄ“s) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ... Aristotles Politics (Greek Πολιτικά) is a work of political philosophy. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Political Science is the field concerning the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behaviour. ... Academia is a collective term for the scientific and cultural community engaged in higher education and research, taken as a whole. ... This article is about the concept. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. ... A political system is a system of politics and government. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Political philosophy is the study of fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why (or even if) they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what... Civics is the science of comparative government and means of administering public trusts—the theory of governance as applied to state institutions. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Comparative politics is a subfield of political science, characterized by an empirical approach based on the comparative method. ... Direct democracy, classically termed pure democracy,[1] comprises a form of democracy and theory of civics wherein sovereignty is lodged in the assembly of all citizens who choose to participate. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      International relations (IR), a branch of political science, is the study of foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multinational corporations (MNCs). ... A countrys foreign policy is a set of political goals that seeks to outline how that particular country will interact with other countries of the world and, to a lesser extent, non-state actors. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Public administration can be broadly described as the study and implementation of policy. ... Public policy is a course of action or inaction chosen by public authorities to address a problem. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... In the context of international relations and diplomacy, power (sometimes clarified as international power, national power, or state power) is the ability of one state to influence or control other states. ... A superpower is a state with the ability to influence events or project power on a wide scale. ...

Political science is methodologically diverse. Approaches to the discipline include classical political philosophy, interpretivism, structuralism, and behavioralism, 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 and official records, secondary sources such as scholarly journal articles, survey research, statistical analysis, case studies, and model building. Herbert Baxter Adams is credited with coining the phrase "political science" while teaching history at Johns Hopkins University. Interpretivism in the social sciences refers to a method, or group of methods, that holds that the social sciences ought to be concerned, not simply with quantifying what actually happens in social phenomena, but in providing an interpretation of events and phenomena in terms of how the people involved understand... Structuralism as a term refers to various theories across the humanities, social sciences and economics many of which share the assumption that structural relationships between concepts vary between different cultures/languages and that these relationships can be usefully exposed and explored. ... Behavioralism (not to be confused with the learning theory, behaviorism) is a political science discipline associated with the rise of the behavioral sciences, modeled after the natural sciences, which seeks to provide a value free, quantified approach to understanding and predicting political behavior. ... Contemporary philosophical realism, also referred to as metaphysical realism, is the belief in a reality that is completely ontologically independent of our conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, etc. ... Institutionalism can refer to: Institutionalism: Hierarchical organized social structures, using tactical division to divide the work force, paying wages less than needed, to pay even basic living costs, believing their own rhetoric and propaganda, serving the pinnacle position to the detriment of the whole, group think, gone mad. ... The social sciences are groups of academic disciplines that study the human aspects of the world. ... Sampling is that part of statistical practice concerned with the selection of individual observations intended to yield some knowledge about a population of concern, especially for the purposes of statistical inference. ... Statistics is the science and practice of developing knowledge through the use of empirical data expressed in quantitative form. ... Case studies involve a particular method of research. ... Herbert Baxter Adams (April 16, 1850 - 1901) was an American educator and historian. ... The Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876, is a private institution of higher learning located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. ...

Psychology

Main article: Psychology

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was the founder experimental psychology

Psychology is an academic and applied field involving the study of behavior and mental processes. 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. Psychology (from Greek: ψυχή, psukhē, spirit, soul; λόγος, logos, knowledge) is both an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Wilhelm Wundt Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (August 16, 1832 – August 31, 1920) was a German physiologist and psychologist. ... Experimental psychology is an approach to psychology that treats it as one of the natural sciences, and therefore assumes that it is susceptible to the experimental method. ... Psychology (from Greek: ψυχή, psukhē, spirit, soul; λόγος, logos, knowledge) is both an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ... Plato is credited with the inception of academia: the body of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations. ... For the song by 311, see Grassroots Applied science is the exact science of applying knowledge from one or more natural scientific fields to practical problems. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Everyday life is the sum total of every aspect of common human life as it is routinely lived. ... A mental illness or mental disorder refers to one of many mental health conditions characterized by distress, impaired cognitive functioning, atypical behavior, emotional dysregulation, and/or maladaptive behavior. ...

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 rely more heavily on field studies and historical methods for extracting descriptive generalizations. 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 behavior, 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. Many people associate Psychology with Clinical Psychology 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, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Mathematical psychology, Neuropsychology, and Quantitative Analysis of Behaviour to name only a few. The word psychology comes from the ancient Greek ψυχή, psyche ("soul", "mind") and logy, study). Anthropology (from Greek: ἀνθρωπος, anthropos, human being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of humanity. ... ‹ The template below is being considered for deletion. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Political Science is the field concerning the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behaviour. ... Sociology (from Latin: socius, companion; and the suffix -ology, the study of, from Greek λόγος, lógos, knowledge) is an academic and applied discipline that studies society and human social interaction. ... Mental functions and cognitive processes are terms often used interchangeably (although not always correctly so, the term cognitive tends to have specific implications - see cognitive and cognitivism) to mean such functions or processes as perception, introspection, memory, imagination, conception, belief, reasoning, volition, and emotion--in other words, all the different... Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. ... Biology studies the variety of life (clockwise from top-left) E. coli, tree fern, gazelle, Goliath beetle Biology (from Greek: βίος, bio, life; and λόγος, logos, knowledge), also referred to as the biological sciences, is the study of living organisms utilizing the scientific method. ... Drawing of the cells in the chicken cerebellum by S. Ramón y Cajal Neuroscience is a field that is devoted to the scientific study of the nervous system. ... Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology and neurology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relate to specific psychological processes and overt behaviors. ... Mathematical Psychology is an approach to psychological research that is based on mathematical modeling of perceptual, cognitive and motor processes, and on the establishment of law-like rules that relate quantifiable stimulus characteristics with quantifiable behavior. ... The Greek language (Greek Ελληνικά, IPA // – Hellenic) is an Indo-European language with a documented history of some 3,000 years. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... The English suffix -ology or -logy denotes a field of study or academic discipline, and -ologist describes a person who studies that field. ...

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 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. In British universities, emphasis on what tenet of psychology a student has studied and/or concentrated is communicated through the degree conferred: B.Psy. indicates a balance between natural and social sciences, B.Sc. indicates a strong (or entire) scientific concentration, whereas a B.A. underlines a majority of social science credits. For the chemical substances known as medicines, see medication. ...

Sociology

Main article: Sociology

Max Weber was a leading German sociologist

Sociology is the study of society and human social action. It generally concerns itself with the social rules and processes that bind and separate people not only as individuals, but as members of associations, groups, communities and 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 contacts between anonymous individuals on the street to the study of global social processes. Most sociologists work in one or more subfields. Sociology (from Latin: socius, companion; and the suffix -ology, the study of, from Greek λόγος, lógos, knowledge) is an academic and applied discipline that studies society and human social interaction. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Max_Weber_1917. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Max_Weber_1917. ... For the politician, see Max Weber (politician). ... Sociology (from Latin: socius, companion; and the suffix -ology, the study of, from Greek λόγος, lógos, knowledge) is an academic and applied discipline that studies society and human social interaction. ... In sociology a social rule refers to any social convention commonly adhered to in a society. ... Process (lat. ... As commonly used, individual refers to a person or to any specific object in a collection. ... A voluntary association (also sometimes called an unincorporated association, or just an association) is a group of individuals who voluntarily enter into an agreement to form a body (or organization) to accomplish a purpose. ... In sociology, a group is usually defined as a collection of humans or animals, who share certain characteristics, interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity. ... A community is a social group of organisms sharing an environment, normally with shared interests. ... A social institution is any institution in a socity that works to socialize the groups or people in it. ... Social contact is a pair of social actions with no further consequence - i. ... A KFC franchise in Kuwait. ... Sociology has many subfields. ...

The meaning of the word comes from the suffix "-ology" which means "study of," derived from Greek, and the stem "soci-" which is from the Latin word socius, meaning member, friend, or ally, thus referring to people in general. It is a social science involving the application of social theory and research methods to the study of the social lives of people, groups, and societies, sometimes defined as the study of social interactions. It is a relatively new academic discipline which evolved in the early 19th century. Although the term social is a crucial category in social science and often used in public discourse, its meaning is often vague, suggesting that it is a fuzzy concept. ... For other uses, see Life (disambiguation). ... In sociology, a group is usually defined as a collection of humans or animals, who share certain characteristics, interact with one another, accept expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity. ... For other uses, see Society (disambiguation). ... Interaction is a kind of action which occurs as two or more objects have an effect upon one another. ... This is a list of academic disciplines (and academic fields). ...

Because sociology is such a broad discipline, it can be difficult to define, even for professional sociologists. 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 a population size or type; criminology examines criminal behavior and deviance; political sociology studies government and laws; and the sociology of race and sociology of gender examine society's racial and gender cleavages. social stratification is the division of people of a particular society on the basis if occupation, income, power, prestige, authority, status, dignity, education, class, castle, gender, race and ethnicity In sociology, social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of social classes, castes and strata within a society. ... Map of countries by population Population growth showing projections for later this century Demography is the statistical study of human populations. ... Criminology is the scientific study of crime as an individual and social phenomenon. ... Political sociology is the study of power and the intersection of personality, social structure and politics. ... Sociology of gender is a prominent subfield of sociology. ...

Sociological methods, theories, and concepts may inspire sociologists to explore the origins of commonly accepted conventions. Sociology offers insights about the social world that extend beyond explanations that rely on individual quirks and personalities. Sociologist may find general social patterns in studying the behaviour of particular individuals and groups. This specific approach to social reality is sometimes called the sociological perspective. ^{[citation needed]} For other uses, see Common sense (disambiguation). ... The sociological perspective is a particular way of approaching a phenomena common in sociology. ...

Sociologists use a diversity of research methods, including case studies, 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 non-academic purposes. 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. Case studies involve a particular method of research. ... Historiography is a term with multiple meanings that has changed with time, place and observer, and is thus resistant to a single encompassing meaning. ... interview An interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked to obtain information about the interviewee. ... Participant observation is a major research strategy which aims to gain a close and intimate familiarity with a given group of individuals (such as a religious, occupational, or deviant group) and their practices through an intensive involvement with people in their natural environment. ... A social network is a map of the relationships between individuals, indicating the ways in which they are connected through various social familiarities ranging from casual acquaintance to close familial bonds. ... Statistical surveys are used to collect quantitative information about items in a population. ... Statistics is the science and practice of developing knowledge through the use of empirical data expressed in quantitative form. ... Public policy is a course of action or inaction chosen by public authorities to address a problem. ... Evaluation is the systematic determination of merit, worth, and significance of something or someone. ... For article assessment policy on Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Article assessment. ... Public sociology is an approach to the discipline which seeks to transcend the academy and engage wider audiences. ...

New sociological sub-fields continue to appear - such as community studies, computational sociology, network analysis, actor-network theory and a growing list, many of which are cross-disciplinary in nature. Community studies is an academic discipine, drawing on sociology and anthropology, and particularly the social research methodology ethnography (participant observation). ... Computational sociology is a recently developed branch of sociology that uses computation to analyze social phenomena. ... Network analysis is the analysis of networks through network theory (or more generally graph theory). ... Actor-network theory, often abbreviated as ANT, is a distinctive approach to social theory and research which originated in the field of science studies. ... Contents   Overviews   Academia   Topics   Basic topics   Glossaries   Portals   Categories // This is a list of academic disciplines. ...

Further fields

• Communication studies
• Development studies
• Information science
• International relations
• Sociobiology

To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Development studies is the multi-disciplinary branch of social science which addresses issues of concern to developing nations. ... The Ancient Library of Alexandria, an early form of information storage and retrieval. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      International relations (IR), a branch of political science, is the study of foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multinational corporations (MNCs). ... This article or section includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...

Social theory and research methods

The social sciences share many social theory perspectives and research methods. Theory perspectives include various types of critical theory, dialectical materialism, feminist theory, assorted branches of Marxist theory such as revolutionary theory and class theory, post-colonial theory, postmodernism as well as the related intellectual criticalism and scientific criticalism, rational choice theory, rational criticalism, social constructionism, structuralism, and structural functionalism. Research methods shared include a wide variety of quantitative and qualitative methods. In the humanities and social sciences, critical theory has two quite different meanings with different origins and histories, one originating in social theory and the other in literary criticism. ... According to many followers of the theories of Karl Marx (or Marxists), dialectical materialism is the philosophical basis of Marxism. ... Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical, ground. ... Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are terms which cover work in philosophy which is strongly influenced by Karl Marxs materialist approach to theory or which is written by Marxists. ... A communist revolution is a social revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism, normally with socialism (public ownership over the means of production) as an intermediate stage. ... Class conflict is both the friction that accompanies social relationships between members or groups of different social classes and the underlying tensions or antagonisms which exist in society. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Postmodernism is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ... Anti-intellectualism describes a sentiment of hostility towards, or mistrust of, intellectuals and intellectual pursuits. ... Antiscience is a position critical of science and the scientific method. ... Rational choice theory assumes human behavior is guided by instrumental reason. ... The philosophical movements of irrationalism and aestheticism were a cultural reaction against positivism that took place during the early twentieth century. ... Social constructionism or social constructivism is a sociological theory of knowledge that considers how social phenomena develop in particular social contexts. ... Structuralism as a term refers to various theories across the humanities, social sciences and economics many of which share the assumption that structural relationships between concepts vary between different cultures/languages and that these relationships can be usefully exposed and explored. ... The article is about functionalism in sociology; for other uses, see functionalism. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Quantitative research. ... The qualitative method in sociology is a research method. ...

The graphism thesis maintains that social sciences do not use graphs as much as natural sciences. In sociology of science, the graphism thesis is a proposition of Bruno Latour that graphs are important in science. ...

Criticism

The social sciences are sometimes criticized as being less scientific than the natural sciences, in that they are seen as being less rigorous or empirical in their methods. This claim is most commonly made when comparing social sciences to fields such as physics, chemistry or biology in which corroboration of the hypothesis is far more incisive with regard to data observed from specifically designed experiments. Social sciences can thus be deemed to be largely observational, in that explanations for cause-effect relationships are largely subjective. A limited degree of freedom is available in designing the factor setting for a particular observational study. Social scientists however, argue against such claims by pointing to the use of a rich variety of scientific processes, mathematical proofs, and other methods in their professional literature. Others, however argue that the social world is much too complex to be studied as one would study static molecules. The actions or reactions of a molecule or chemical substance are always the same when placed in certain situations. Humans, on the other hand, are much too complex for these traditional scientific methodologies. Humans and society do not have certain rules that always have the same outcome and they cannot guarantee to react the same way to certain situations. A third criticism is that social sciences tend to be compromised more frequently by politics, since results from social science may threaten certain centers of power in a society, particularly ones which fund the research institutions. Further, complexity exacerbates the problems, since observed social data may be the result of factors which are hard to evaluate in isolation. The term natural science as the way in which different fields of study are defined is determined as much by historical convention as by the present day meaning of the words. ...

Not all institutions recognize some fields listed above as social sciences or as being only social scientific. Some disciplines have characteristics of both the humanities, social and natural sciences: for example some subfields of anthropology, such as biological anthropology, are closely related to the natural sciences whereas archaeology and linguistics are social sciences, while cultural anthropology is very much linked with the humanities. Note that social science methodologies are being incorporated into so-called hard science fields like medicine, where a three-legged stool to the understanding of physical well-being is now emphasized in the medical curriculum: biological, socio-psychological, and environmental. Anthropology (from Greek: ἀνθρωπος, anthropos, human being; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of humanity. ... Physical anthropology, sometimes called biological anthropology, studies the mechanisms of biological evolution, genetic inheritance, human adaptability and variation, primatology, primate morphology, and the fossil record of human evolution. ... For the magazine about archaeology, see Archaeology (magazine). ... Linguistics is the scientific study of language, which can be theoretical or applied. ...

Notes and references

Geoffrey Ronald Robertson QC (born September 30, 1946 in Sydney) is an Australian human rights lawyer, academic, author and broadcaster. ... H. L. A. Hart (Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart) (1907-1992) is considered one of the most important legal philosophers of the twentieth century. ... The Concept of Law (ISBN 0-19-876122-8) is the most famous work of the legal philosopher H. L. A. Hart. ... Ronald Dworkin (born 1931) is an American legal philosopher, and currently professor of Jurisprudence at University College London and the New York University School of Law. ... Joseph Raz (born 1939) is an influential legal, moral and political philosopher. ... John Austin (1790 - 1859) was a noted British jurist. ...

Book sources

The beginnings of the social sciences in the 18th century are reflected in the grand encyclopedia of Diderot, with articles from Rousseau and other pioneers. The growth of the social sciences is also reflected in its specialised encyclopedias. The older editions are therefore of strong historical interest while the newest reflects current discussions and methodologies. “Cyclopedia” redirects here. ... Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (October 5, 1713 - July 31, 1784) was a French writer and philosopher. ... Rousseau is a French surname. ...

• Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (1934)
• International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (1968), ed., David L. Sills and Robert K. Merton.
• International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (2001), ed., Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes, Amsterdam: Elsevier.

The International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences was first published in 1968. ... Editing Robert K. Merton This article is about the sociologist. ... The International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (2001), edited by Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes, is a 26-volume work. ... Neil J. Smelser was a University of California Berkeley sociologist who studied collective behavior. ... Paul B. Baltes (Saarlouis, June 18, 1939 - Berlin, November 7, 2006) was a renowned German psychologist, credited with developing the selective optimization with compensation theory and theories on successful aging as well as developing theories on lifespan and wisdom. ...

Further reading

• Wikibooks: Introduction to sociology
• Efferson, C. & Richerson, P.J. (In press). A prolegomenon to nonlinear empiricism in the human behavioral sciences. Philosophy and Biology. Full text

• Singleton, Royce, A., Straits, Bruce C., "Approaches to Social Research", Oxford University Press, 1988. ISBN 0195147944

Oxford University Press (OUP) is a highly-respected publishing house and a department of the University of Oxford in England. ...

Academic resources

• The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, ISSN: 1552-3349 (electronic) ISSN: 0002-7162 (paper), SAGE Publications

See also

Main list: List of major social sciences

• List of academic disciplines
• Science
  • Fields of science
    • Natural sciences
    • Behavioral sciences
    • Social sciences
  • History of science
  • History of technology
• Humanities

The social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that study human aspects of the world. ... Contents   Overviews   Academia   Topics   Basic topics   Glossaries   Portals   Categories // This is a list of academic disciplines. ... Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ... Fields of science are widely-recognized categories of specialized expertise within science, and typically embody their own terminology and nomenclature. ... The Michelson–Morley experiment was used to disprove that light propagated through a luminiferous aether. ... Behaviorism (or behaviourism) is an approach to psychology based on the proposition that behavior is interesting and worthy of scientific research. ... Science is a body of empirical, theoretical, and practical knowledge about the natural world, produced by a global community of researchers making use of a body of techniques known as scientific methods, emphasizing the observation, experimentation and scientific explanation of real world phenomena. ... The wheel was invented circa 4000 BC, and has become one of the worlds most famous, and most useful technologies. ... The humanities are those academic disciplines which study the human condition using methods that are largely analytic, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural and social sciences. ...

External links

• Social Science Virtual Library
• UC Berkeley Experimental Social Science Laboratory
• Intute: Social Sciences (UK)
• psychologists
• History of Social Science
• On the Social Sciences Critical Essays
• praxeology as the method of the social sciences
• in defense of extreme apriorism