Social Sciences

• Social science is the branch of science devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies
• Term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of society", established in the 19th century
• In addition to sociology, it now encompasses a wide array of academic disciplines, including
  • anthropology
  • archaeology
  • economics
  • human geography
  • linguistics
  • management science
  • political science
  • psychology
  • history

• Positivist social scientists use methods resembling those of the natural sciences as tools for understanding society, and so define science in its stricter modern sense
• Interpretivist social scientists, by contrast, may use social critique or symbolic interpretation rather than constructing empirically falsifiable theories, and thus treat science in its broader sense
• In modern academic practice, researchers are often eclectic, using multiple methodologies (for instance, by combining both quantitative and qualitative research)
• The term "social research" has also acquired a degree of autonomy as practitioners from various disciplines share the same aims and methods