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Social sciencesThe social sciences are the fields of scholarship that study society.[1] "Social science" is commonly used as anumbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences. These include: anthropology,archaeology, business administration, criminology, development studies, economics, geography, history, law,linguistics, political science, sociology, international relations, communication, vocationomics and, in some contexts,psychology.[2] [3]

The term may be used, however, in the specific context of referring to the original science of society established in19th century sociology. Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber are typically cited as the principal architects ofmodern social science by this definition.[4] Positivist social scientists use methods resembling those of the naturalsciences as tools for understanding society, and so define science in its stricter modern sense. Interpretivist socialscientists, by contrast, may use social critique or symbolic interpretation rather than constructing empiricallyfalsifiable theories, and thus treat science in its broader classical sense. In modern academic practice researchers areoften eclectic, using multiple methodologies (for instance, by combining the quantitative and qualitative techniques).The term "social research" has also acquired a degree of autonomy as practitioners from various disciplines share inits aims and methods.

Social science historyThe history of the social sciences begins in the roots of ancient philosophy. In Ancient history, there was nodifference between mathematics and the study of history, poetry or politics. This unity of science as descriptiveremains and deductive reasoning from axioms created a scientific framework.The Age of Enlightenment saw a revolution within natural philosophy, changing the basic framework by whichindividuals understood what was "scientific". In some quarters, the accelerating trend of mathematical studiespresumed a reality independent of the observer and worked by its own rules. Social sciences came forth from themoral philosophy of the time and was influenced by the Age of Revolutions, such as the Industrial revolution and theFrench revolution.[1] The social sciences developed from the sciences (experimental and applied), or the systematicknowledge-bases or prescriptive practices, relating to the social improvement of a group of interacting entities.[5] [6]

The beginnings of the social sciences in the 18th century are reflected in various grand encyclopedia of Diderot, witharticles from Rousseau and other pioneers. The growth of the social sciences is also reflected in other specializedencyclopedias. The modern period saw "social science" first used as a distinct conceptual field.[7] Social science wasinfluenced by positivism,[1] focusing on knowledge based on actual positive sense experience and avoiding thenegative; metaphysical speculation was avoided. Auguste Comte used the term "science social" to describe the field,taken from the ideas of Charles Fourier; Comte also referred to the field as social physics.[1] [8]

Following this period, there were five paths of development that sprang forth in the Social Sciences, influenced byComte or other fields.[1] One route that was taken was the rise of social research. Large statistical surveys wereundertaken in various parts of the United States and Europe. Another route undertaken was initiated by ÉmileDurkheim, studying "social facts", and Vilfredo Pareto, opening metatheoretical ideas and individual theories. Athird means developed, arising from the methodological dichotomy present, in which the social phenomena wasidentified with and understood; this was championed by figures such as Max Weber. The fourth route taken, based ineconomics, was developed and furthered economic knowledge as a hard science. The last path was the correlation ofknowledge and social values; the antipositivism and verstehen sociology of Max Weber firmly demanded on thisdistinction. In this route, theory (description) and prescription were non-overlapping formal discussions of a subject.Around the turn 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

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subfields became very quantitative in methodology. Conversely, the interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary nature ofscientific inquiry into human behavior and social and environmental factors affecting it made many of the naturalsciences interested in some aspects of social science methodology.[9] Examples of boundary blurring includeemerging disciplines like social research of medicine, sociobiology, neuropsychology, bioeconomics and the historyand sociology of science. Increasingly, quantitative research and qualitative methods are being integrated in thestudy of human action and its implications and consequences. In the first half of the 20th century, statistics became afree-standing discipline of applied mathematics. Statistical methods were used confidently.In the contemporary period, Karl Popper and Talcott Parsons influenced the furtherance of the social sciences.[1]

Researchers continues to search for a unified consensus on what methodology might have the power and refinementto connect a proposed "grand theory" with the various midrange theories which, with considerable success, continueto provide usable frameworks for massive, growing data banks; for more, see consilience. At present though, thevarious realms of social science progress in a myriad of ways, increasing the overall knowledge of society. Thesocial sciences will for the foreseeable future be composed of different zones in the research of, and sometimedistinct in approach toward, the field.[1]

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 19thcentury, the academic social sciences were constituted of five fields: jurisprudence and amendment of the law,education, health, economy and trade, and art.[5]

Branches of social science

Social Science areas

The following are problem areas and discipline branches within the social sciences.[1]

• Anthropology• Business studies• Communication studies• Criminology• Demography• Development studies• Economics• Education• Geography• History• Industrial relations• Law• Linguistics• Media studies• Methodology• Philosophy• Political science• Psychology• Public administration• Sociology• Legal Management• Paralegal studies• International studies• Library Science• Information Science

The Social Science disciplines are branches of knowledge which are taught and researched at the college oruniversity level. Social Science disciplines are defined and recognized by the academic journals in which research is

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published, and the learned Social Science societies and academic departments or faculties to which their practitionersbelong. Social Science fields of study usually have several sub-disciplines or branches, and the distinguishing linesbetween these are often both arbitrary and ambiguous.

AnthropologyAnthropology is the holistic "science of man," - a science of the totality of human existence. The discipline dealswith the integration of different aspects of the Social Sciences, Humanities, and Human Biology. In the twentiethcentury, academic disciplines have often been institutionally divided into three broad domains. The natural sciencesseek to derive general laws through reproducible and verifiable experiments. The humanities generally study localtraditions, through their history, literature, music, and arts, with an emphasis on understanding particular individuals,events, or eras. The social sciences have generally attempted to develop scientific methods to understand socialphenomena in a generalizable way, though usually with methods distinct from those of the natural sciences.The anthropological social sciences often develop nuanced descriptions rather than the general laws derived inphysics or chemistry, or they may explain individual cases through more general principles, as in many fields ofpsychology. Anthropology (like some fields of history) does not easily fit into one of these categories, and differentbranches of anthropology draw on one or more of these domains.[10] Within the United States, Anthropology isdivided into four sub-fields:Archaeology, Physical or Biological Anthropology, Anthropological Linguistics, andCultural Anthropology. It is an area that is offered at most undergraduate institutions. 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."The goal of anthropology is to provide a holistic account of humans and human nature. This means that, thoughanthropologists 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 werecomplex and industrial, a major trend within anthropology has been a methodological drive to study peoples insocieties with more simple social organization, sometimes called "primitive" in anthropological literature, butwithout any connotation of "inferior."[11] Today, anthropologists use terms such as "less complex" societies or referto specific modes of subsistence or production, such as "pastoralist" or "forager" or "horticulturalist" to refer tohumans living in non-industrial, non-Western cultures, such people or folk (ethnos) remaining of great interestwithin anthropology.The quest for holism leads most anthropologists to study a people in detail, using biogenetic, archaeological, andlinguistic data alongside direct observation of contemporary customs.[12] In the 1990s and 2000s, calls forclarification of what constitutes a culture, of how an observer knows where his or her own culture ends and anotherbegins, and other crucial topics in writing anthropology were heard. It is possible to view all human cultures as partof one large, evolving global culture. These dynamic relationships, between what can be observed on the ground, asopposed to what can be observed by compiling many local observations remain fundamental in any kind ofanthropology, whether cultural, biological, linguistic or archaeological.[13]

EconomicsEconomics is a social science that seeks to analyze and describe the production, distribution, and consumption ofwealth.[14] 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 personusing economic concepts and data in the course of employment, or someone who has earned a university degree inthe subject. The classic brief definition of economics, set out by Lionel Robbins in 1932, is "the science whichstudies human behavior as a relation between scarce means having alternative uses." Without scarcity and alternativeuses, there is no economic problem. Briefer yet is "the study of how people seek to satisfy needs and wants" and "thestudy of the financial aspects of human behaviour."

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

Economics has two broad branches: microeconomics, wherethe unit of analysis is the individual agent, such as a householdor firm, and macroeconomics, where the unit of analysis is aneconomy as a whole. Another division of the subjectdistinguishes positive economics, which seeks to predict andexplain economic phenomena, from normative economics,which orders choices and actions by some criterion; suchorderings necessarily involve subjective value judgments.Since the early part of the 20th century, economics has focusedlargely on measurable quantities, employing both theoreticalmodels and empirical analysis. Quantitative models, however,can be traced as far back as the physiocratic school. Economic reasoning has been increasingly applied in recentdecades to other social situations such as politics, law, psychology, history, religion, marriage and family life, andother social interactions. This paradigm crucially assumes (1) that resources are scarce because they are notsufficient to satisfy all wants, and (2) that "economic value" is willingness to pay as revealed for instance by market(arms' length) transactions. Rival heterodox schools of thought, such as institutional economics, green economics,Marxist economics, and economic sociology, make other grounding assumptions. For example, Marxist economicsassumes that economics primarily deals with the exchange of value, and that labor (human effort) is the source of allvalue.

The expanding domain of economics in the social sciences has been described as economic imperialism.[15] [16]

Education

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

Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills,and also something less tangible but more profound: theimparting of knowledge, positive judgement andwell-developed wisdom. Education has as one of itsfundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generationto generation (see socialization). To educate means 'to drawout', from the Latin educare, or to facilitate the realization ofan individual's potential and talents. It is an application ofpedagogy, a body of theoretical and applied research relating toteaching and learning and draws on many disciplines such aspsychology, philosophy, computer science, linguistics,neuroscience, sociology and anthropology.[17]

The education of an individual human begins at birth andcontinues 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'sadmonition to "never let school interfere with your education"). Family members may have a profound educationaleffect — often more profound than they realize — though family teaching may function very informally.

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Geography

Geography as a discipline can be split broadly into two mainsub fields: human geography and physical geography. Theformer focuses largely on the built environment and how spaceis created, viewed and managed by humans as well as theinfluence humans have on the space they occupy. The latterexamines the natural environment and how the climate,vegetation & life, soil, water and landforms are produced andinteract.[18] As a result of the two subfields using differentapproaches a third field has emerged, which is environmentalgeography. Environmental geography combines physical and human geography and looks at the interactionsbetween the environment and humans.[19]

Geographers attempt to understand the earth in terms of physical and spatial relationships. The first geographersfocused 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. Historical geography is often taughtin a college in a unified Department of Geography.Modern geography is an all-encompassing discipline, closely related to GISc, that seeks to understand humanity andits natural environment. The fields of Urban Planning, Regional Science, and Planetology are closely related togeography. Practitioners of geography use many technologies and methods to collect data such as GIS, remotesensing, aerial photography, statistics, and global positioning systems (GPS).The field of geography is generally split into two distinct branches: physical and human. Physical geographyexamines phenomena related to climate, oceans, soils, and the measurement of earth. Human geography focuses onfields as diverse as Cultural geography, transportation, health, military operations, and cities. Other branches ofgeography include Social geography, regional geography, geomatics, and environmental geography.

HistoryHistory is the continuous, systematic narrative and research into past human events as interpreted throughhistoriographical paradigms or theories, such as the Turner Thesis about the American frontier.History has a base in both the social sciences and the humanities. In the United States the National Endowment forthe Humanities includes history in its definition of a Humanities (as it does for applied Linguistics).[20] However theNational Research Council classifies History as a Social science.[21] The historical method comprises the techniquesand guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other evidence to research and then to write history. TheSocial Science History Association, formed in 1976, brings together scholars from numerous disciplines interested insocial history.[22]

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Law

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

Law in common parlance, means a rule which (unlike a rule ofethics) is capable of enforcement through institutions.[23] Thestudy of law crosses the boundaries between the social sciencesand humanities, depending on one's view of research into itsobjectives and effects. Law is not always enforceable,especially in the international relations context. It has beendefined as a "system of rules",[24] as an "interpretiveconcept"[25] to achieve justice, as an "authority"[26] to mediatepeople's interests, and even as "the command of a sovereign,backed by the threat of a sanction".[27] However one likes tothink of law, it is a completely central social institution. Legalpolicy incorporates the practical manifestation of thinking fromalmost 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, caselaw 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 lawderives from the late Old English lagu, meaning something laid down or fixed[28] and the adjective legal comes fromthe Latin word lex.[29]

Linguistics

Ferdinand de Saussure, recognized as the father of modernlinguistics

Linguistics investigates the cognitive and social aspects ofhuman language. The field is divided into areas that focus onaspects of the linguistic signal, such as syntax (the study of therules that govern the structure of sentences), semantics (thestudy of meaning), morphology (the study of the structure ofwords), phonetics (the study of speech sounds) and phonology(the study of the abstract sound system of a particularlanguage); however, work in areas like evolutionary linguistics(the study of the origins and evolution of language) andpsycholinguistics (the study of psychological factors in humanlanguage) cut across these divisions.

The overwhelming majority of modern research in linguisticstakes a predominantly synchronic perspective (focusing onlanguage at a particular point in time), and a great deal ofit—partly owing to the influence of Noam Chomsky—aims atformulating theories of the cognitive processing of language.However, language does not exist in a vacuum, or only in thebrain, and approaches like contact linguistics, creole studies,discourse analysis, social interactional linguistics, andsociolinguistics explore language in its social context. Sociolinguistics often makes use of traditional quantitativeanalysis 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

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early 20th centuries. Ferdinand Saussure is considered the father of modern linguistics.

Political science

Aristotle asserted that man is a political animal in hisPolitics

Political science is an academic and research discipline thatdeals with the theory and practice of politics and thedescription and analysis of political systems and politicalbehaviour. Fields and subfields of political science includepositive political economy, political theory and philosophy,civics and comparative politics, theory of direct democracy,apolitical governance, participatory direct democracy, nationalsystems, cross-national political analysis, politicaldevelopment, international relations, foreign policy,international law, politics, public administration, administrativebehavior, public law, judicial behavior, and public policy.Political science also studies power in international relationsand the theory of Great powers and Superpowers.

Political science is methodologically diverse, although recentyears have witnessed an upsurge in the use of the scientificmethod [30]. That is the proliferation of formal-deductivemodel building and quantitative hypothesis testing. Approachesto the discipline include rational choice, classical politicalphilosophy, interpretivism, structuralism, and behavioralism,realism, pluralism, and institutionalism. Political science, asone of the social sciences, uses methods and techniques that relate to the kinds of inquiries sought: primary sourcessuch as historical documents, interviews, and official records, as well as secondary sources such as scholarly journalarticles are used in building and testing theories. Empirical methods include survey research, statisticalanalysis/econometrics, case studies, experiments, and model building. Herbert Baxter Adams is credited with coiningthe phrase "political science" while teaching history at Johns Hopkins University.

Public administration

One of the main branches of political science, public administration can be broadly described as the development,implementation and study of branches of government policy. The pursuit of the public good by enhancing civilsociety and social justice is the ultimate goal of the field. Though public administration has historically referred to asgovernment management, it increasingly encompasses non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that also operatewith a similar, primary dedication to the betterment of humanity.Differentiating public administration from business administration, a closely related field, has become a popularmethod for defining the discipline by contrasting the two. First, the goals of public administration are more closelyrelated to those often cited as goals of the American founders and democratic people in general. That is, publicemployees work to improve equality, justice, security, efficiency, effectiveness, and, at times, for profit. Thesevalues help to both differentiate the field from business administration, primarily concerned with profit, and definethe discipline. Second, public administration is a relatively new, multidisciplinary field. Woodrow Wilson's TheStudy of Administration is frequently cited as the seminal work. Wilson advocated a more professional operation ofpublic officials' daily activities. Further, the future president identified the necessity in the United States of aseparation between party politics and good bureaucracy, which has also been a lasting theme.The multidisciplinary nature of public administration is related to a third defining feature: administrative duties.Public administrators work in public agencies, at all levels of government, and perform a wide range of tasks. Public

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administrators collect and analyze data (statistics), monitor fiscal operations (budgets, accounts, and cash flow),organize large events and meetings, draft legislation, develop policy, and frequently execute legally mandated,government activities. Regarding this final facet, public administrators find themselves serving as parole officers,secretaries, note takers, paperwork processors, record keepers, notaries of the public, cashiers, and managers. Indeed,the discipline couples well with many vocational fields such as information technology, finance, law, andengineering. When it comes to the delivery and evaluation of public services, a public administrator is undoubtedlyinvolved.

Psychology

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was the founder ofexperimental psychology

Psychology is an academic and applied field involving thestudy of behavior and mental processes. Psychology also refersto the application of such knowledge to various spheres ofhuman activity, including problems of individuals' daily livesand the treatment of mental illness.

Psychology differs from anthropology, economics, politicalscience, and sociology in seeking to capture explanatorygeneralizations about the mental function and overt behaviourof individuals, while the other disciplines focus on creatingdescriptive generalizations about the functioning of socialgroups or situation-specific human behavior. In practice,however, there is quite a lot of cross-fertilization that takesplace among the various fields. Psychology differs frombiology and neuroscience in that it is primarily concerned with the interaction of mental processes and behavior, andof the overall processes of a system, and not simply the biological or neural processes themselves, though thesubfield of neuropsychology combines the study of the actual neural processes with the study of the mental effectsthey have subjectively produced. Many people associate Psychology with Clinical Psychology which focuses onassessment and treatment of problems in living and psychopathology. In reality, Psychology has myriad specialtiesincluding: Social Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Industrial-OrganizationalPsychology, Mathematical psychology, Neuropsychology, and Quantitative Analysis of Behaviour to name only afew. The word psychology comes from the ancient Greek ψυχή, psyche ("soul", "mind") and logy, study).

Psychology is a very broad science that is rarely tackled as a whole, major block. Although some subfieldsencompass a natural science base and a social science application, others can be clearly distinguished as having littleto do with the social sciences or having a lot to do with the social sciences. For example, biological psychology isconsidered a natural science with a social scientific application (as is clinical medicine), social and occupationalpsychology are, generally speaking, purely social sciences, whereas neuropsychology is a natural science that lacksapplication out of the scientific tradition entirely. In British universities, emphasis on what tenet of psychology astudent has studied and/or concentrated is communicated through the degree conferred: B.Psy. indicates a balancebetween natural and social sciences, B.Sc. indicates a strong (or entire) scientific concentration, whereas a B.A.underlines a majority of social science credits.

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Sociology

Émile Durkheim is considered one of the founding fathersof sociology.

Sociology is the scientific or systematic study of society andhuman social action. The meaning of the word comes from thesuffix "-ology" which means "study of," derived from Greek,and the stem "soci-" which is from the Latin word socius,meaning "companion", or society in general.

Sociology was originally established by Auguste Comte(1798–1857) in 1838.[31] Comte endeavoured to unify history,psychology and economics through the scientific understandingof the social realm. He proposed that social ills could beremedied through sociological positivism, an epistemologicalapproach outlined in The Course in Positive Philosophy[1830–1842] and A General View of Positivism (1844). ThoughComte is generally regarded as the "Father of Sociology", thediscipline was formally established by another French thinker,Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), who developed positivism as afoundation to practical social research. Durkheim set up thefirst European department of sociology at the University ofBordeaux in 1895, publishing his Rules of the SociologicalMethod. In 1896, he established the journal L'AnnéeSociologique. Durkheim's seminal monograph, Suicide (1897),a case study of suicide rates amongst Catholic and Protestantpopulations, distinguished sociological analysis from psychology or philosophy.[32]

Karl Marx rejected Comtean positivism but nevertheless aimed to establish a science of society based on historicalmaterialism, becoming recognised as a founding figure of sociology posthumously as the term gained broadermeaning. At the turn of the 20th century, the first wave of German sociologists, including Max Weber and GeorgSimmel, developed sociological antipositivism. The field may be broadly recognised as an amalgam of three modesof social scientific thought in particular: Durkheimian positivism and structural functionalism; Marxist historicalmaterialism and conflict theory; Weberian antipositivism and verstehen analysis. American sociology broadly aroseon a separate trajectory, with little Marxist influence, an emphasis on rigorous scientific methodology, and a closerassociation with pragmatism and social psychology. In the 1920s, the Chicago school developed symbolicinteractionism. Meanwhile in the 1930s, the Frankfurt School pioneered the idea of critical theory, aninterdisciplinary form of Marxist sociology drawing upon thinkers as diverse as Sigmund Freud and FriedrichNietzsche. Critical theory would take on something of a life of its own after World War II, influencing literarycriticism and the Birmingham School establishment of cultural studies.

Sociology evolved as an academic response to the challenges of modernity, such as industrialization, urbanization, secularization, and a perceived process of enveloping rationalization.[33] Because sociology is such a broad discipline, it can be difficult to define, even for professional sociologists. The field generally concerns 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. 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. 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

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population size or type; criminology examines criminal behavior and deviance; and political sociology studies theinteraction between society and state.Since its inception, sociological epistemologies, methods, and frames of enquiry, have significantly expanded anddiverged.[34] Sociologists use a diversity of research methods, drawing upon either empirical techniques or criticaltheory. Common modern methods include case studies, historical research, interviewing, participant observation,social network analysis, survey research, statistical analysis, and model building, among other approaches. Since thelate 1970s, many sociologists have tried to make the discipline useful for non-academic purposes. The results ofsociological research aid educators, lawmakers, administrators, developers, and others interested in resolving socialproblems and formulating public policy, through subdisciplinary areas such as evaluation research, methodologicalassessment, and public sociology. New sociological sub-fields continue to appear - such as community studies,computational sociology, environmental sociology, network analysis, actor-network theory and a growing list, manyof which are cross-disciplinary in nature.

Further fieldsAdditional Social Science disciplines and fields of study include:• Archaeology is the science that studies human cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and

interpretation of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, features, biofacts, andlandscapes.

• Area studies are interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical,national/federal, or cultural regions.

• Behavioral science is a term that encompasses all the disciplines that explore the activities of and interactionsamong organisms in the natural world.

• Communication studies is an academic field that deals with processes of communication, commonly defined asthe sharing of symbols over distances in space and time.

• Demography is the statistical study of all populations.• Development studies a multidisciplinary branch of social science which addresses issues of concern to developing

countries.• Environmental studies integrate social, humanistic, and natural science perspectives on the relation between

humans and the natural environment.• Information science is an interdisciplinary science primarily concerned with the collection, classification,

manipulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information.• International studies covers both International relations (the study of foreign affairs and global issues among

states within the international system) and International education (the comprehensive approach that intentionallyprepares people to be active and engaged participants in an interconnected world).

• Journalism is the craft of conveying news, descriptive material and comment via a widening spectrum of media.• Legal management is a social sciences discipline that is designed for students interested in the study of State and

Legal elements.• Library science is an interdisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management,

information technology, education, and other areas to libraries; the collection, organization, preservation anddissemination of information resources; and the political economy of information.

• Management in all business and human organization activity is simply the act of getting people together toaccomplish desired goals and objectives.

• Political economy is the study of production, buying and selling, and their relations with law, custom, andgovernment.

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Methodology and theory

Social researchThe origin of the survey can be traced back at least early as the Domesday Book in 1086,[35] [36] whilst somescholars pinpoint the origin of demography to 1663 with the publication of John Graunt's Natural and PoliticalObservations upon the Bills of Mortality.[37] Social research began most intentionally, however, with the positivistphilosophy of science in the 19th century.In contemporary usage, "social research" is a relatively autonomous term, encompassing the work of practitionersfrom various disciplines which share in its aims and methods. Social scientists employ a range of methods in order toanalyse a vast breadth of social phenomena; from census survey data derived from millions of individuals, to thein-depth analysis of a single agents' social experiences; from monitoring what is happening on contemporary streets,to the investigation of ancient historical documents. The methods originally rooted in classical sociology andstatistical mathematics have formed the basis for research in other disciplines, such as political science, mediastudies, and market research.Social research methods may be divided into two broad schools:• 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 reliablegeneral claims.

• Qualitative designs emphasize understanding of social phenomena through direct observation, communicationwith 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.Social science is distinguished from natural science to the extent that workable abstract or theoretical concepts (ie."social class") always need to be constructed in the abstract. Questionnaires, field-based data collection, archivaldatabase information and laboratory-based data collections are some of the measurement techniques used. It is notedthe importance of measurement and analysis, focusing on the (difficult to achieve) goal of objective research orstatistical hypothesis testing. A mathematical model uses mathematical language to describe a system. The processof developing a mathematical model is termed 'mathematical modelling' (also modeling). Eykhoff (1974) defined amathematical model as 'a representation of the essential aspects of an existing system (or a system to be constructed)which presents knowledge of that system in usable form'.[38] Mathematical models can take many forms, includingbut not limited to dynamical systems, statistical models, differential equations, or game theoretic models.These and other types of models can overlap, with a given model involving a variety of abstract structures. Thesystem is a set of interacting or interdependent entities, real or abstract, forming an integrated whole. The concept ofan integrated whole can also be stated in terms of a system embodying a set of relationships which are differentiatedfrom relationships of the set to other elements, and from relationships between an element of the set and elementsnot a part of the relational regime. Dynamical system modeled as a mathematical formalization has fixed "rule"which describes the time dependence of a point's position in its ambient space. Small changes in the state of thesystem correspond to small changes in the numbers. The evolution rule of the dynamical system is a fixed rule thatdescribes what future states follow from the current state. The rule is deterministic: for a given time interval only onefuture state follows from the current state.

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TheoryOther social scientists emphasize the subjective nature of research. These writers share social theory perspectivesthat 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 theories, such as revolutionary theory and class theory, cover work in philosophy which is strongly

influenced by Karl Marx's materialist approach to theory or which is written by Marxists.• Phronetic social science is an approach to the study of social – including political and economic – phenomena

based on a contemporary interpretation of the classical Greek concept phronesis, variously translated as practicaljudgment, common sense, or prudence.

• Post-colonial theory are reactions to the cultural legacy of colonialism.• Postmodernism refer 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 20thcentury.

• Rational choice theory is a framework for understanding and often formally modeling social and economicbehavior.

• Social constructionism is knowledge that consider 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 which addresses what social functions various elements of the

social system perform in regard to the entire system.Other fringe social scientists delve in alternative nature of research. These writers share social theory perspectivesthat include various types of the following:• Intellectual critical-ism describes a sentiment of critique towards, or evaluation of, intellectuals and intellectual

pursuits.• Scientific criticalism is a position critical of science and the scientific method.• Rational criticalism is a cultural reaction against positivism in the early 20th century.

Education and degreesMost universities offer degrees in social science fields.[39] The Bachelor of Social Science is a degree targeted at thesocial sciences in particular. It is often more flexible and in-depth than other degrees which include social sciencesubjects.[40]

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 Sciencedegree such as those given by the London School of Economics, as the social sciences constitute one of the two mainbranches of science (the other being the natural sciences). In addition, some institutions have degrees for a particularsocial science, such as the Bachelor of Economics degree, though such specialized degrees are relatively rare in theUnited States.

Social sciences 13

Further readingWikibooks• Wikibooks: Introduction to sociology [41]

General sources• Roger E. Backhouse and Philippe Fontaine, eds. (2010) The History of the Social Sciences Since 1945

(Cambridge University Press) 256 pages; covers the conceptual, institutional, and wider histories of economics,political science, sociology, social anthropology, psychology, and human geography.

• Hargittai, E. (2009). Research Confidential: Solutions to Problems Most Social Scientists Pretend They NeverHave [42]. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

• Hunt, E. F., & Colander, D. C. (2008). Social science: An introduction to the study of society [43]. Boston:Peason/Allyn and Bacon.

• Gorton, W. A. (2006). Karl Popper and the social sciences. SUNY series in the philosophy of the social sciences.Albany: State University of New York Press.

• Galavotti, M. C. (2003). Observation and experiment in the natural and social sciences [44]. Boston studies in thephilosophy of science, v. 232. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.

• Trigg, R. (2001). Understanding social science: A philosophical introduction to the social sciences. Malden,Mass: Blackwell Publishers.

• Shionoya, Y. (1997). Schumpeter and the idea of social science: A metatheoretical study [45]. Historicalperspectives on modern economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Delanty, G. (1997). Social science: Beyond constructivism and realism. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press.• Singleton, Royce, A. [46], Straits, Bruce C. (1988). "Approaches to Social Research" [47], Oxford University

Press. ISBN 0-19-514794-4• Rule, J. B. (1997). Theory and progress in social science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.• Thomas, D. (1979). Naturalism and social science: a post-empiricist philosophy of social science [48]. CUP

Archive. ISBN 0-521-29660-9, 9780521296601.• Carey, H. C., & McKean, K. (1883). Manual of social science; Being a condensation of the "Principles of social

science" of H.C. Carey [49]. Philadelphia: Baird.• Harris, F. R. (1973). Social science and national policy [50]. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books; distributed

by Dutton.• Krimerman, L. I. (1969). The nature and scope of social science; A critical anthology. New York:

Appleton-Century-Crofts.• Weber, M (1904). The Relations Of The Rural Community To Other Branches Of Social Science [51]. Congress of

arts and science: Universal exposition, St. Louis, 1904. Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1906Academic resources• The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, ISSN: 1552-3349 [52] (electronic) ISSN:

0002-7162 (paper), SAGE Publications• Efferson, C. & Richerson, P.J. (In press). A prolegomenon to nonlinear empiricism in the human behavioral

sciences. Philosophy and Biology. Full text [53]

Opponents and critics• Phil Hutchinson, Rupert Read and Wes Sharrock (2008). There's No Such Thing as a Social Science [54]. ISBN

978-0-7546-4776-8• Sabia, D. R., & Wallulis, J. (1983). Changing social science [55]: Critical theory and other critical perspectives.

Albany: State University of New York Press.

Social sciences 14

References20th and 21st century sources• Flyvbjerg, B. (2001). Making social science matter: Why social inquiry fails and how it can succeed again.

Oxford, UK: Cambridge University Press.• Neil J. Smelser and Paul B. Baltes (2001). International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences,

Amsterdam: Elsevier. (ed., available in limited preview [56] at Google books.)• Byrne, D. S. (1998). Complexity theory and the social sciences: an introduction [57]. Routledge. ISBN

0-415-16296-3• Kuper, A., & Kuper, J. (1985). The Social science encyclopedia. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. (ed., a

limited preview of the 1996 version [58] is available.,.,)• Lave, C. A., & March, J. G. (1993). An introduction to models in the social sciences [59]. 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). Society and the social sciences An introduction [60]. 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.• Ward, L. F. (1924). Dynamic sociology ; or, Applied social science: As based upon statical sociology and the less

complex sciences [61]. New York: D. Appleton.• Leavitt, F. M., & Brown, E. (1920). Elementary social science [62]. New York: Macmillan.• Bogardus, E. S. (1913). Introduction to the social sciences; A textbook outline [63]. Los Angeles: Ralston Press.• Small, A. W. (1910). The meaning of social science [64]. Chicago, Ill: The University of Chicago press.19th century sources• Andrews, S. P., & Andrews, S. P. (1888). The science of society [65]. Boston, Mass: Sarah E. Holmes.• Denslow, V. B. (1882). Modern thinkers principally upon social science [66]: What they think, and why. Chicago:

Belford, Clarke &.• Harris, William Torrey (1879). Method of Study in Social Science [67]: 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). Present status of social science. A review, historical and critical, of the progress of

thought in social philosophy [68]. New York: H.L. Hinton.• Carey, H. C. (1867). Principles of social science. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co. [etc.]. Volume I [69],

Volume II [70], Volume III [71].• Calvert, G. H. (1856). Introduction to social science [72]: A discourse in three parts. New York: Redfield.Footnotes[1] Kuper, A., & Kuper, J. (1985).[2] 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[3] http:/ / www. staff. u-szeged. hu/ ~garai/ Vygotskyboom. htm L. Garai and M. Kocski: Another crisis in the psychology: A possible motive

for the Vygotsky-boom. Journal of Russian and East-European Psychology. 1995. 33:1. 82-94.[4] http:/ / plato. stanford. edu/ entries/ weber/ Max Weber - Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy[5] "Social sciences", Columbian cyclopedia. (1897). Buffalo: Garretson, Cox & Company. Page 227.[6] Peck, H. T., Peabody, S. H., & Richardson, C. F. (1897). The International cyclopedia, A compendium of human knowledge. Rev. with large

additions. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company.[7] 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 (1824) by William Thompson (1775–1833)[8] According to Comte, the social physics field was similar to that of natural sciences.[9] Vessuri, Hebe. (2000). "Ethical Challenges for the Social Sciences on the Threshold of the 21st Century." Current Sociology 50, no. 1

(January): 135-150. (http:/ / www. web-miner. com/ socsciethics. htm), Social Science Ethics: A Bibliography, Sharon Stoerger MLS, MBA[10] Wallerstein, Immanuel. (2003) "Anthropology, sociology, and other dubious disciplines." Current Anthropology 44:453-466.

Social sciences 15

[11] Lowie, Robert. Primitive Religion. Routledge and Sons. 1924; Tylor,Edward. 1920 [1871]. Primitive Culture. New York: J.P. Putnam’sSons.

[12] Nanda, Serena and Richard Warms. Culture Counts. Wadsworth. 2008. Chapter One[13] Rosaldo, Renato. Culture and Truth: The remaking of social analysis. Beacon Press. 1993; Inda, John Xavier and Renato Rosaldo. The

Anthropology of Globalization. Wiley-Blackwell. 2007butt butt goose and some chicken grease , after that you take it and put it through yourarmpits and something

[14] economics - Britannica Online Encyclopedia (http:/ / www. britannica. com/ eb/ article-9109547?query=Economics& ct=)[15] Lazear, Edward P. (2000|. "Economic Imperialism," Quarterly Journal Economics, 115(1)|, p p. 99 (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ pss/

2586936)-146. Cached copy. (http:/ / 66. 102. 1. 104/ scholar?hl=en& lr=& q=cache:fD0VzttXRUMJ:flash. lakeheadu. ca/ ~kyu/ E5111/Lazear2000. pdf+ ) Pre-publication copy (http:/ / 66. 102. 1. 104/ scholar?hl=en& lr=& q=cache:lK_6EHxTuCoJ:faculty-gsb. stanford. edu/lazear/ personal/ PDFs/ economic%20imperialism. pdf+ )(larger print.)

[16] Becker, Gary S. (1976). The Economic Approach to Human Behavior. Links (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=iwEOFKSKbMgC&dq="The+ Economic+ Approach+ to+ Human+ Behavior"+ Introduction& lr=& source=gbs_summary_s& cad=0) to arrow-page viewablechapter. University of Chicago Press.

[17] An overview of education (http:/ / www. teachersmind. com/ education. htm)[18] "What is geography?" (http:/ / www. aag. org/ Careers/ What_is_geog. html). AAG Career Guide: Jobs in Geography and related

Geographical Sciences. Association of American Geographers. . Retrieved October 9, 2006.[19] Hayes-Bohanan, James. "What is Environmental Geography, Anyway?" (http:/ / webhost. bridgew. edu/ jhayesboh/

environmentalgeography. htm). . Retrieved October 9, 2006.[20] Overview (http:/ / www. neh. gov/ whoweare/ overview. html)[21] Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States: Continuity and Change (http:/ / books. nap. edu/ readingroom/ books/ researchdoc/

summary. html)[22] See the SSHA website (http:/ / www. ssha. org/ )[23] Robertson, Geoffrey (2006). Crimes Against Humanity. Penguin. pp. 90. ISBN 9780141024639.[24] Hart, H.L.A. (1961). The Concept of Law. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-876122-8.[25] Dworkin, Ronald (1986). Law's Empire. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674518365.[26] Raz, Joseph (1979). The Authority of Law. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199562687.[27] Austin, John (1831). The Providence of Jurisprudence Determined.[28] see Etymonline Dictionary (http:/ / www. etymonline. com/ index. php?search=law& searchmode=none)[29] see Mirriam-Webster's Dictionary (http:/ / www. m-w. com/ dictionary/ legal)[30] http:/ / www. amazon. com/ dp/ 1403934223[31] A Dictionary of Sociology, Article: Comte, Auguste[32] Gianfranco Poggi (2000). Durkheim. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 1.[33] Habermas, Jurgen, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Modernity's Consciousness of Time, Polity Press (1985), paperback, ISBN

0-7456-0830-2, p2[34] Giddens, Anthony, Duneier, Mitchell, Applebaum, Richard. 2007. Introduction to Sociology. Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and

Company. Chapter 1.[35] A. H. Halsey(2004),A history of sociology in Britain: science, literature, and society,p.34[36] Geoffrey Duncan Mitchell(1970),A new dictionary of sociology,p.201[37] Willcox, Walter (1938) The Founder of Statistics. (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ stable/ 1400906)[38] Eykhoff, Pieter System Identification: Parameter and State Estimation, Wiley & Sons, (1974). ISBN 0-471-24980-7[39] Peterson's (Firm : 2006- ). (2007). Peterson's graduate programs in the humanities, arts, & social sciences, 2007. Lawrenceville, NJ:

Peterson's.[40] The Bachelor of Social Science can be studied at the University of Adelaide, University of Waikato (Hamilton, New Zealand), University of

Sydney (Sydney, Australia), University of New South Wales (Sydney), University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong, China), University ofManchester (Manchester, England), Lincoln University (Christchurch, New Zealand), National University of Malaysia (Bangi, Malaysia), andUniversity of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia).

[41] http:/ / en. wikibooks. org/ wiki/ Introduction_to_Sociology[42] http:/ / www. press. umich. edu/ titleDetailDesc. do?id=268873[43] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=fWofAAAACAAJ[44] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=VpForyYAYy0C[45] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=fakFiE79qTAC[46] http:/ / www. holycross. edu/ departments/ socant/ rsinglet/[47] http:/ / www. us. oup. com/ us/ catalog/ general/ subject/ Sociology/ TheoryMethods/ ~~/

dmlldz11c2EmY2k9OTc4MDE5NTE0Nzk0MA==[48] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=-mY4AAAAIAAJ[49] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=ckEVAAAAYAAJ[50] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=mqQ9vf0JS_YC[51] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=N14BAAAAYAAJ& pg=PA725

Social sciences 16

[52] http:/ / ann. sagepub. com/[53] http:/ / www. des. ucdavis. edu/ faculty/ richerson/ Prolegomena%204%200. pdf[54] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=IF01zvRg9ekC[55] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=IgDtHi4Sq-wC[56] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=yVBXPf50EV0C[57] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=NaVSZXVdc-0C[58] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=S3zZ18tt3gkC[59] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=dcL3JqFkUvQC[60] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=EssOAAAAQAAJ[61] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=qvUtAAAAIAAJ[62] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=pz5FAAAAIAAJ[63] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=nohDAAAAIAAJ[64] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=UEYWAAAAYAAJ[65] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=0_8dAAAAIAAJ[66] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=Vg82AAAAMAAJ[67] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=MUUWAAAAYAAJ[68] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=dkBAAAAAYAAJ[69] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=0RsWAAAAYAAJ[70] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=LSEWAAAAYAAJ[71] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=-yAWAAAAYAAJ[72] http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=ibIqAAAAMAAJ

External links• Centre for Social Work Research (http:/ / www. uel. ac. uk/ cswr/ index. htm)• Family Therapy and Systemic Research Centre (http:/ / www. uel-ftsrc. org/ )• History of Social Science (http:/ / www. mdx. ac. uk/ www/ study/ sshtim. htm)• Institute of Small Enterprises and Development (ISED) (http:/ / www. isedonline. org/ )• International Conference on Social Sciences (http:/ / www. sobiad. org/ icss-conference/ icss-main. htm)• International Journal on Humanistic Ideology (http:/ / humanisticideology. blogspot. com/ )• International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (http:/ / www. waset. org/ journals/ ijhss/ )• International Journal of Social Sciences (http:/ / www. waset. org/ journals/ ijss/ )• International Social Science Council (http:/ / www. unesco. org/ ngo/ issc)• Introduction to Hutchinson et al., There's No Such Thing as a Social Science (http:/ / www. ashgate. com/ pdf/

SamplePages/ There_is_No_Such_Thing_as_a_Social_Science_Intro. pdf)• Intute: Social Sciences (UK) (http:/ / www. intute. ac. uk/ socialsciences/ )• Social Science Research Society (http:/ / www. sobiad. org/ english. html)• Social Science Virtual Library (http:/ / www. vl-site. org/ index. html)• Social Science Virtual Library: Canaktanweb (Turkish) (http:/ / www. canaktan. org/ )• Social Sciences And Humanities (http:/ / social-sciences-and-humanities. com/ )• UC Berkeley Experimental Social Science Laboratory (http:/ / xlab. berkeley. edu)• The Dialectic of Social Science (http:/ / monthlyreview. org/ 100501baran. php) by Paul A. Baran

Article Sources and Contributors 17

Article Sources and ContributorsSocial sciences  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=417760618  Contributors: (Didie), 217.98.151.xxx, 3pointswish, Aaron Schulz, Abasass, Acategory, Action potential,Ajraddatz, Alan Liefting, Aldaron, Aleksd, Ancheta Wis, Andrejj, Andres, Andresswift, Andycjp, Aphaia, Arcette, Arges, Ariedartin, Arjunjaidka, Arnoutf, Asbestos, Astuishin, Awickert, BRG,Barfoos, Baronnet, Barticus88, Bearcat, Beland, BignBad, Bilbaosr, Binarypower, BlondGirll, Bobo192, Bomac, Bookofjude, Boxplot, BrenDJ, Brendansa, CALR, CQ, CSWarren, Carnoy, Cast,Catgut, Catrope, Chamal N, Charles Matthews, CharlieRCD, Chen969, ClamDip, Clicketyclack, Commons@tiac.net, Conversion script, Cooper-42, Cordless Larry, Cosmic Latte,Crissidancer88, Cyclonenim, Cyrius, D6, DASonnenfeld, DTMGO, DVD R W, Darigan, Darth Panda, DarwinPeacock, Davies69, Dekimasu, Discospinster, Doktor Mephisto, Doktore, DouglasR. White, Dpark, Dv82matt, Dycedarg, EPM, Earth, EastCoast1111, Efierros, El C, Elm, Elmindreda, Erebus555, Erianna, Esteffect, Everyking, Eyu100, Fabartus, Favonian, Feedmymind,Filemon, Fioravante Patrone en, Fleetfist, Flockmeal, Floydman66, Flyer22, Foregone conclusion, Fplay, France3470, Fratrep, FreplySpang, Frédérick Lacasse, Fsotrain09, Gaff, Gakmo,Galoubet, Garik, Gary King, Gbalaji82, George Sagi, Gerrish, Gidonb, Gilliam, Gimme danger, Go for it!, Gorillasapiens, Graham87, Grenavitar, Ground Zero, Grouse, Gsaup, Gsociology,Gurch, Gz33, Hadal, HamburgerRadio, Happysailor, Hardyplants, Helvetius, Hezarfenn, HighburyVanguard, Hijklmno, Hires an editor, Hoof Hearted, Hu12, Husond, Hyacinth, Ibn khaldun78,Ice tres, Icey, Igoldste, ImperfectlyInformed, Inferno, Lord of Penguins, Iniobong, Insanity Incarnate, Iridescent, Ishmaelblues, Island, J. Spencer, J.delanoy, J04n, JHP, JJ cool D, JMD, Jagged85, Jaipurite, Jameshfisher, Jdevine, Jeff3000, Jerome Charles Potts, Jesse627, Jessika Folkerts, Jfgrcar, Jkaplan, Jlin, JoanneB, Jojit fb, JorgeGG, Jpbowen, Justinfr, Jxg, K, KGasso,Karl-Henner, Keilana, Kevin B12, Kingturtle, Koryakov Yuri, Kostisl, Kzollman, LS C HIST, Laleena, LanecoC, Larry Sanger, LarrySanger, Larry_Sanger, Leszek Jańczuk, Lexor, Lightmouse,LilHelpa, Little Mountain 5, Little Rachael, Logologist, Loohcsnuf, Luk, Lynden Price, M. Frederick, M3taphysical, MER-C, MPerel, Makeemlighter, Mamawrites, Mannschaftskapitän, Marcok,Marysunshine, Masterpiece2000, Materialscientist, Mattgizzy14, Mattisse, Maurreen, MaxPont, Mayumashu, Mcphee, Mdd, Megaman en m, Megan1967, Mentifisto, Michtan12, Midiom,Miguel in Portugal, Mike Rosoft, Mikehoffman, Mild Bill Hiccup, Miranda, Miss loves, Moax18, Moptan2007, Moshe Constantine Hassan Al-Silverburg, Mwanner, Nafile, Neelix, NerdyNSK,Nexus Seven, Nhelm83, NickShaforostoff, NickW557, Nickipedia 008, Niemeyerstein en, Nigholith, Nikai, Nilmerg, Nlight, Nsaa, Osubuckeyeguy, Oxymoron83, Page Up, Paterfranz,Patricusrex, Pb30, Pedant17, Perfectblue97, Pethan, Pgm8693, Phil hutchinson, Phronetic, Pigman, Piotrus, PolarisSLBM, Possum, Ppntori, Profdrmendoza, Pularoid, PuzzletChung, Qarana, Qst,Quadalpha, Quinntaylor, R'n'B, RHaworth, RL0919, ROYGBIV, RandomP, Rattus, Rbellin, RedHouse18, Reddi, Redthoreau, ResidentAnthropologist, Reswik, RexNL, Rgamble, Riadismet,Rich Farmbrough, RichardF, RisingSunWiki, Rjanag, Rjensen, Rjwilmsi, Rkh10, Rob Hooft, Ryguasu, S3000, Salt Yeung, Scott Burley, Seaphoto, Secfan, Segregold, Sesshomaru, SeventhHell,Shizhao, Shoreranger, Simon J Kissane, SimonP, Skizzik, Smeira, Smmurphy, Starghost, Stirling Newberry, Studymore, Stuttgart1950, Sunidesus, Sunray, Superbeecat, Susan Chan, Svick,Swentworth25, Szalagloria, Tabletop, TakuyaMurata, Taranet, Te24409nsp, Tharenthel, The Anome, The Fat Guy, The Rambling Man, The Thing That Should Not Be, The Transhumanist, TheTranshumanist (AWB), The monkeyhate, TheFearow, TheSpook, Thomasmeeks, Thumperward, Tide rolls, Tmh, Tnxman307, Tobias, Tomchiukc, Tomsega, Tophtucker, Tpbradbury, Treisijs,TriNotch, Ulric1313, Uncle Dick, UniAce, Velho, Verbum Veritas, Vir, Viriditas, VoluntarySlave, Vox Pluvia, Vrangbaek, Vssun, WOSlinker, Wayne Slam, Wikidea, Wikiklrsc, Wiknik, Wildt,William Avery, WojPob, Woohookitty, XLerate, Y0u, Yahel Guhan, Yahudikiwi, Yarnalgo, YashaBK, Yekrats, Yiannis vet, Yodaki, Z-d, Zaloom, Zojiji, Zzuuzz, 610 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and ContributorsFile:Market-Chichicastenango.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Market-Chichicastenango.jpg  License: GNU Free Documentation License  Contributors:Infrogmation, Peregrine981, Ronaldino, WstFile:Laurentius de Voltolina 001.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Laurentius_de_Voltolina_001.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: AndreasPraefcke,Anne97432, Ddxc, G.dallorto, IntrigueBlue, Leinad-Z, Mladifilozof, Xenophon, 2 anonymous editsFile:Physical world.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Physical_world.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Central Intelligence AgencyFile:Old Bailey Microcosm edited.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Old_Bailey_Microcosm_edited.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Thomas Rowlandsonand Augustus PuginFile:Ferdinand de Saussure.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Ferdinand_de_Saussure.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Aurevilly, Hystrix, Kelson, Mu,Väsk, 1 anonymous editsFile:Aristoteles Louvre.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Aristoteles_Louvre.jpg  License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5  Contributors: User:Sting,User:StingFile:Wundt-research-group.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Wundt-research-group.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: uploaded to Wikipedia by KenosisFile:Emile Durkheim.jpg  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Emile_Durkheim.jpg  License: Public Domain  Contributors: Chico, Dittaeva, Gvf, Mu, Tets, Thierry Caro,Tony Rotondas, Vindicator, Wouterhagens, 3 anonymous edits

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