sciences that study the society of humankind (including history, geography, and economics)
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 social sciences, 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.
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