Social science is a category of academic disciplines, concerned with society and the relationships among individuals within a society. Social science as a whole has many branches. These social sciences include, but are not limited to: anthropology, archaeology, communication studies, economics, history, musicology, human geography, jurisprudence, linguistics, political science, psychology, public health, and sociology. The term is also sometimes used to refer specifically to the field of sociology, the original "science of society", established in the 19th century. For a more detailed list of sub-disciplines within the social sciences see: Outline of social science.
Social epistemology refers to a broad set of approaches that can be taken in the study of knowledge that construes human knowledge as a collective achievement. Another way of characterizing social epistemology is as the evaluation of the social dimensions of knowledge or information. It is sometimes simplified to mean a social justification of belief.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the discipline of sociology:
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about society, proposes solutions for its normative problems and gains authority as a public figure. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or as a mediator, the intellectual participates in politics either to defend a concrete proposition or to denounce an injustice, usually by rejecting, producing or extending an ideology, or by defending a system of values.
The American Sociological Association (ASA), founded in 1905 as the American Sociological Society, is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Most members work in academia, but about 20 percent work in government, business, or non-profit organizations.
Theda Skocpol is an American sociologist and political scientist, who is currently the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University. An influential figure in both disciplines, Skocpol is best known as an advocate of the historical-institutional and comparative approaches, as well as her "state autonomy theory." She has written widely for both popular and academic audiences.
Public sociology is a subfield of the wider sociological discipline that emphasizes expanding the disciplinary boundaries of sociology in order to engage with non-academic audiences. It is perhaps best understood as a style of sociology rather than a particular method, theory, or set of political values. Since the twenty-first century, the term has been widely associated with University of California, Berkeley sociologist Michael Burawoy, who delivered an impassioned call for a disciplinary embrace of public sociology in his 2004 American Sociological Association (ASA) presidential address. In his address, Burawoy contrasts public sociology with what he terms "professional sociology", a form of sociology that is concerned primarily with addressing other academic sociologists.
The International Sociological Association (ISA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to scientific purposes in the field of sociology and social sciences. It is an international sociological body, gathering both individuals and national sociological organizations. The ISA was founded in 1949 under UNESCO and it has about 4,500 individual and 45 collective members, hailing from 167 countries. Its purpose is to "represent sociologists everywhere, regardless of their school of thought, scientific approaches or ideological opinion" and its objective is to "advance sociological knowledge throughout the world". Along with the Institut International de Sociologie (IIS), it is seen as a world leading international sociological organization.
Positivism is a philosophical theory stating that certain ("positive") knowledge is based on natural phenomena and their properties and relations. Thus, information derived from sensory experience, interpreted through reason and logic, forms the exclusive source of all certain knowledge. Positivism holds that valid knowledge is found only in this a posteriori knowledge.
Donald Thomas Campbell was an American social scientist. He is noted for his work in methodology. He coined the term "evolutionary epistemology" and developed a selectionist theory of human creativity. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Campbell as the 33rd most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
Jack A. Goldstone is an American sociologist, political scientist, and world historian, specializing in studies of social movements, revolutions, political demography, and the 'Rise of the West' in world history. He is an author or editor of 13 books and over 150 research articles. He is recognized as one of the leading authorities on the study of revolutions and long-term social change. His work has made foundational contributions to the fields of cliodynamics, economic history and political demography. He was the first scholar to describe in detail and document the long-term cyclical relationship between global population cycles and cycles of political rebellion and revolution. He was also a core member of the “California school” in world history, which replaced the standard view of a dynamic West and stagnant East with a ‘late divergence’ model in which Eastern and Western civilizations underwent similar political and economic cycles until the 18th century, when Europe achieved the technical breakthroughs of industrialization. He is also one of the founding fathers of the emerging field of political demography, studying the impact of local, regional, and global population trends on international security and national politics.
Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MGSoG) at Maastricht University is a public policy school. It offers a master's degree in public policy and human development and a doctoral degree in public policy and policy analysis, and conducts multi-disciplinary research in topics relating to economics, political science, international relations, and sociology. The School is the United Nations' first public policy graduate school, and one of the few public policy schools in Europe. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2016-2017 placed social sciences in Maastricht University 65th in the world. Its MSc in Public Policy and Human Development was ranked number four in the category of Political Science and Public Administration, according to the 2018 Keuzegids Masters.
The Florida State University College of Social Sciences and Public Policy, located in Tallahassee, Florida, is one of fifteen colleges comprising Florida State University (FSU). The college was founded in 1973 and includes six departments: Economics, Geography, Political Science, Sociology, Urban and Regional Planning and the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy and interdisciplinary programs in African American Studies, Demography, International Studies, Interdisciplinary Social Science, and Public Health.
The Gulbenkian Commission sought to address inadequacies in the organization of the social science disciplines that developed in the nineteenth century by indicating a direction for social scientific inquiry for the next 50 years. It was founded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. It held three meetings in 1994 and 1995.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to social science:
The Sociological Review is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of sociology, including anthropology, criminology, philosophy, education, gender, medicine, and organization. The journal is published by SAGE Publications; before 2017 it was published by Wiley-Blackwell. It is one of the three "main sociology journals in Britain", along with the British Journal of Sociology and Sociology, and the oldest British sociology journal.
The Institute for the Study of Science, Technology and Innovation (ISSTI) is an interdisciplinary research centre based in the UK. The research network was established in 2001 to bring together groups of academics and individual researchers across the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. It consolidates activities in research, teaching and knowledge transfer on social and policy aspects of science, technology and innovation.
Public Criminology, a concept closely tied with “public sociology”, argues that the energies of criminologists should be directed towards "conducting and disseminating research on crime, law, and deviance in dialogue with affected communities." Criminologists argue its need stems from the disconnect between the public and the information circulated by the media. Such authors call for criminologists to focus on providing understandable information to the general public, as well as to help inform crime policy and law makers.
