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Definition of "social science" [social science]

  • The study of human society and of individual relationships in and to society. (noun)
  • A scholarly or scientific discipline that deals with such study, generally regarded as including sociology, psychology, anthropology, economics, political science, and history. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "social science" in a sentence
  • "The Berelson and Freedman study in Taiwan was one of the best, as well as one of the biggest: “This effort…is one of the most extensive and elaborate social science experiments ever carried out in a natural setting” Berelson and Freedman, 1964."
  • "In 1990, the Institute for Scientific Information designated Diffusion of Innovations as a “Citation Classic” on the basis of the large number of citations approximately 7,000 that it received in articles published in social science journals."
  • "PROBLEMS IN MEASURING THE TIME OF ADOPTION Diffusion differs from most other social science research in the fact that the time variable is not ignored."