What Is “Social Science?”

The Social Sciences are as varied as the interests of humankind, but they share a fascination with human behavior and organizations. From the beginning of recorded history, humans have organized their societies using myriad systems—political, religious, economic, and social. Those organizational systems, and our understanding of human behavior, evolve as we learn from the past and study the present.

A short, non-comprehensive list of fields of study in the social sciences includes:

Anthropology
Economics
Education
History
Law
Political Science
Psychology
Sociology

In all of these fields we question the world we are given: How do we live? How do we organize? What do we believe? What is just and right? And who gets to decide?

And we ask ourselves, “How might we make the world better, kinder, and more just?”

In the academic world the classic fields of social science are evolving and intermingling. Economics now embraces behavior, anthropology looks at gender balance, law considers the effects of human psychology on memory… the list goes on and on. Even the “hard” sciences, such as ecology, now measure the impact of human behavior on our physical world.

If you are fascinated by the many issues surrounding how we live, wish to meet and discuss them with leading thinkers and fellow questioners, and would like to support social science scholarship at the highest levels, the National Institute is tailor made for you.

Please join us!