Emergence of the Social Sciences

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from the Emergence of the Social Sciences lecture notes.

Social Science

The systematic study of society and the relationships among people; a major category of academic disciplines, established in the 19th century.

Humanities

The study of human experiences and their processing and documentation, including philosophy, literature, religion, art, music, history, and language.

Anthropology

The study of humans, past and present; derived from Greek anthropos (human) and logos (study); includes Physical and Cultural Anthropology.

Physical Anthropology

Study of the past and present evolution of humans, focusing on biological diversity.

Cultural Anthropology

Branch of anthropology concerned with the study of human societies and cultures and their development.

Economics

Study of how to manage scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants; includes production, consumption, transfer; two major fields: Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.

Microeconomics

The part of economics dealing with single factors and the effects of individual decisions.

Macroeconomics

The part of economics dealing with large-scale factors such as national productivity and interest rates.

Geography

The study of lands and the features of the earth; includes Physical Geography, Cultural/Human Geography, and Regional Geography.

Physical Geography

Branch focusing on natural features and processes (land, water, glaciers, mountains, rivers, deserts, etc.).

Cultural/Human Geography

Branch studying cultural aspects and how they relate to spaces and places where they originate and travel as people move.

Regional Geography

Branch studying the world's regions.

History

The study of the past and its records; evolution of mankind and events within that evolution.

Linguistics

The scientific study of languages, focusing on language form, meaning, and context.

Political Science

The study of governance systems, political thought and behavior; analysis of the distribution of power and resources.

Psychology

The scientific study of the mind and behavior; includes schools such as structuralism, functionalism, psychodynamic, behaviorism, cognitive, and socio-cultural.

Demography

The study of human population and dynamics, including size, composition, growth, and distribution.

Natural Science

The branch of science dealing with description, prediction, and understanding of natural phenomena, based on observational and empirical evidence.

Life Science / Biological Science

Major branch of natural science dealing with living organisms (biology).

Physical Science

Major branch of natural science including physics, astronomy, chemistry, and earth science.

Observational Evidence

Evidence obtained through observation, used to support empirical data.

Empirical Evidence

Data derived from observation or experience that can be verified by senses.

Open System

A system that interacts with its surroundings; in social science, data often come from interactions with people and communities.

Closed System

A system where variables are controlled and isolated, typical of laboratory experiments in natural sciences.

Scarcity

Limited resources relative to unlimited wants.

Labor, Land, Capital, Entrepreneurship

The four factors of production in economics: labor, land, capital, and entrepreneurship.

19th Century

The period when social sciences emerged as organized disciplines.

16th–17th Century

Early period when natural science began to take shape.