Social Sciences

It’s not rocket science. It’s social science – the science of understanding people’s needs and their unique relationship with art, literature, history, music, work, philosophy, community, technology and psychology. The act of design is to structure and create that balance, Clement Mok.

Social science is an umbrella term for the study of people. It is the study of society and how people behave, interact, and influence each other inside a community. They seek to explain human behavior, either from the internal perspective (Psychology, Economics), group dynamics (Sociology, Business, Political Science), or broad cultural forces (Anthropology), (Office of Undergraduate Research, Washington University in St. Louis).

It includes the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, human geography, political science, and psychology, amongst others.

• Anthropology is the study of what makes us human. It is the study of people and cultures in the past and present.
• Sociology is the study of human social life. In other words, it is the scientific study of society, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and culture that surrounds everyday life.
• Psychology is the study of the human mind and behavior. Psychologists strive to understand how people think, feel, and behave.
• Human geography is the study of the changing relationship between the unresting man and the unstable earth.
• Political science is the study of politics, government, and public policy. Political scientists seek to both describe and explain political phenomena. It includes study of the processes of government, the institutions of government, the behavior of the people in government, and how citizens interact with their government.
• Economics is the study of how people make decisions in the face of scarcity. It studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.