This study traces the methodological foundations, research techniques, and basic concepts of the social sciences from their earliest origins to the beginning of 20th century. It discusses the French Enlightenment, British moral philosophy and includes figures from the 19th century such as Marx.

This book charts the development of the main social sciences_religion, history, philosophy, law, sociology, anthropology, and economics_through an examination of the lives and works of each discipline's key historical figures.

How the NSF became an important yet controversial patron for the social sciences, influencing debates over their scientific status and social relevance. In the early Cold War years, the U.S. government established the National Science Foundation (NSF), a civilian agency that soon became widely known for its dedication to supporting first-rate science. The agency's 1950 enabling legislation made no mention of the social sciences, although it included a vague reference to "other sciences." Nevertheless, as Mark Solovey shows in this book, the NSF also soon became a major--albeit controversial--source of public funding for them.

Examines how American social science modelled itself on natural science and liberal politics.

The book covers the main developments in the social sciences after World War Two. Chapters on economics, human geography, political science, psychology, social anthropology, and sociology will interest anyone wanting short, accessible histories of those disciplines; they will also make it easy for readers to compare disciplines. A final chapter offers a blueprint for writing the history of the social sciences as a whole, drawing attention to the role of interdisciplinary work and to the importance of factors from the Second World War to the sixties and the fall of communism.