This glossary is for anyone who is eager to deepen their understanding of the terminology used in the humanities and Social Sciences.Understanding the vocabulary of the Social Sciences is essential for studying how societies function, evolve, and interact. This glossary was created to clarify key terms that frequently appear in fields such as sociology, economics, geography, anthropology, and political science. This glossary aims to support learners in developing a stronger academic foundation and a more precise use of language. It contains key social science terms, parts of speech, sentence‑case definitions sourced from Google’s ‘define’ function, text‑to‑speech pronunciation models, images from Wikimedia Commons, automatic French translations, and authentic example sentences from the Lextutor Concordancer. It was created for learners who are eager to deepen their understanding of the language used in the social sciences
analysis
noun
Detailed examination of the elements or structure of something.
Example: I cannot find any major problems with this method that would prevent me from employing it, however I feel that the financial and budgetary ANALYSIS' are the best two methods for a business, such as my own to use, for they work so well together.
fr: analyse
cities
noun
A large town.
Example: Better provision of public transport -Government subsidies for public transport companies thus reducing user charges -Schemes such as the London Congestion Charge - money goes into public transport therefore further reducing charges Further penalising motorists through increased tax and petrol prices In CITIES.
fr: villes
communication
noun
The imparting or exchanging of information or news.
Example: The most frequently used COMMUNICATION amongst me and members of staff are face to face COMMUNICATION.
fr: communication
correlation
noun
A statistical measure that defines the strength and direction of a relationship between two or more variables.
Example: The CORRELATION value is calculated in Table 15, and shows a very strong CORRELATION (>0.8) between the two variables.
fr: corrélation
culture
noun
The shared system of beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that members of a society use to interact with their world and with each other.
Example: They were small changes which were put in place to stimulate commitment to bigger and more significant changes in the CULTURE.
fr: culture
empirically
adverb
By means of observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic.
Example: This argument against Locke relies on the possibility of being aware of time in the absence of memory, something that it is hard to prove EMPIRICALLY.
fr: empiriquement
geography
noun
The study of the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these, including the distribution of populations and resources, land use, and industries.
Example: Outside of institutional frameworks, economic historians also focus on GEOGRAPHY 's impact on economic growth incentives. F.
fr: géographie
humanities
noun
Academic disciplines that study human culture, history, language, philosophy, and the arts to understand the human experience.
Example: SWOT analysis Strengths Having a long history of publication with the world famed academic brand on social science and HUMANITIES.
fr: sciences humaines
imperialism
noun
A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.
Example: The CGT's ideology in the 1970s focused on the 'fight against capitalism and IMPERIALISM' (Verberckmoes 1996:21) and it has been argued that union strategies and industrial practice consistently supported the union's ideals (Moss 1987).
fr: impérialisme
interdisciplinary
adjective
Relating to more than one branch of knowledge.
Example: My methodology is INTERDISCIPLINARY and borrows from the recent Cold War Cultures School in history, including my supervisor, Dr Patrick Major, requiring the socio-political contextualisation of films, as well as the production and reception history.
fr: interdisciplinaire
macroeconomics
noun
The branch of economics that studies the behavior, performance, and structure of an entire economy, rather than individual markets.
Example: Essay submitted for the module EC901 - MACROECONOMICS x MSc in Economic Analysis and Policy Department of Economics The University of
.ac.uk.
fr: macroéconomie
map making
verb
The art, science, and technology of creating, designing, and producing maps or charts to represent spatial information and geographical areas.
Example: I was in geography, and I did some map making.
fr: cartographie
metaphysical
adjective
Relating to metaphysics.
Example: To clarify the METAPHYSICAL and epistemological status of these dimensions: God exists in the fifth and sixth dimensions and yet we know nothing of these domains, the universe exists in the first four and we only have knowledge of these dimensions.
fr: métaphysique
microeconomics
noun
The study of how individuals, households, and businesses make decisions about allocating scarce resources, focusing on specific markets, prices, and consumer/producer behavior.
Example: The diagram below, taken from Intermediate MICROECONOMICS (2003, p428), shows that Monopoly with a linear demand is inefficient by the definition above; by showing a Pareto improvement can be made.
fr: microéconomie
neuroscience
noun
Any or all of the sciences, such as neurochemistry and experimental psychology, which deal with the structure or function of the nervous system and brain.
Example: Indeed there has been much recent work on the discovery of mirror neurons in NEUROSCIENCE, first discovered in macaques, but now have also been observed in humans in the superior temporal sulcus and Broca's area, both associated with cognitive language capacity (Rizzolatti and Arbib 1998).
fr: neuroscience
rationalization
noun
He action of attempting to explain or justify behavior or an attitude with logical reasons, even if these are not appropriate.
Example: Significant in shaping and justifying policy, I suggest they should "be welcomed" as form of underlying RATIONALIZATION, creating a more consistent, inclusive application of law.
fr: rationalisation
relationships
noun
The way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected.
Example: On comment of his work the Mailu peoples in New Guinea, concerning kinship Radcliffe-Brown quotes "The Australian notions relating to kinship cannot be studies without reference to what the author calls 'group RELATIONSHIPS'; in other words, the relationship systems, classes and clans ".
fr: relations
societies
noun
The aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community.
Example: Discuss why it persists as an important part of life in many African SOCIETIES'.
fr: sociétés
sociology
noun
The scientific, systematic study of human society, social relationships, interaction, and culture.
Example: Discuss the use of time in two out of the three major literary genres (poetry, drama and the novel) represented on the course Language used in quote: English 1 2006-04 Reading Narrative U67011 Essay English AH M 1 1603 78 16 0 0 3 0 0 0 no abstract 20.6 4.9 simple assignment TEI P4 (documented in: BAWE.documentation.pdf) f 1987 English UKa BA English Studies and SOCIOLOGY 3066 2.
fr: sociologie
subsistence
noun
The action or fact of maintaining or supporting oneself at a minimum level.
Example: This seemingly specific hunting site among layers which point to scavenging could suggest that they partook in both hunting and scavenging as a way of SUBSISTENCE, depending on the resources available.
