Why is it important to study social sciences?

Why study the social sciences?

• This was a question asked to me by a friend. Why are the social sciences studied/taught/researched upon? Aren't they impractical? No application in day to day life? I tried answering it by saying 1. Social sciences help predict trends in society, shaping how other professions are shaped. 2. They are self complementary. With two points of course I couldn't convince her. Would love some insight! P.S: I'm an engineering student who has always had respect for the liberal arts

• Answer:

  From Wikipedia: "Social science refers to the academic disciplines concerned with the society and the relationships of individuals within a society."  Your friend may be drawing a line between what's "common sense" versus social science, but the daily aspects of life in an industrialized country constantly touch on topics that the social sciences formalize.  Given that most humans don't practice the hard sciences or engineering for a living, I would assert that the social sciences are more practical as far as living life is concerned.  Their ability to earn an income is a separate matter. Simply touching on some of the major social sciences: Anthropology: the understanding of different cultures, not all of which are "underdeveloped," generally falls into this category. Economics: economic decision making is a major part of life of any individual.  Also covers game theory. Psychology: understanding the behavior of other people is the core of human social life, although we tend to forget its importance.  Observe a severely autistic person for a while and you may appreciate it more.  My favorite subfield is behavioral psychology: one recent book (among many) on this topic is Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman. Sociology: even if you don't care about the origins and development of human social structures, the understanding of them is critical.  For example, centralized government is alien to humans from a purely tribal background (as well as some humans in rural areas of industrialized countries).  The structure of modern nations may seem obvious to people living in them, but historically they're a very new development. Personally, I make my living via engineering and have a PhD, which makes me a geek by most people's standards.  However, I read several times more material in the social sciences during my free time, particularly economics and psychology.  One reason is that the boundary between those two fields and what's considered "business studies" in the US is very blurred.  My interest has given me all sorts of advantages over others in the same situation, not the least of which is understanding the dynamics of stock market bubbles and avoiding major losses in 2001 and 2008.  If that's not practical, then I'll need a different definition to work with.