Introduction

Abstract

The social sciences are disciplines, which have been taught in most universities and colleges across the world. They mainly deal with society, aspects of the group life of human beings and their relationships. In other words, the social sciences may be regarded as the scientific study of social, cultural, psychological, economic, and geo-political forces that guide individuals in their actions (Kuper and Kuper, The Social Science Encyclopedia, 1985; Hunt and Colander, Social Science: An Introduction to the Study of Society, 2004). Even though they are closely related to the humanities in that both deal with human beings and their culture, they are, at the same time, different. While the social sciences are mostly concerned with those basic elements of culture that determine the general patterns of human behaviour, the humanities deal with special aspects of human culture and are primarily concerned with attempts to express spiritual and esthetic values and to discover the meaning of life. In addition, whereas the social sciences study issues in a systematic, scientific way, the focus of the humanities is more on emotions and feelings (Hunt and Colander, Study Guide for Social Science: An Introduction to the Study of Society, 2010). © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. All rights reserved.