ABSTRACT
In spite of the importance of their contemporary application, social sciences appear in some respects to be underdeveloped sciences. This is probably a temporary situation but it exists and seems likely to last for some time: it must therefore be taken into account. This chapter traces the historical development of the social sciences so that discussions of their object and nature can be put in a context. The social sciences are concerned with the study of human groups or collectivities: a social fact is firstly a collective fact, that is to say a fact common to several individuals. But every collectivity is a series of relations between individuals. After the breaking down of sociology into specialist disciplines the number of social sciences has increased. Distinctions between the social sciences are made on empirical and not on logical grounds and follow either the original training of the researchers or the kind of research techniques used.
