Social Sciences¶

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Systematic study of human collective life — behavior, institutions, power, exchange — using quantitative and interpretive methods together. The animating question is "how do humans actually behave in groups, and why?"

1,532 mechanisms across 9 domains in this group. Mechanisms draw on the same canonical roster the two abstraction layers do; a domain's group is derived from it, never stored on an entity. Counted by primary origin domain — a mechanism that also draws on other domains is listed once, here.

Domain	Mechanisms
Behavioral Economics	63
Communication & Media Studies	154
Criminology & Forensic Studies	37
Economics & Finance	450
Gender Studies & Queer Theory	4
Political Science	80
Psychology & Behavioral Sciences	357
Public Administration & Policy	254
Sociology & Anthropology	133

Behavioral Economics

The synthetic discipline that integrates psychological research into economic models of choice — documenting systematic departures from rational-agent predictions and proposing alternative models that accommodate cognitive biases, bounded rationality, and social preferences. Canonical traditions: Kahneman & Tversky, Thaler, Sunstein, behavioral finance, nudge theory.

63 mechanisms

Communication & Media Studies

The study of how messages are produced, transmitted, received, and interpreted — through interpersonal, organizational, mass, and digital media. Absorbs journalism (gatekeeping, framing, ethics of reporting) and media production theory. Canonical traditions: Shannon-Weaver, Lasswell, McLuhan, cultivation theory, agenda-setting, network-society theory (Castells).

154 mechanisms

Criminology & Forensic Studies

The study of crime, criminal behavior, the institutions that respond to crime, and the scientific methods used to investigate it. Canonical traditions: classical and positivist criminology, routine activity theory, strain and labeling theories, forensic science (DNA, toxicology, digital forensics).

37 mechanisms

Economics & Finance

The study of how agents allocate scarce resources under constraints, and of the institutions (markets, firms, currencies) that emerge from that allocation. Canonical traditions: classical and neoclassical economics, macroeconomics, microeconomics, monetary theory, financial theory, game theory.

450 mechanisms

Gender Studies & Queer Theory

The interdisciplinary study of gender and sexuality as social constructions, power relations, and analytic categories — including feminist theory, queer theory, and intersectional analysis. Canonical traditions: Beauvoir, Butler, bell hooks, Crenshaw, Sedgwick, Foucault's history of sexuality.

4 mechanisms

Political Science

The systematic study of politics — power, government, elections, public policy, political behavior, political theory, and international relations. Canonical traditions: comparative politics, political economy, public choice theory, international relations theory, democratic theory.

80 mechanisms

Psychology & Behavioral Sciences

The study of mind and behavior at the individual level — perception, cognition, emotion, personality, motivation, development, learning, and mental disorder. Canonical traditions: behaviorism, psychoanalysis, cognitive psychology, social psychology, clinical psychology, developmental psychology.

357 mechanisms

Public Administration & Policy

The study of how governments and public-sector organizations design, implement, and evaluate policy — bureaucratic structure, policy process, administrative ethics, public management, governance networks. Distinct from Political Science by its focus on implementation rather than politics, and from Organizational Management by its public-sector orientation.

254 mechanisms

Sociology & Anthropology

The study of human collective life — social structure, culture, institutions, kinship, ritual, and the forces that produce and reproduce them. Characterized methodologically by fieldwork, ethnography, and comparative analysis. Canonical traditions: Durkheim, Weber, Lévi-Strauss, Bourdieu, Boas, Malinowski, Geertz.

133 mechanisms