Social sciences are taught in thousands of universities around the world. They have the power to improve societies by encouraging change in various social spheres, including wellbeing, industry, and politics.

You may have heard social sciences being referred to as “soft” sciences. The reason that this misconception exists is because they differ from other, more established sciences, such as biology, physics, and chemistry.

Although social sciences include fewer graphs, more observational data and more positive results, they have just as strong an impact on our understanding of the world. Therefore, they cannot really be labelled as “soft”.

Social sciences encompass all studies related to human beings, their relationships and societies, including anthropology, economics, linguistics, psychology, history, and geography.

MDPI has a dedicated journal, Social Sciences, which accepts papers from thirteen subject areas. However, there are also individual MDPI journals for the many disciplines within social sciences.

Here are a few examples of fantastic papers in MDPI’s various social sciences journals.

The paper “Where Does CSR Come from and Where Does It Go? A Review of the State of the Art” in Administrative Sciences describes corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its evolution since the 19^th century.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) means being mindful of the way in which a business can affect the environment and people around them. CSR is now becoming more important in today’s society. Businesses are highly aware of this cultural shift. In 2011, 20% of businesses on the S&P 500 index published CSR reports. In 2019, this increased to 90%.

Another paper that has shed light on a hot topic is “Parental Involvement during Pandemic Times: Challenges and Opportunities” in Education Sciences. This paper is a study of how a cohort of Portuguese parents dealt with home-schooling their children during the pandemic.

Furthermore, “Use of Social Media Platforms among Adults in the United States—Behavior on Social Media” in Societies reflects on modern anxieties about social media and related technologies.

Using a dataset of 2002 people, it was found that higher household income and higher education level meant higher social media usage.

These three papers demonstrate how social sciences research has the power to change the world through how it questions the current procedures in place and finds solutions to the issues.

Social sciences papers are a part of the fabric of MDPI, and the submission of more research is encouraged.