# Eliminate one social science
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [July 4, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222 "2012-07-04T16:00:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/1 "2012-07-04T16:00:06Z")
From the Freakonomics blog:
> [@](#):
>
> Imagine that, in order to respond both to budgetary pressures and calls for greater relevance of the American academy, College & University Presidents are re-examining their social science disciplines. They have decided to eliminate one major discipline. In your opinion, which of the following is no longer as relevant to the mission of research and education, and should be eliminated as a consequence?
> Psychology
> Political science
> Economics
> Sociology
You can even put your answer on a survey at [https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WhichSocialScienceShouldDie](https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WhichSocialScienceShouldDie)
Don’t answer “none” because that sort of defeats the debate of this question. Hard choices have to be made in this theoretical.
> **[Adventures in Ideas: Which Social Science Should Die? - Freakonomics](https://freakonomics.com/2012/07/adventures-in-ideas-which-social-science-should-die/)**
>
> Freakonomics Readers,I’d like to enlist you in a debate that, to date, is mostly occurring within the academy.Imagine that, in order to respond both to budgetary pressures and calls for greater relevance of the American academy, College &...
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### Author:  [@MyFactCheckBounced](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFactCheckBounced)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/2 "2012-07-04T16:01:42Z")
Why isn’t Freakonomics one of the choices? 🙂
I just hope not too many people write in “Mixology.” That’s one we really need.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/3 "2012-07-04T16:17:39Z")
It is as tough call between political science and sociology but I will get rid of political science. Psychology is a gigantic field that ranges all the way from being a hard science on the neuroscience side to business on the industrial/organizational side to a clinical specialty. That is too much to get rid of. Economics is very important because money makes the world go round even if today’s economic predictions aren’t always rock solid.
That leaves sociology and political science. Sociology is among the softest of the sciences but understanding the behavior of large groups is still a worthwhile goal. Political science is cool but it serves mainly to give future lawyers something to major in for undergrad and you could argue that it is just a subset of sociology anyway.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/4 "2012-07-04T16:18:52Z")
Communications. Is phony major.
(Believe me, I know).
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/5 "2012-07-04T16:41:03Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> That leaves sociology and political science. Sociology is among the softest of the sciences but understanding the behavior of large groups is still a worthwhile goal. Political science is cool but it serves mainly to give future lawyers something to major in for undergrad and you could argue that it is just a subset of sociology anyway.
Agree - just merge political science into sociology. We don’t have separate departments for social studies of religion, or social studies of healthcare, or social studies of media and culture. So why a separate department for social studies of politics?
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/6 "2012-07-04T16:43:23Z")
I don’t think there’s anything important about political science that can’t be subsumed into other disciplines. Especially in America, where political science (other than comparative politics and international relations) is generally taught as a combination of economics and history anyway.
My degree is in political science, for what it’s worth. Like the rest of my class, I’m in law school now.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/7 "2012-07-04T17:04:52Z")
Only one? Can I eliminate more than one? 😃
I agree with the others. Hey, Hey; Ho, Ho; PoliSci has got to go!
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### Author:  [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/8 "2012-07-04T17:58:16Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> Communications. Is phony major.
>
> (Believe me, I know).
Perhaps, but not one of the options.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/9 "2012-07-04T19:35:40Z")
“P.S. I am not a crank”.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/10 "2012-07-05T02:24:51Z")
All four fields are important: eliminating any would be a mistake. So the question becomes, would it be better if psychologists, political scientists and economists practiced sociology? Or should psychologists, economists and sociologists dabble in political science? Also, would it be better for unemployed sociologists to join, say, psychology departments? Or should political scientists enter one of the other departments?
I’d probably eliminate sociology. Many of the statistically oriented ones would do fine in other fields. The rest can become journalists.\*
\*Oh no-o-o-o-o-o-o-oes!
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/11 "2012-07-05T02:28:30Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#):
>
> The rest can become journalists.
Fine, but what will they do for a job?
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/12 "2012-07-05T02:46:10Z")
Wow, tough question. I’m going to go with my gut here and say psychology. Not because it isn’t a very important field, but because I believe that there’s a significant percentage of psych students who enter the field because they actually need tons of therapy.
I say we round up the psych majors, and the sane ones go to med school, the troubled ones are redirected to English and individual therapy.
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### Author:  [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/13 "2012-07-05T03:18:28Z")
Among those choices, sociology but preferably gender studies.
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### Author:  [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/14 "2012-07-05T03:54:03Z")
I’m going with economics.
I mean, what has it done for us lately?
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2012, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/15 "2012-07-05T06:23:00Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#):
>
> I’m going with economics.
>
> I mean, what has it done for us lately?
Preventing a replay of 1929-33 was salubrious. Too bad we couldn’t avoid a lost decade. Ah well, that’s politics. Two doors down the hall.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2012, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/16 "2012-07-05T10:47:54Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#):
>
> Preventing a replay of 1929-33 was salubrious. Too bad we couldn’t avoid a lost decade. Ah well, that’s politics. Two doors down the hall.
Ah, but both 1929-33 and the construction/loans bubble were caused by attempts to manipulate the economy, which wouldn’t have been possible to the scale to which they were if Economics hadn’t been invented. Economics turned the purposeful manipulation of markets from something small-scale done by people running on hunches into something done at the governmental and supragovernmental level, by people who run on hunches but call them “expertise”.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2012, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/17 "2012-07-05T11:40:11Z")
I vote economics. “Voodoo science”, more like.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/18 "2012-07-05T12:15:17Z")
Sociology. Took it in college to fulfill some requirement, and spent the term wondering why.
ETA: easiest A of my life.
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### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/19 "2012-07-05T14:53:32Z")
Another vote for Sociology. Could there be a topic any more nebulous than that?
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### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eliminate-one-social-science/627222/20 "2012-07-05T14:55:34Z")
Thanks for not including “geography” as a choice for elimination.
I’d go with “sociology”. The best sociologists might as well call themselves human geographers, and a lot of good “sociology” is already being done by people who already are geographers.
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