Dominant Approaches and Ideas in the Social Sciences

I. Empirical-Analytical Approaches in the Social Sciences

Microlevel Approaches in the Social Sciences

• Rational Choice Theory (RCT)
• Symbolic Interactionism

Macrolevel Approaches in the Social Sciences

• Structural-functionalism
• Institutionalism

Interdisciplinary Approach in the Social Sciences

• Human-environment system approach

II. Historical-Hermeneutic Approaches in the Social Sciences

• Psychoanalysis
• Hermeneutic-phenomonology

III. Empirical-Critical Approaches in the Social Sciences

• Marxism
• Feminist Theory