science
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Sociology as a science and replication
Are sociologists really scientists? I know many sociologists who think they are. In fact, we all proudly bear the label "social science," along with our colleagues in economics, political science, and the other disciplines dealing with human behavior. Tyler Cowen over at Marginal Revolution has been asking this question recently of economists. His conclusion is that economics is a science.
We produce empirical knowledge which is subject to process of testing, broadly interpreted, and feedback; see my post above. We even now have controlled experiments. And look at some of our competitors. String theory is not yet empirical. Environmental science and ecology are rife with ideology...