Usually economics is defined, by most academics, as a social science, to what extent can we consider this definition correct?
What is a social science:
social science is a branch of science that includes any academic study about societies and relationships and deals with human behavior in its different aspects.
Let’s see how conform is economics to this definition.
Economics is the study of how people make choices and decisions to satisfy their needs using the available resources. Economists try to use mathematical methods to build theories that can explain the human economic behavior that arises from the scarcity of resources and our unlimited needs.
In terms of methodology, economists are not able to undertake controlled experiments in the way that chemists and biologists, for example, are. In their studies economists use methods based primarily on observations and deductions to build theories, which is a common point with other social sciences.
In addition to that, we have to mention that this economic approach sees people as members of communities, where they interact with each other and where everyone is influenced by the actions of the others, not as independent individuals.
Based on all of the above, we can conclude that considering economics as a social science is, in fact, a highly valid theory.
The American economist Andrew Kamarck supports this thesis and wrote an entire book to defend it with his own vision.
Contrary to conventional economic theory, which assumes that people have no free will, Andrew Kamarck in his book “Economics as a Social Science: An Approach to Nonautistic Theory” instead bases economics on the realistic assumptions that human beings can choose; that we are complex beings affected by emotion, custom, habit, and reason; and that our behavior varies with different circumstances and times. He rejects the rigid mathematical axioms that define how economics is understood and practiced today.
Andrew M. Kamarck demonstrates that only rough accuracy is attainable in economic measurement and that understanding an economy requires knowledge from other disciplines.
Kamarck confirms that economics is a social science but to build his thesis he adopted a different point of view which is: an economic agent is, before all, a HUMAN influenceab by different factors including his emotions, habits, customs and environment which makes them a subject of social science studies.
Oeconomia 