Social science is entering a golden age, marked by the confluence of explosive growth in new data and analytic methods, interdisciplinary approaches, and a recognition that these ingredients are necessary to solve the more challenging problems facing our world. We discuss how developing a “lingua franca” can encourage more interdisciplinary research, providing two case studies (social networks and behavioral economics) to illustrate this theme. Several exemplar studies from the past 12 y are also provided. We conclude by addressing the challenges that accompany these positive trends, such as career incentives and the search for unifying frameworks, and associated best practices that can be employed in response.

社会科学正在进入一个黄金时代，其标志是新数据和分析方法，跨学科方法的爆炸性增长相融合，并认识到这些要素对于解决当今世界面临的更具挑战性的问题是必不可少的。我们讨论开发“通用法语”如何鼓励更多的跨学科研究，并提供两个案例研究（社会网络和行为经济学）来说明这一主题。还提供了过去12年的一些示例性研究。最后，我们着眼于应对这些积极趋势带来的挑战，例如职业激励和寻求统一的框架，以及可以用于应对的相关最佳实践。