When we think about neuroscience, we often imagine laboratories, brain scans and scientists studying neurons. Sociology, on the other hand, usually brings to mind surveys, interviews and research on communities and social groups. For a long time, these two fields seemed to belong to completely different worlds. Today, however, more and more researchers are asking an interesting question: what if studying the brain could also help us understand society better?
This idea is explored in the recent article Between the Brain and Society: Exploring Neuroscience as a Methodological Resource for Social Research, which examines how neuroscience can contribute to social research without replacing traditional social science methods.
The idea is not as strange as it may sound. Many of our social actions such as trusting someone, feeling empathy, following social rules or reacting to unfair situations, happen both in our social environment and in our brains. Because of this, some tools from neuroscience may become valuable resources for social research.
According to the article, technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), eye-tracking devices and measurements of physiological responses can reveal aspects of human behaviour that are difficult to capture through words alone. For example, a person may answer in a survey that they do not hold any prejudices, but unconscious reactions or patterns of attention may suggest that the situation is more complex. This does not mean that people are dishonest. It reminds us that much of our mental activity takes place without our awareness.
At the same time, there is an important danger in assuming that the brain can explain everything. Human behaviour can be shaped not only by biology but also by culture, education, family experiences, economic conditions and historical events. Reducing social problems to brain activity alone would ignore many of the factors that influence how people live and interact with one another.
For this reason, many scholars argue that neuroscience and the social sciences should work together rather than compete with each other. In this regard, in recent years an emerging field known as socioneuroscience has begun to develop, making it possible to explore how social experiences shape brain activity and, at the same time, how brain processes affect social behaviour. For those who are interested in this line of research, I will include some articles that may be useful at the end of the text.
Neuroscience offers new methods and new ways of asking questions about human behaviour. Understanding people requires us to look both inside the mind and outside it, at the world in which they live. The future of social research may lie precisely in this meeting point between the brain and society.
- Bibliography
Mincewicz, W. (2026). Between the brain and society: exploring neuroscience as a methodological resource for social research. International Review of Sociology, 36(1), 185–210. https://doi.org/10.1080/03906701.2025.2600412
- Readings on socioneuroscience
Mallart, L. P., García, R. F., Racionero-Plaza, S., & Sordé-Martí, T. (2019). Socioneuroscience and its contributions to conscious versus unconscious volition and control. The case of gender violence prevention. AIMS neuroscience, 6(3), 204–218. https://doi.org/10.3934/Neuroscience.2019.3.204
Racionero-Plaza, S., Puigvert, L., Soler-Gallart, M., & Flecha, R. (2022). Contributions of Socioneuroscience to Research on Coerced and Free Sexual-Affective Desire. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 15, 814796. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.814796
Soler-Gallart, M., Galar, A., Olabarria, A., de Aguileta, A. L., Alzaga, A., de Aguileta, G. L., Pulido, C., & Flecha, R. (2025). A teacher’s perceptions of the impacts of the Zero Violence Brave Club in students’ wellbeing. AIMS neuroscience, 12(3), 418–433. https://doi.org/10.3934/Neuroscience.2025023
Predoctoral researcher at the Department of Sociology in University of Barcelona.